Zelensky sends a desperate letter to Trump
The Ukrainian president launches a cry for help to Washington and assures that the deliveries of anti-ballistic missiles "are not enough"
BarcelonaAfter weeks in which Russia has attacked Ukraine with force and announced it will bomb command centers of the Ukrainian state in Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky sent a letter this Wednesday to Donald Trump requesting to address the shortage of air defense missiles that Kyiv claims to be suffering from. This was reported by the media The Kyiv Independent and later confirmed by Zelensky's communication advisor, Dmytro Lytvyn. In a text also addressed to the United States Congress, the Ukrainian president states that the current rate of missile delivery "is not enough" to intercept Russian attacks.
Through the PURL program, which involves about twenty NATO allies and to which Spain joined this October, several countries are purchasing material from the United States to send to Ukraine. As Zelensky details in the letter, the missile interceptors sent to the Ukrainian army through this program are practically Kyiv's only way to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles. However, currently, the pace of shipments of the systems, known as Patriot, would not be meeting Ukraine's needs against a Russian army that gives no respite in its attacks.
According to the text sent to the US, in one of the latest attacks, Russia allegedly launched two Oréixnik intermediate-range ballistic missiles against Ukraine. "I ask for your help in protecting Ukrainian airspace from Russian missiles," Zelensky requests of the US president. Kyiv's concern, however, is not new: for months, the Ukrainian president has been making efforts to convince his European partners to launch a project that would allow them to manufacture their own ballistic missile as soon as possible, to stop depending on the United States in this area and, in turn, to ensure a defense system against Russian attacks.
Escalation in attacks
In recent months, cross-attacks between Russia and Ukraine have been escalating. Both states are immersed in a drone race. During the autumn, the Kremlin reduced the distance to Ukraine in drone attacks. But this spring Kyiv has regained momentum.
In April, it managed to drive out Russian troops using only drones and robots, and a few weeks ago a Ukrainian drone hit a skyscraper in Moscow. Putin, who for months has feared being the victim of an assassination, has redoubled his attacks, with massive drone launches in a short period, such as on May 14, when he directed 1,560 drones over Ukraine in just 30 hours.
