“There is a shortfall in air defense and this is no secret,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, noting that his country needs more of them to protect its grain exports as well as areas bordering Russia.
In his speech in Kiev at an international summit on food security, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine’s foreign partners would provide it with vessels to escort convoys of cargo ships departing from Ukrainian ports, ensuring their safety.
At the same time, the Ukrainian president added that Kiev hopes to solve the problem of insufficient anti-aircraft defense through new supplies from its partners but also by increasing its own production, something in which, as he assured, there has been progress.
“I can’t give details today about what we are doing and where, but there is progress,” he said.
When asked about the mobilizations of Polish and Slovak truck drivers that have blocked the road transit of Ukrainian products in recent days, Zelensky blamed the internal politics of the two neighboring countries.
“I think there are difficulties at the border first and foremost because of some policies implemented by our neighbors,” he said, expressing confidence that the problem would be resolved if neighboring countries were given “some time” to deal with the situation.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke at the meeting of the “Grain for Ukraine” group, which was attended by senior officials from European countries, including Swiss President Alain Berche and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrid Simonite.
Overnight Russia launched an attack with 75 drones in Ukraine, the largest such attack since the start of the war. Earlier, the three leaders’ joint press conference was interrupted when air raid sirens sounded in Kiev.
With information from APE – MEB and Reuters
