Zelenskyy says Russia preparing fresh major strike on Ukraine
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Wasington: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia is preparing a fresh large-scale attack involving drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, while urging the United States to speed up the supply and production of air defence interceptors, which Kyiv says are vital for civilian protection.
In an interview with CBS News’ Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence, along with information shared by Western partners, indicated a high probability of a major Russian strike in the coming days.
“Today at night or tomorrow at night, high percent, of course, nobody knows 100 per cent but there is a high percent,” he said, adding that Ukrainians would be advised to take shelter in bomb shelters and exercise caution.
He said Russia continues to carry out daily attacks and had recently launched one of the largest barrages of the war.
“Last massive attack… it was 600 drones… and about 30 plus ballistic missiles,” he said, describing ballistic missile defence as Ukraine’s “biggest deficit”.
Zelenskyy said he has sent letters to the White House and the United States Congress requesting additional support, especially anti-ballistic missile systems and interceptors.
“This is the priority for us, and big, big challenge,” he said. “We have deficit with anti ballistic. This is big problem.”
He stressed that the issue is no longer funding but production capacity, saying current output levels are insufficient to meet global demand.
“… 60, 65 missiles per month for today’s challenges, it’s nothing,” he said. “We need to do production wider.”
The Ukrainian President also called on Washington to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missile components under licence.
“I asked previous administration, I am asking today’s administration, give Ukraine licenses. We will increase the production of Patriot missiles,” he said.
Zelenskyy further claimed that Russia is testing NATO responses through drone incidents in neighbouring countries.
“Russia uses this just to attack politically and by weapon pressure on NATO countries to look at the reaction,” he said, referring to reported drone incidents in Romania and other nearby states.
On diplomacy, he said he remains willing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin but insisted that stronger sanctions are necessary to push Moscow towards negotiations.
“I think we need more sanctions. I think we need more pressure,” he said. “More sanctions, more pressure, they will be ready for the dialogue.”
He suggested that Britain, France and Germany could take leading roles in future European mediation efforts, and noted Turkiye’s earlier involvement in prisoner exchange negotiations.
Zelenskyy also criticised the easing of sanctions on Russian oil exports, saying such measures indirectly strengthen Moscow’s war capability.
“Lifting sanctions is a help for the soldiers of Russia. It’s very helpful for their defence industry,” he said.
He reiterated Ukraine’s allegations that Russia has forcibly taken thousands of Ukrainian children, saying Kyiv has identified around 20,000 children and managed to bring back approximately 2,200.
“We need more help. We need more help. We need thousands children to get them back,” he said.
The Ukrainian President also said Ukraine is developing drone technology partnerships with European and Middle Eastern countries and hopes to finalise a major agreement with the United States.
He added that collaboration between American artificial intelligence companies and Ukrainian battlefield innovators could become “the most powerful in the world”.
When asked what was needed to move a proposed drone partnership forward, Zelenskyy said: “Yes, we need President Trump to say yes.”
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 and has since become the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, resulting in hundreds of thousands of military casualties and widespread destruction, while drawing extensive Western military and financial support for Kyiv.
With IANS inputs