Zelensky urges West to overcome ‘fear’ of ‘strong’ decisions to defend Ukraine

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for the UK and US to give permission for Ukraine to use western missiles to strike Russian targets as Vladimir Putin’s forces carried out another bombing raid.

The Ukrainian president called for “decisiveness” as he urged leaders to overcome the “fear” of making the choice.

Sir Keir Starmer and Joe Biden met in Washington on Friday for talks on giving Ukraine permission to use long-range missiles to target Russian airfields and military bases, but no decision was reached.

The issue is likely to come up again when Sir Keir, Mr Biden and Mr Zelensky all attend the UN General Assembly in New York later this month.

Bur Mr Zelensky indicated he wanted a quicker outcome, saying decisiveness “most effectively protects against terror”.

Western concerns include the risk of escalating the conflict, although Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the allies would not be cowed by Mr Putin’s threat of all-out war with Nato if missiles such as the UK’s Storm Shadow are used to hit Russia.

The Ukrainian president said a residential building in Kharkiv had been hit on Sunday with 35 people injured, including three children.

Mr Zelensky said: “The world must help us defend ourselves against Russian military aircraft and the dozens of guided aerial bombs that claim Ukrainian lives every day.

“This terror can be stopped. But to stop it, the fear of making strong, objectively necessary decisions must be overcome.

“Only decisiveness can bring a just end to this war. It is decisiveness that most effectively protects against terror.”

He added: “The only way to counter this terror is through a systemic solution – long-range capabilities to destroy Russian military aviation at its bases. This is an obvious, logical solution.

“We have already explained to all our partners why Ukraine truly needs sufficient long-range capabilities.

“Every Russian strike, every act of terror – like today’s attack on the city of Kharkiv, and the Sumy and Donetsk regions – proves that we need this capability, and we need it in full.

“We are waiting for the relevant decisions, especially from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy — everyone whose decisiveness can help save lives.”

Mr Zelensky’s comments, in a series of social media posts written in English, are designed to put pressure on his allies to allow him to strike back.

Senior Ukrainian figures have complained they are currently having to fight with their hands tied because they are unable to hit the Russian airbases used to launch the raids against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure facilities.

Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said: “We need partners to lift all restrictions on the use of weapons so that Ukraine can destroy Russian airfields, bombers, and launch sites.

“Let Ukraine strike back.”

Foreign Secretary Mr Lammy has been part of the intensive UK-US diplomatic talks in Kyiv and Washington in the past week which have so far failed to produce a decision.

Russian president Mr Putin has warned that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that Nato countries, the United States, and European countries are at war with Russia”.

But Mr Lammy told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “Putin said ‘don’t send tanks’. We sent them.

“Putin said ‘don’t send any missiles’. We sent them.

“Putin threatens every few months to use nuclear weapons.

“What he should now do is cease his aggression and leave Ukraine.”

Mr Lammy said there was “a lot of bluster” from Mr Putin but “we cannot be blown off course by an imperialist fascist” who “wants to move into countries willy-nilly”.

On the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, the Foreign Secretary said talks would continue with Sir Keir, Mr Biden and Mr Zelensky at the United Nations in New York later this month.

“It’s important that as allies supporting Ukraine, we have a shared strategy to win going forward.

“Now we’ve been discussing this with the United States and with other key allies, but of course, we head to the UN General Assembly, where we will all meet with Zelensky in just under 12 days’ time.”

Mr Lammy said “no war is won with any one weapon”, but added: “It’s important that we support the Ukrainians to continue to repel Russia in the Black Sea, it’s important that they can deal with the huge challenges in the air that are being mounted by Russia and of course that we support them – and we have – with training of their own men and women on the front line.

“We want to put Ukraine in the strongest position going forward.

“I can’t tell you operationally, on air, what we will or won’t do, and I particularly won’t do that at a time when Russia is buying ballistic missiles from Iran and escalating further.

“But please understand this is under careful discussion with the Ukrainians as we assess what they need as they head into that winter.”

A British military intelligence update suggested Russia was continuing a “high tempo of offensive operations in multiple areas of the frontline” in the conflict.

A counter-offensive has been launched by airborne and naval infantry units in Kursk, the area of Russia invaded by Ukrainian forces, and they have “highly likely retaken several villages”.

In eastern Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence intelligence update said Mr Putin’s troops were making “gradual advances” around Vuhledar and to the southeast of the important logistics hub Pokrovsk.

Senior Tories have pushed for the UK to give Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia with Storm Shadow missiles even without US agreement.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson and ex-defence secretaries Grant Shapps, Ben Wallace, Gavin Williamson, Penny Mordaunt and Liam Fox have pushed for the change, the Sunday Times reported.

Former foreign secretary and Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly told Sky News: “I think it’s disappointing that Keir Starmer and David Lammy have failed to secure international agreement for Ukraine to use these missiles in their self-defence against the launch sites of those weapons that are currently hitting civilian infrastructure, energy infrastructure.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey also backed Kyiv’s right to strike at targets in Russia, adding: “If we have to do it unilaterally I think we should.”