Zelensky calls on US and European allies to lift restrictions on use of weapons | World news
 "Volodymyr Zelenskyj, Zelenskyj")
Volodymyr Zelensky called on the US and European allies to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons. (Photo: Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United States and European allies to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons against Russia, saying his military’s cross-border incursion had exposed the Kremlin’s threats of retaliation as “illusory.”
The two-week-long operation to seize Russian territory in the Kursk region would have been considered by Russian President Vladimir Putin as crossing the “strictest of all red lines” just a few months ago, Zelensky said in an address to Ukrainian diplomats late on Monday. “The whole naive, illusory concept of the so-called red lines in relation to Russia, which dominated the assessment of the war by some partners, has crumbled these days.”
Ukrainian forces currently control more than 1,250 square kilometers of Russian territory and will continue to expand their presence in the Kursk region, Zelensky said. The claims could not be independently verified.
The invasion, which he said was planned in the strictest secrecy – “nobody knew about our preparations” – would have been unnecessary if Ukraine’s Western partners had allowed it to attack Russian airfields and military bases with long-range weapons, Zelensky said. That would have allowed Putin to continue attacking Ukraine and “evade the search for peace” to end the war, he argued.
Putin’s reaction to the Kursk operation shows that there is no rational reason to deny us real long-range capabilities. The situation on the Donetsk front is such that any further delay by our partners in this matter will effectively strengthen Russia’s offensive potential.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / ?’олодимир ?-еленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 19, 2024
The Russian military has repeatedly fired missiles, glide bombs and drones from the Kursk region and neighboring Belgorod to attack Ukrainian cities such as Kharkiv and Sumy, which lie near the shared border.
Zelensky urged Ukrainian diplomats to argue in the US and Europe for the “most important defense decision,” namely lifting restrictions on long-range weapons. Putin’s reaction to the Kursk invasion “shows that there is not a single rational reason to reject us,” he said.
The United States and the European Union, while caught off guard, largely support the operation, although they remain cautious about its prospects.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow said its forces continued to “fight” Ukrainian attempts to advance into Russian territory, but there were no signs that they were regaining control of the border areas.
 "Diagrams")
Russia has continued its attacks elsewhere along the front line, advancing in the eastern Donetsk region toward the town of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub for Ukrainian forces. Local authorities have ordered an evacuation of civilians starting Tuesday.
Overnight, Ukraine said Russia had launched two drone and missile attacks on nine regions, including Kyiv. In total, three out of four missiles and 25 out of 26 drones were intercepted, Ukrainian air defense commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram.
According to local authorities, energy facilities in part of the northeastern Sumy region and an industrial enterprise in western Ternopil were hit.
The Ukrainian capture of the border region is the first foreign military offensive in Russia since World War II. The acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said at the start of the invasion, which began on August 6, that about 120,000 residents had been evacuated and another 60,000 were waiting to leave their homes. Authorities have not provided more recent figures, however.
Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post on Tuesday that settlements in the border region have been repeatedly subjected to drone and artillery attacks.
First published: August 20, 2024 | 2:37 p.m. IS
