Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has increased pressure on the United States to allow Kyiv to strike deeper into Russian territory, after his representatives met with senior US officials in Washington on Saturday.
Washington has provided Ukraine with more than $50 billion in military aid since 2022, but has limited the use of its weapons to Ukrainian soil and cross-border defensive operations.
“Freeing the Ukrainian sky from Russian guided air bombs is a strong step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace,” Zelenskiy said in his late-night video address.
Appealing to the United States, Britain, France and Germany, he said: “We need the capabilities to truly and fully protect Ukraine and Ukrainians.”
“We need both the authorizations for long-range capabilities and your long-range projectiles and missiles.”
Without giving details, he said his representatives had “provided all the necessary details” to Ukraine’s partners.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, in Washington with a delegation on Friday and Saturday to meet with U.S. officials and experts, said in an interview broadcast on CNN that Kyiv was demonstrating that Russian airfields used to strike Ukrainian cities were within range of deep-sea strikes.
“We explained what kind of capabilities we need to protect citizens from the Russian terror that the Russians are causing us, so I hope we were listened to,” Umerov said in an interview late Friday.
Zelenskiy is expected to deliver a similar appeal in person next month, when he presents a victory plan to President Joe Biden toward the end of his time in the Oval Office and attends meetings of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who led the Kyiv delegation, said in a post on X that they discussed steps needed to restore Ukraine’s energy system, including a “significant contribution” from an $800 million energy financing package announced in June.
Russian air strikes have hit more than half of Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure, he said.
Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak joined Umerov in briefing U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the situation on the battlefield in the first meeting of their visit on Friday, the presidential office said in a statement.
Speaking at the end of a week in which Russia struck Ukraine with more than 400 missiles and drones, Yermak said it was important for Ukraine to receive weapons from existing defense packages as soon as possible, the office said.