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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the situation in the Middle East has so far not affected the supply of American weapons to Ukraine under the PURL initiative, primarily missiles for air defense systems, UATV English reports.
Zelenskyy made the statement while speaking with journalists.
The President of Ukraine noted that he has not yet received any signals from Europeans or Americans regarding problems with the supply of scarce PAC-3 missiles for Patriot systems.
“Everyone understands that for us this is our life — the relevant weapons. So far, the PURL program is working. I am working to ensure there are tranches from our European partners. For now, everything is proceeding as it has been,” the president said.
Zelenskyy stated that he remains in contact with partners regarding weapons supplies to Ukraine. According to him, he held a phone conversation with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, during which they discussed this issue.
At the same time, the president expressed confidence that a prolonged and intense war in the Middle East would affect the amount of air defense equipment Ukraine receives.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also stated that, in light of the hostilities in the Middle East, the Ukrainian side cannot confirm Abu Dhabi as the venue for a meeting with the United States and Russia.
The president was responding to a question regarding updated information about a possible meeting.
“There is no updated information. The meeting was planned for the period from March 5 to 8, tentatively March 5–6. The meeting was planned in Abu Dhabi. For now, due to these hostilities, we cannot confirm that the meeting will take place specifically in Abu Dhabi, but nevertheless, no one has canceled the meeting,” Zelenskyy said.
We are not talking about exchanging border territories of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions for the part of Donetsk region that we currently control, Zelenskyy said.
Any border territories are difficult for the enemy to hold. The Russians understand that they will not be able to do this — the moment will come, and we will push them out of these territories. This is not a gift. Donbas is a goal for the Russians. Their appetite has somewhat decreased, but only for now, the President of Ukraine explained.
“The meeting must take place; it is important for us, we support it. The meeting is important, the results are important, and the exchange is very important,” he emphasized.
In a few days, Ukraine will be technically ready to open all six clusters on accession to the EU, Zelenskyy stressed.
Putin will block Ukraine’s membership in the EU in the future, which is why we need a clear date for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union in the document on ending the war that will be signed by the partners and the Russian Federation, if we are talking about a four-party document.
I have not yet received direct requests from the United Kingdom or any other partners regarding the exchange of experience with Ukrainian military personnel, Zelenskyy said.
We are ready to share this information with our partners — let them come, the president stated, noting that his priority is how best to protect Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and Kyiv, Zelenskyy stated.
Merz raised the issue of Ukraine during his visit to China — he has just mentioned this during a phone call, Zelenskyy reported. It is important for us to involve China in ending the war; this is within their power. So far, we do not see their involvement.
The events around Iran demonstrate Russia’s limited capabilities as an ally. Most of Russia’s resources are concentrated on the Ukrainian front, President of Ukraine stated.
The war in Iran is a signal to Putin about how dictatorships end, Zelenskyy added.
On February 28, President Zelenskyy announced that he had “updated the directives” for the Ukrainian delegation regarding further negotiations with Russia and the United States on potential parameters for ending the war.
Earlier, the Ukrainian president stated that he sees a window of opportunity to achieve peace in the Russia-Ukraine war before the U.S. midterm elections.
As a reminder, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that military actions against Iran could last for four weeks.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom announced that it would involve experts from Ukraine to shoot down Iranian drones in the Persian Gulf.
Read also: Nauseda: the crisis in the Middle East must not distract attention from Ukraine
