Zelenskyj announces security agreements with the USA and even more help from the West. In addition, the Taurus debate is heating up again. The news at a glance.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine and the USA are preparing a bilateral security agreement. “We are already working on a concrete text,” said Zelenskyj in his evening video address. The aim is to make this the strongest of all security agreements. Kiev has already concluded a number of security agreements with various European states in recent months. Zelensky did not specify when the security agreement between Kiev and Washington would be signed.
“We are also working on setting specific support levels for this year and for the next ten years,” said Zelensky, outlining the agreement planned with Washington. This included armed support, financial support, political support and support for joint arms production. “The agreement should truly be exemplary and reflect the strength of American leadership.”
The USA is Ukraine’s strongest supporter so far in its defensive war against Russia. The US Senate recently approved an aid package worth 57 billion euros to help the Ukrainian army, which is already in dire straits.
Zelensky is demanding more anti-aircraft systems from the West
After the recent air strikes, Zelenskyj again called for more support from the West in anti-aircraft defense. In his video address, he explained that Russia had expanded the radius with its massive attacks, which was now further complicating the work of the Ukrainian air defense system. Ukraine needs more US Patriot air defense systems.
“Ukraine needs seven systems, that is the absolute minimum. Our partners have these Patriots,” said Zelensky. These are probably additional demands – in addition to the Patriot systems that have already been delivered. In mid-April, Germany promised Ukraine that it would deliver a third Patriot system. Zelensky had already requested 25 of these defense systems, each with 6 to 8 batteries, along with the associated missiles. “Every defense missile is literally a lifesaver,” he said. Ukraine wants to regain sovereignty over its airspace.
Zelensky again called on the West to show the same determination in protecting Ukraine from Russian terrorists as it did in the Middle East in defending Israel. “There is no time to waste, the necessary signal of determination must be sent,” he stressed.
Poland’s foreign minister is counting on Scholz to release the Taurus
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski is also hoping for more Western determination. After the delivery of long-range US missiles to Ukraine, he is counting on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to change his mind and no longer deny the attacked country German Taurus cruise missiles. “I hope the Chancellor feels encouraged by the events of the last few days,” said Sikorski in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag” and other Axel Springer media in Warsaw.
Sikorski described the delivery of US ATACMS missiles to Ukraine as a “reaction to the Russian escalation” in Ukraine, to which Germany also had to react.
A few days ago it became known that Ukraine had received long-range ATACMS missiles from the USA. Scholz, however, strictly rejects supplying Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles. He fears that Germany could be drawn into the war if the missiles with a range of 500 kilometers were made available.
“The Russians have already shut down 70 percent of Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity. This is actually a war crime,” Sikorski continued. A conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war took place in Berlin. But it would be better to prevent the destruction of the country, the Polish Foreign Minister pointed out.
Zelenskyj: Workers repair damage to energy facilities
Meanwhile, workers in Ukraine are repairing damage caused by recent Russian attacks on energy facilities, Zelensky said. The Lviv (formerly Lemberg), Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions are affected.
Moscow had previously explained the massive new shelling of energy facilities in Ukraine by saying that Kiev was also attacking Russian infrastructure with drones. In one such attack, a fire broke out at an oil processing plant in the Krasnodar Territory. However, the damage on the Russian side is disproportionate to the massive destruction caused by Moscow’s rocket strikes against Ukrainian facilities.
Russian army reports advance in Donetsk region
Meanwhile, the Russian armed forces reported that after taking individual towns in the Donetsk region, they had now penetrated deep into the Ukrainian army’s defenses. The information could not be verified. However, Western military experts had also recently certified individual tactical successes for the Russian troops. Ukrainian media also reported that Russia had conquered the village of Berdychi and was also establishing itself in the town of Ocheretyne.
