Zelensky: Ukraine needs ATACMS missiles to strike airfields in Crimea

The Ukrainian President said this in an interview with The Washington Post, according to Ukrinform.

“When Russia has missiles and we don’t, they attack by missiles: Everything — gas, energy, schools, factories, civilian buildings. ATACM-300s, that is the answer,” he said. 

Zelensky stressed that Ukraine wants to use the longer-range missiles not to attack Russian territory but those airfields in Crimea.

“When Russia knows we can destroy these jets, they will not attack from Crimea. It’s like with the sea fleet. We pushed them from our territorial waters. Now we will push them from the airports in Crimea,” the President noted.

He recalled that in Munich in February, he took out a map of the targets the ATACMS could hit. “I showed them military platforms like airports, air-defense systems and other sites,” he said

When asked whether he thought President Biden was too cautious in supplying weapons, as hawkish critics sometimes charge, the Ukrainian leader answered that the U.S. president is “cautious about a nuclear attack from Russia”.  

Zelensky said that Ukraine’s options depend on what Congress decides. Until Ukraine knows it has continuing U.S. support. He said Ukraine might conduct limited offensive operations, but “to push them out, we need more weapons.”

“We lost half a year while Congress bickered. We can’t waste time anymore. Ukraine can’t be a political issue between the parties,” the head of the Ukrainian state said.

In this context, he said critics of aid for Ukraine didn’t understand the stakes in the war. “If Ukraine falls, Putin will divide the world” into Russia’s friends and enemies, Zelensky said.