In the wake of a devastating new wave of intensive Russian bombardments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has intensified pressure on Western allies to swiftly deploy advanced air defense capabilities.
Ukraine’s President Zelensky plans to use an upcoming NATO meeting in Turkey to urge allies to quickly deliver badly needed air defense systems to protect the country from rising Russian attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plea for assistance follows consecutive, deadly Russian missile strikes on Kyiv within a week. The attacks hit apartment buildings and killed over 50 civilians.
At the upcoming summit in Ankara, President Zelensky will hold a crucial meeting with Donald Trump to argue that Russia’s brutal attacks are actually a sign of weakness, not strength, in an effort to push for international pressure on Vladimir Putin to negotiate a dignified peace.
The latest strikes on Ukraine come as it has been stepping up its own long-range drone attacks against Russia hitting oil refineries and military targets there and causing significant fuel shortages and power cuts.
Underscoring the growing threat, Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin, reported that air defenses shot down most of the 430 Ukrainian drones fired at the capital overnight though the full extent of the damage remains unclear.
Russian social media is flooded with videos of people waiting in line for hours to buy gas and fighting over strict fuel rations.
Right before the Tuesday-Wednesday NATO meeting, President Zelensky stated he hopes the gathering in Turkey produces real results rather than being “empty.”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged member nations to step up and ensure Ukraine gets the tools it needs to defend its borders.
Rutte highlighted that Kyiv is successfully changing the momentum of the war by slowing down Russian ground advances in the east.
These recent drone strikes appear to be giving Ukraine a temporary upper hand on the battlefield.
Around Kyiv, the defining phrase right now is a “window of opportunity.”
Despite this edge, Russia’s fast-moving ballistic missiles are causing severe problems for Kyiv.
Each day, Ukraine’s air force releases a report showing how many Russian weapons were launched and how many were shot down.
On Monday, while air defenses successfully blocked almost every drone, they completely missed the incoming missiles, making Ukraine’s defensive gaps glaringly obvious.
Ukraine failed to stop a single ballistic missile during that specific attack. Intercepting them is incredibly difficult because they fly at thousands of miles per hour and Ukraine simply does not have enough US-made Patriot defense systems to counter them.
In a video address on Monday, President Zelensky vented his frustration, calling it “simply absurd” that global production of air defenses has not yet been scaled up enough to protect people from Russia’s ballistic missile terror.
President Zelensky is urging European allies to hand over their stored Patriot missiles immediately, arguing that keeping weapons in warehouses is useless when civilians are being killed right now in Ukraine.
At the meetings in Ankara, President Zelensky is making his case clear stating “Russia is heavily relying on ballistic weapons, anyone who wants peace must focus on providing protection against these ballistic attacks”.
However, Patriot systems are in short supply globally, and it remains unclear if any amount would ever be enough if Russia continues to ramp up its ballistic attacks.
President Zelensky is also pushing for NATO’s help to let Ukraine manufacture its own domestic versions of the Patriot missile system. At the same time, the sheer intensity of Russia’s recent retaliation suggests that Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes are successfully getting under the Kremlin’s skin.
After years of Russia intentionally targeting Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure including knocking out power stations during freezing mid-winter conditions Moscow is now accusing Kyiv of “terrorism” for hitting Russian oil refineries with drones.
President Zelensky refers to these economic and military strikes as a strategic “influence campaign,” and he is eager to share the specific results and details with NATO allies.
The ultimate objective is to force Vladimir Putin into peace negotiations on terms that Ukraine can accept specifically ones that do not force Kyiv to surrender the entire eastern Donbas region, which Moscow currently demands.
Ukraine’s pressure campaign also focuses on Crimea, the peninsula Vladimir Putin took by force in 2014 which deeply important to him personally and politically.
Ukrainian drones are now hitting bases, fuel stations, and power plants in Crimea almost every day. These attacks have caused power cuts and shortages of food and fuel, forcing the government to declare a state of emergency.
See also: Ukraine Warns of Missile Shortage After Kyiv Strikes
A resident told the BBC the situation is “catastrophic,” feeling just like the chaotic 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed. While Vladimir Putin has always claimed he saved Russia from that misery, his war is now bringing the chaos right back bringing drone strikes and fuel rationing directly to Moscow.
Zelensky wants to convince NATO and Trump that Ukraine is turning the tide, arguing that its pressure campaign can force Russia into fair peace talks. While Trump has seemed impressed by Ukraine lately, he also just spent 90 minutes on the phone with Putin, giving the Russian leader a chance to tell his side of the story first.
Above all, Kyiv wants to end the war quickly through strength or diplomacy before another brutal winter begins. To make that possible, Zelensky will insist that Ukraine urgently needs more air defense missiles to protect its cities and civilians.
