Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that one of the aims of the Russian drone provocation over Poland may have been to slow the delivery of air defence systems to Ukraine.

Source: Zelenskyy at a joint press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Kyiv, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Zelenskyy argued that the incursion of Russian drones into Poland via Ukrainian and Belarusian territory was deliberate and certainly not a coincidence.

“Russia wanted to see what would happen – what partners were ready for, what NATO was ready for. Then they looked at what partners were physically prepared for – whether they were ready for such an attack,” the Ukrainian president explained.

“Thirdly – in my view, they may also have done this to discourage partners from transferring air defence systems to Ukraine ahead of the winter. Because they showed, ‘we can attack you too; you need them as well.’ That’s very much like Putin. That’s just my opinion – I can’t be sure; I’m only sharing my thoughts,” Zelenskyy said.

He also drew parallels between this provocation and how the occupation of Crimea began in 2014.

Background: In addition, during the briefing, the president proposed joint financing and production projects for interceptor drones to Ukraine’s partners and hinted that, given its experience, Ukraine should already be integrated into Europe’s “eastern air defence shield”.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!

From Ukrainska Pravda via this RSS feed