Zelensky accused the US of putting pressure on Ukraine and revealed the offer to Trump
Володимир Зеленський / фото з відкритих джерел
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the latest decisions of the Donald Trump administration look like an attempt to persuade Ukraine to surrender to Russia. According to him, the US is demanding an end to attacks on Russian fuel infrastructure, but is delaying the delivery of Patriot missiles.
Zelensky said this in an interview with Bloomberg on October 18.
The president said he had offered Washington to stop Ukrainian strikes on Russian diesel fuel in exchange for additional Patriot missiles to protect against ballistic attacks.
“My last proposal was this: we don’t strike Russian diesel fuel, and you give us missiles for Patriot systems to protect our facilities. But they just want us to stop attacking diesel fuel. And if we continue to strike, they will cut us off from something,” Zelenskyy said.
According to him, the actions of the American administration create the impression of pressure on Ukraine for the sake of a quick end to the war.
“I believe that steps have been taken to persuade Ukraine to surrender. I do not claim that this is the goal of our partners. I do not want to think that our American partners believe that the war can be ended faster at the expense of Ukraine. But this is exactly what it looks like,” the president said.
Zelensky reported that the US is supplying Ukraine with only 12 Patriot interceptor missiles per month – about four times less than during the Joe Biden administration.
In addition, Washington is withholding some of the weapons for which Ukraine has already paid through the PURL program.
“We paid for these weapons. Only part of them was approved by the US, and the rest was not. And this is not a technical failure,” Zelensky stressed.
The President called the period before the US midterm elections on November 3 dangerous for Ukraine, but expressed hope for improved relations after the vote.
Recall, it was previouslyreported about the shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles , due to which Ukraine has difficulties in repelling Russian ballistic attacks.
In addition, according to media reports, US representatives threatened to stop transferring intelligence if Kyiv continued to strike Russian oil refineries.
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