On Thursday evening, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engaged in discussions with two US Senators to focus on strengthening his nation’s air defense capabilities and imposing stricter sanctions on Russia.
In a social media post early on Friday, Zelenskyy revealed that he met with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut during the Ukraine Recovery Conference held in Rome.
Graham and Blumenthal are the co-sponsors of a bipartisan bill proposing a 500% tariff on goods from countries that continue to import Russian oil, gas, uranium, and other exports.
This bill aims to target countries like China and India, which collectively account for approximately 70% of Russian energy exports and have been inadvertently funding Moscow’s ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy emphasized, “This is undoubtedly the correct strategy to bring peace closer and make diplomatic negotiations more productive.”
He also highlighted, “Currently, our priority is strengthening our air defenses. Russia is planning to deploy up to 1,000 drones in a single attack.”
In light of this, he emphasized the importance of investing in interceptor drones and continued supplies of weapons from the United States, as well as joint weapons production.
Furthermore, Zelenskyy expressed Ukraine’s willingness to collaborate with its European allies to procure significant US defense packages.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had reached an agreement with Germany for the acquisition of two US-made Patriot missile defense systems.
The White House previously declared on July 1 that it would temporarily halt shipments of certain air defense and precision-guided missile systems to Ukraine. However, it appeared to reverse this decision in light of Russia’s ongoing and increasingly aggressive air strikes over this week.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-russia-attacks-again-as-zelenskyy-meets-us-senators/live-73235269?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
