“Ukraine would only need 1% of NATO planes and 1% of its tanks and would not ask for anything more,” the Ukrainian president said in a video address on Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, visibly irritated, demanded on Saturday March 26 that Western countries provide some of their military equipment to Ukraine and asked them if they were afraid of Moscow.
Several countries have pledged to send anti-armour systems, anti-aircraft missiles as well as small arms to Ukraine, but Volodymyr Zelensky said kyiv needs tanks, planes and anti-ship systems.
“It’s what our partners have and which is gathering dust at home. All this is not only for the freedom of Ukraine, but for the freedom of Europe,” he said in a video address. Ukraine would only need 1% of NATO aircraft and 1% of its tanks and would not ask for anything more, he added.
“We have already waited thirty-one days. Who leads NATO? Is it still Moscow, with intimidation? he asked.
Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said that Russia will seek to expand into Europe if Ukraine falls. NATO, however, did not back his call for a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
“The price of procrastination will be the lives of thousands of Ukrainians”
Earlier in the day, Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, to whom he expressed his disappointment that the Russian-made fighter jets present in Eastern Europe had no not yet transferred to Ukraine, the Ukrainian president's office said in a statement.
“The price of procrastination will be the lives of thousands of Ukrainians,” the statement said, quoting Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine's foreign minister says US assured Kyiv it had 'no objections' to transfer of Polish fighter jets to Ukraine
On March 8, visibly taking the United States by surprise, Poland announced that it was “ready to move all its MIG-29 aircraft without delay and free of charge to the Ramstein base [in Germany] and to make them available to the government. of the United States", to be handed over to Ukraine.
Washington had initially judged that this offer was not “viable”. The next day, the Pentagon definitively rejected the Polish proposal.