KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told NATO leaders on Wednesday his country needed more weapons and money to defend itself against Russia, warning that Moscow’s ambitions did not stop at Ukraine.
“This is not a war being waged by Russia against only Ukraine. This is a war for the right to dictate conditions in Europe – for what the future world order will be like,” he said in a virtual address to a summit of the Western defence alliance in Madrid.
“That is why it is absolutely necessary to support Ukraine, even now, with weapons, finances and political sanctions against Russia, which will stop its ability to pay for the war.”
He said Ukraine needed modern missile and air defence systems.
“By providing them to us, you can completely break Russia’s tactics to destroy cities and terrorise civilians,” he said.
Moscow calls its actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of what it calls anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
