Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has called for more powerful weapons than his allies ahead of an expected visit by US officials.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced this weekend that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin will visit Kyiv on Sunday to discuss Ukraine’s call for more powerful weapons.
Earlier, he said talks with his American visitors would cover “the powerful, heavy weapons” Ukraine needs to regain territory and the pace of supplies.
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He also mentioned the importance of weapons coming quickly from the United States and the United Kingdom during a press conference Saturday night at an underground metro station, which was also a bomb shelter for locals at the start of the invasion two months ago.
Speaking to Deborah Haynes of Sky News, he said: “I do not believe that our partners will not provide the weapons we need, which they have promised. They have no alternative.
“We have no choice but to defend our land and get it back. What would be the other choice? It would be if we did not have a state and a people – it would be just burnt land.
“This is the only alternative I will consider.”
He later added during the conference that he would discuss the “exact list of weapons” Ukraine needs with his American visitors.
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3:17 Zelensky said he should see Putin face to face
Mr Zelenski: “Tomorrow we will discuss this exact list of weapons that are essential to us and the pace of deliveries.
“We would like to have … powerful heavy weapons. If we have (more weapons), if there are enough, believe me, we will immediately regain this or that territory that is temporarily occupied. “
Read more: How the Azovstal steel plant became the last post in the fierce battle for Mariupol What are Russia’s plans for the “second phase” of the war – and why do they include Moldova?
What new weapons does Mr. Zelenski want?
Allies of the United States and NATO have shown readiness to supply heavier equipment and more modern weapons systems.
Britain has also promised to send military vehicles and said it was considering supplying British tanks to Poland to release Warsaw-designed T-72s to Ukraine.
This comes after Zelensky said Russia had already fired most of its missile arsenal against Ukraine.
He said: “Of course, they still have missiles. Of course, they can still continue the rocket terror against our people.
“But what they have already done is a strong enough argument for the world to finally recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and the Russian army as a terrorist organization.
Russia has denied targeting civilians in its “special military operation”.
Russia’s defense ministry said it had used high-precision missiles to destroy a logistics terminal in Odessa containing weapons shipped from the United States and European countries.
The last major strike in or near Odessa was in early April.
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What will Ukraine discuss with the United States?
The White House has not confirmed Mr Blinken and Mr Austin’s visit to Ukraine.
The State Department and the Pentagon have not commented, so the exact details of the meeting are not yet known.
Mr Zelenski spoke publicly again earlier today in a video message for Easter from the 1,000-year-old Hagia Sophia in Kyiv.
He said Ukraine would not be defeated by “wickedness” and prayed for “the endurance of those who will unfortunately not see their child return from the front”.
Adviser to Ukrainian President Mykhailo Podoliak called on Twitter for a “real Easter truce in Mariupol”.
He said: “The place where our civilians and military are located has been shelled with heavy air bombs and artillery.”
The capture of Mariupol, the site of the conflict’s biggest battle, will link pro-Russian separatists who control parts of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up Donbass with the southern Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow captured in 2014.
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