Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskydemanded on Thursday from Prague “honesty” and “courage” to the I’LL TAKEdays before a crucial summit of the Transatlantic Alliance, and recognized that the counteroffensive launched against the Russian positions “is not fast.”
Your trip to Czech Republic responds to a diplomatic offensive by Kiev to access NATO and receive more ammunition from its allies that led him earlier to Bulgaria and which will continue on Friday in Turkey.
«The offense is not fast, it is a fact. But, nevertheless, we are moving forward, we are not going backwards like the Russians,” Zelensky told reporters together with Czech President Petr Pavel.
The Ukrainian leader assured that the slow supply of arms to his country had delayed his counteroffensive and gave Russia time to reinforce its defenses in the occupied areas.
“We require honesty in our relations,” Zelensky said in Prague. It is time to show “the courage and strength of this alliance,” he added.
NATO members meet on July 11 and 12 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, still without a common position on the security guarantees they want to offer Kiev or on a possible invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance.
“The motivation of our partners must remain intact,” said the Ukrainian president from Bulgaria, who is demanding F16 fighter jets and artillery ammunition. Otherwise “we will lose the initiative on the battlefield.”
During his stopover in Türkiye, Zelensky is due to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Russia threatens to withdraw from the Ankara-backed deal on Ukrainian grain exports.
