Jan 28 (Portal) – Kyiv and its allies are accelerated talks over Ukraine’s demands for long-range missiles, which they say are needed to prevent Russia from destroying Ukrainian cities, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday.
Ukraine has been promised western main battle tanks and is looking for warplanes to push back Russian and pro-Moscow troops slowly advancing along part of the front line.
“In order to drastically reduce the Russian army’s key weapon – the artillery they use at the front today – we need missiles that destroy their depots,” Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukraine’s Freedom TV channel. He said there were more than 100 artillery camps in the Russian-occupied Crimea.
“Therefore, firstly, negotiations are already underway. Secondly, the negotiations are accelerating,” he said, without giving details.
Zelenskyi, speaking separately, said Ukraine wanted to forestall Russian attacks on Ukrainian urban areas and civilians.
“Ukraine needs long-range missiles … to deprive the occupiers of the opportunity to place their rocket launchers somewhere far from the front line and destroy Ukrainian cities,” he said in a video address that evening.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs the US-made ATACMS missile, which has a range of 185 miles (297 km). Washington has so far refused to provide the weapon.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s Air Force denied a newspaper report that it intended to get 24 fighter jets from allies and said talks were continuing, Ukraine’s online outlet Babel said.
Spanish newspaper El Pais, citing Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat, said Ukraine initially wants two squadrons of 12 aircraft each, preferably Boeing F-16 jets.
But in a statement to Babel, Ihnat said his comments at a media briefing on Friday had been misinterpreted.
“Ukraine is only at the stage of negotiations on aircraft. Airplane models and their numbers are currently being determined,” he said.
Ihnat said at Friday’s briefing that F-16s could be the best option for a multirole fighter to replace the current fleet of aging Soviet-era fighters.
He also said the allied nations don’t like public speculation about jets, he told Ukraine’s Interfax news agency.
Deputy White House National Security Adviser Jon Finer said Thursday the United States would discuss the idea of delivering jets “very carefully” with Kyiv and its allies.
Germany’s defense minister this week ruled out the idea of sending jets to Ukraine.
Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Cynthia Osterman
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David Ljunggren