Urgent! Zelensky asks NATO for permission to use long-range weapons in Russia

Zelenskyy asks allies for long-range missiles, claiming it is a measure to pressure Putin to end the war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday (6) called on Western allies to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia, with the “aim of increasing pressure on Moscow” to end the war, he said.

“We need this long-range capability, not only on occupied Ukrainian territory but also in Russia, to motivate Moscow to seek peace,” Zelenskyy said during a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group (UDCG) at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

“We need Russian cities and soldiers to reflect on what they really want: peace or continuing with Putin,” he added.

According to Al Jazeera News Agency, the United States has pledged an additional $250 million in military aid to Ukraine, as announced by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the UDCG meeting, a group that regularly brings together about 50 nations that have been supplying weapons to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Austin said the additional aid would provide more capabilities to Ukraine and would be delivered “at war speed.”

Zelenskyy’s presence at the meeting was significant, coming on the heels of a devastating Russian attack on Poltava that killed 55 people and injured 300. At the same time, Russian forces are advancing in the Donbass region, with Putin highlighting the capture of the area as his “main objective” in the conflict.

Zelenskyy welcomed the deployment of F-16 fighter jets and long-range missile systems such as the Storm Shadow, but stressed the need for more support to force Putin to negotiate.

However, it remains unclear whether Zelenskyy will get all of his demands. Austin indicated that the US will provide “whatever it can, but not necessarily everything Zelenskyy asks for.” In addition, Germany has imposed restrictions on the use of its weapons on Russian territory.

Since 2022, the Ramstein group has provided around $106 billion in military aid to Ukraine, with the US being the largest contributor at over $56 billion.

In Oslo, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused China of being a “decisive enabler” of the Russian war and called on it to end its support for “Russia’s illegal war.” China, for its part, has previously described similar NATO statements as “malicious” and biased.