All articles tagged with #zelensky
President Zelensky said Ukraine faces a $27 billion defense-budget shortfall and is considering early access to European loan funds, while urging a fair use of frozen Russian assets, stronger air defenses for the Black Sea grain corridor, and discussions with EU leaders Costa and Frieden to secure funding and export resilience.
Russia intensified its Black Sea strikes, hitting a cargo ship as Zelensky urged a diplomatic track and vowed stronger air defences; in Kyiv, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged ongoing support and outlined long‑range aid, underscoring Western backing for Ukraine’s export routes amid the crisis.
Zelensky says Russia plans to draft about 300,000 more troops—potentially 500,000 total—to push in Donbas after mid-September elections; Kyiv reports heavy losses and a ramping Russian missile program, while Ukraine seeks extra air-defense systems from France and Germany amid a looming winter energy-strike threat and a roughly $27 billion defense funding gap.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Moscow is likely to mobilize at least 300,000 more troops later this year to press its campaign in eastern Ukraine, including Donetsk, where Ukraine holds about 20% of the territory. He cited Russia’s heavy losses — roughly 267,000 personnel this year with about 155,000 killed — and suggested Russia may attempt incursions into Kharkiv and Sumy as it aims to finish Donetsk occupation by year’s end. Zelensky also touched on air-defense challenges, Western missile supplies (Patriot and Aster), Starlink imagery, and ongoing diplomacy with the United States on ending the war.
Fired Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov told the BBC that President Zelensky has 'questions to answer' about corruption in his inner circle after a money-laundering probe; Zelensky says wartime elections are too risky, while Fedorov argues for discussing elections in a democracy even under martial law. Fedorov defends his anti-corruption efforts in defence procurement, says he has no immediate political ambitions but did not rule out a future run if democratic elections are relaunched, and plans to push for continued drone and Starlink support, criticizing delays in weapons aid due to bureaucracy.
President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged tangible retaliation after Russia carried out a double‑tap drone strike on Kryvyi Rih’s Soniachna Halereia shopping center, killing 16 and injuring more than 130 as rescue crews worked to reach rubble and several people remained missing. Kyiv reported additional civilian deaths from fresh Russian strikes elsewhere in Ukraine, with many wounded including children. Zelensky said the response would come through intelligence services and sanctions, while Ukraine also carried out strikes inside Russia against an Ozon warehouse, an oil refinery and a Crimean airbase in what Kyiv described as tit‑for‑tat actions ahead of post‑ceasefire security talks in Paris.
France will supply Ukraine with new interceptor missiles after Russia’s attack on Kryvyi Rih, with Macron and Zelenskyy agreeing to accelerate deliveries and licensing for missile production as Kyiv seeks greater air defences; Kyiv has also continued strikes against Russian targets as it pressures allies.
Ukraine reports it intercepted about 90% of Russia’s cruise missiles in a massive overnight attack, but ballistic missiles pose a bigger challenge. Zelensky urged allies to supply more Patriot interceptors and said Ukraine will boost its long-range strike capabilities in response.
Former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, dismissed in July amid tensions with the army, posted a YouTube appeal calling for wartime presidential elections and arguing that democracy cannot be hostage to Russia, while Ukraine remains under martial law and elections are suspended; Zelensky has appointed acting defence minister Yevgeniy Khmara, and Fedorov—lauded for modernising the ministry and drone warfare—said he would only return as defence minister under a legal, safe path to restoring full democratic processes during the war.
Russian missiles and drones struck Ukraine on Aug. 16, hitting the ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih mining/metallurgical plant (killing two workers and injuring about 13) and triggering a large fire at the Petrivka book market in Kyiv, while President Zelensky said Russia launched a week-long barrage of drones, bombs and missiles and urged stronger air defenses.
Thousands gathered in central Kyiv to demand the reinstatement of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and greater accountability from President Volodymyr Zelensky and his inner circle ahead of Parliament’s Aug. 18 vote on a new defense minister. Protesters chanted anti-corruption slogans, criticized the government’s transparency, and the peaceful march moved from the National Philharmonic through Maidan to the Presidential Office.
Ukraine says it has blocked off Russia’s south and is expanding its deep strikes as part of a broader long-range sanctions campaign against Moscow, targeting energy, maritime and financial networks, with sanctions on grain exports and plans for broader measures against Russia’s war economy; Zelensky urged international replication and the use of frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine as strikes on oil refineries and Black Sea/Sea of Azov operations seek to pressure Moscow.
Ukraine says it struck the Samara region’s Roscosmos-linked Progress Center rocket facility and the Savasleyka air base with Flamingo missiles, marking a deep strike into Russia; Russia says air defences repelled the attack with localized industrial damage and some casualties.
Ukraine says it struck Russia’s Samara rocket and space center and the Savasleyka airfield with Flamingo missiles in a heavy night of strikes, with Zelensky boasting about expanding long-range operations to degrade Moscow’s war capability; NATO jets were scrambled after a drone violation in Latvia amid ongoing fighting.
Slate’s Fred Kaplan argues that the Trump era is teaching a hard foreign‑policy lesson: allies and independent‑minded officers matter. He notes an incident where Vice President J.D. Vance reportedly urged Zelensky to curb drone strikes on Black Sea oil shipments to avoid spiking global gasoline prices, a concession Zelensky allegedly granted, illustrating how allied concessions can be demanded to serve shared interests. Kaplan also highlights NATO’s restrained role on Iran, a Pew finding that many nations favor China over the U.S., and the push for more autonomous security arrangements, while warning that internal debates over strategy risk weakening the development of seasoned military leadership.