Ukraine’s President said he has to fight to secure every package of air-defense missiles from the United States and Europe.
“Sometimes I want to speak frankly, but the situation doesn’t allow it. For example, until this morning we had several systems without missiles. Today, I can say this openly, because today I have those missiles,” Volodymyr Zelensky said during a joint briefing with the president of the Czech Republic, who arrived in Ukraine today, according to a journalist from UNIAN who attended the meeting of the presidents.
The head of state was answering a question about expectations for an “energy Ramstein,” which Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko mentioned.
“What do we need an energy ‘Ramstein’ for if I have to wrestle every missile package out of European countries and America? We can’t just blame America here, because we’re talking about all the other systems that protect our energy infrastructure. It’s not only about Patriot systems - there will never be enough of those. Ukraine has many different systems brought in during the war. Different systems. They need constant packages of missiles,” Zelensky said, adding that on January 16 Ukraine received “a serious package.”
According to the Ukrainian President, obtaining air-defense missiles has been difficult.
“It comes at such a cost - blood, people’s lives, and so on. Wrestling out packages! When you understand how much is in the warehouses of a given country… how much of it is there! Just sitting there! But there is domestic legislation, of course, that limits transfers… What laws, honestly, when we’re at war? We badly need this. And in some countries, thank God, there is no war. And you wrestle all these missiles for different air defenses - short-range, medium-range, and so on… you just pry them loose by force,” Zelensky said emotionally.
He explained that the Ramstein group is a platform to negotiate extending assistance, because even when winter ends, that does not mean Russia will stop bombing Ukraine. Zelensky said he expects rapid deliveries from the “Ramstein” that will help Ukraine and Ukrainians hold on and repel enemy attacks.
Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko spoke about an energy “Ramstein” discussions earlier this week. These meetings will be held to once again explain to partners the needs for necessary equipment. All lists have been provided in advance.
Meanwhile, homes in Ukraine with electric heating have been designated critical infrastructure - they will not be subject to scheduled power cuts.
