Zelensky asks for help to guarantee “air superiority” over Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday called on Western allies to help his country guarantee air superiority over Russia and called Vladimir Putin a “predator” who would never allow a “frozen” conflict in Ukraine.

“Our partners know our needs and their numbers,” he said during a speech in Davos, adding that his forces have already provided an advantage over the US fleet in the Black Sea and that Ukraine has already proven it is “capable of attacking Russian military forces.” planes that, even at this moment, no one has shot down.”

On Monday, Kyiv said it had downed two Russian command aircraft over the Sea of ​​Azov, a move that could be a major blow to Russia in an area it is supposed to control.

During his speech at the World Economic Forum, which takes place annually in the Swiss city of Davos, Zelensky also criticized Putin over the situation on the ground, with the front line remaining virtually motionless for months.

“After 2014, attempts were made to freeze the war in Donbass. [leste da Ucrânia]. There were very influential guarantors, the Chancellor of Germany [Angela Merkel]President of France [François Hollande]. But Putin is a predator who is not satisfied with frozen food,” he said in a speech to dozens of international officials.

He also accused the Russian president of “trying to normalize” “mass deportations, devastated cities and towns and the terrifying sense that the war may never end.”

“In fact, Putin personifies war,” Zelensky continued, believing that “he will never change.”

Renewing his call for Western countries to supply more weapons to his country, the Ukrainian president assured that “the possible directions and the very calendar of new Russian aggression outside Ukraine are becoming more and more obvious.”

Asking Kyiv to help guarantee “air superiority” over Russia, he also assured that “our partners know our needs” and rejected Western calls to avoid an “escalation” of the conflict.

“For us, every ‘no’ to escalation sounds like a ‘You will win’ addressed to Putin,” he emphasized.

Zelensky also called for sanctions on the Russian nuclear industry, and also called for the transfer to Ukraine of Russian aircraft stopped in a number of European countries.

The Russian military offensive into Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022, has plunged Europe into its most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).

Ukraine’s Western allies have supplied Kyiv with weapons and approved successive packages of sanctions against Russian interests in an attempt to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war effort.