Volodymyr Zelensky once again asks for more weapons from his allies and to be able to use them to attack Russia, and has announced a surprise trip to Italy to participate in the Ambrosetti Forum and meet with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with whom he will have “negotiations”. The Ukrainian president participated for the first time in person in the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine, a meeting of Kiev supporters, at the US air base in Ramstein, Germany, where he once again asked for “more weapons to push back Russian forces” from Ukrainian territory “and in particular in the Donetsk region”, in the east of the country.
“The world has enough air defense systems to ensure that Russian terror has no results, and I urge you to be more active in this work with us on air defense,” the Ukrainian leader said, also calling again to authorize the use of long-range weapons “not only on occupied Ukrainian territory, but also on Russian territory.” “We need the determination and means of our partners to stop Russian air terrorism,” the Ukrainian president said upon his arrival in Ramstein where he held bilateral meetings with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Germany’s Boris Pistorius and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The operation in Kursk
Russia has suffered about 6,000 dead and wounded in a month of Ukrainian operations in the Russian region of Kursk, where Kiev’s troops control more than 1,300 square kilometers and about 100 cities, Zelensky said at a joint press conference with Austin. The Ukrainian leader once again argued that the operation in Kursk would serve to prevent Vladimir Putin from opening a new front with a cross-border attack on the Ukrainian region of Sumi. The mission was kept secret until the last minute and the move did not please all allies, some of whom are having to deal with an increasingly anti-support public opinion for Kiev.
Among them is Germany itself, where the far right (but also part of the radical left), long criticized for its ties to the Kremlin, achieved a historic result on Sunday by winning the regional elections in Thuringia, in the eastern part of the country. In its budget plan for 2025, Berlin has already planned a significant reduction in aid to Ukraine, from about eight billion euros to about four, although it confirmed that it would deliver eight Iris-T SLM air defense systems and nine of the related Iris-T SLS model by 2025, in addition to those already supplied.
The need for weapons
For his part, in Ramstein, the US Secretary of Defense announced a new $250 million military aid package for Ukraine that will “increase capabilities to meet Ukraine’s changing needs.” Last Friday, London announced a £162 million (€192 million) contract for the supply of 650 lightweight, short-range multirole missiles, which can be fired from various land, sea and air platforms.
And Kiev needs more and more weapons, especially air defense ones, as Ukraine has been subjected to deadly Russian bombing for several days, including the recent attack on a military institute in Poltava, in the center of the country, which killed at least 55 people. Since the beginning of the war, the defense ministers of the Contact Group have met regularly in Ramstein, Germany, to discuss with military representatives joint efforts to better equip Ukraine. About 50 nations were represented at the last meeting.
