Zelensky Asks for More Western Weapons Despite Russia’s Warnings
by Staff, Agencies
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has called on the United States and its European allies to expedite the delivery of military weapons and equipment to Ukraine despite Russia’s repeated warnings that the flow of Western arms will only escalate tensions and protract the conflict in the former Soviet republic.
Speaking at the 59th Munich Security Conference [MSC] in the German capital via video link on Friday, Zelensky urged Kiev’s allies to speed up sending weapons to “defeat” Russia over its year-long military operation and warned global leaders that dithering and delays would threaten their security.
Claiming that it was "obvious" that Russian President Vladimir Putin had set his sights on other former Soviet countries, the Ukrainian leader said, "Delay has always been and still is a mistake.”
"It's obvious that Ukraine is not going to be his last stop. He's going to continue his movement all the way... including all the other states that at some point in time were part of the Soviet bloc," he said about Putin.
Zelensky also claimed that Russia was wreaking destruction and plotting to "strangle" Ukraine's neighbor Moldova while Western leaders dragged their feet on the key decision.
The 59th Munich Security Conference, an annual meeting of experts, heads of the states, and high-ranking politicians is held from February 17 to 19 in the Bavarian capital as the Russian military campaign in Ukraine is approaching its one-year anniversary.
Russia launched "a special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, over the perceived threat of the ex-Soviet republic joining NATO. Since then, the United States and Ukraine's other allies have sent Kiev tens of billions of dollars' worth of weapons, including rocket systems, drones, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems.
Western countries have also imposed a slew of economic sanctions on Moscow. The Kremlin has said the sanctions and the Western military assistance will only prolong the war.
In a related development on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the United States was inciting Ukraine to escalate the war by condoning attacks on the Crimean Peninsula, warning that Washington was now directly involved in the conflict because "crazy people" had dreams of defeating Russia.
Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, made the comment after US Under-Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said the United States believes that Crimea, which joined Russia in a 2014 referendum, should be demilitarized at a minimum and that Washington supports Ukrainian attacks on military targets on the peninsula.
"Now the American warmongers have gone even further: They incite the Kiev regime to further escalate the war," Zakharova told reporters when asked about Nuland's remarks.
Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17, 2014 and formally applied to fall under Russian sovereignty following a referendum that had been declared illegal by Kiev. Moscow later annexed the region.
Back in September last year, Russia also annexed the four Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia after votes were held there on falling under Russian rule. Ukraine and its Western allies consider the votes to have been a "sham."
Luhansk and Donetsk make up the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland.
Moscow considers those regions Russian territory but Russian forces have not managed to take the regions under their full control. In fact, much of the territory in the Russian-annexed regions still remain in Ukrainian hands.
