.-') _ .-') _
( OO ) ) ( OO ) )
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,'
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | )
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--'
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
/
Ukraine ‘ran out of missiles’ to thwart Russian strike on power
plant, Zelensky says
By Sebastian Shukla, Olga Voitovych, Andy Carey and Christian Edwards,
CNN
Updated:
11:42 AM EDT, Tue April 16, 2024
Source: CNN
A lack of air defenses meant Ukraine was powerless to prevent a
airstrike last week that in Kyiv region, President Volodomyr Zelensky
said.
Russia fired 11 missiles towards the Trypilska power plant, Zelensky
said. Ukrainian air defenses downed the first seven missiles, but the
next four completely destroyed the plant.
“Why? Because we had zero missiles. We ran out of all missiles,”
Zelensky told in an interview that aired Monday.
Zelensky has repeatedly warned allies that Ukraine’s air defenses are
running perilously thin, as Russia has recently on Ukraine’s energy
infrastructure. But a desperately needed military aid package from the
United States has for months been blocked by House Republicans in
Congress.
Zelenksy said Iran’s thwarted attack on Israel demonstrated that
Western countries were able to protect the skies of their allies. Iran
fired more than 300 projectiles at Israel in an over the weekend, but
the attack was stymied with the help of US, UK, French and Jordanian
air defenses.
“Israel, by itself, wouldn’t be able to protect against such a
numerous, powerful strike. And here, definitely, they used air defense
and aviation, many things that, frankly speaking, Ukraine is
lacking,” he said.
Zelensky questioned why Israel has enjoyed such comprehensive support
from NATO members despite not being a member of the alliance.
“Israel is not a NATO country. The NATO allies, including NATO
countries, have been defending Israel. They showed the Iranian forces
that Israel was not alone. And this is a lesson. This is a response to
anyone on any continent who says you need to assist Ukraine very
carefully so you don’t engage NATO countries in the war,” he said.
Allies have passed incremental aid packages but the main tranche of US
funding – totaling some $60 billion – has not been brought to a
vote in Congress by House Speaker .
Johnson on Monday signaled that, by the week’s end, he would bring a
revamped Ukraine funding bill to the floor of the House, which would be
separate from funding bills for Israel and Taiwan. However, there are
still doubts whether the bill will pass as Johnson faces opposition
from within his own party.
Zelensky called the division of the bill “strange” and “pure
politics.”
“Nobody cares how many people are dying in Ukraine every day. They
only care about their approval ratings. That’s what it’s all about.
But forgetting that dead people don’t care about ratings”, Zelensky
said.
“People in Congress need to think twice about pushing these political
matters with regards to support in Ukraine and vote to support all of
the countries whose lives depend on it.”
Zelensky repeated his warnings that Ukraine risks losing the war if the
US fails to approve military aid.
“I can tell you, frankly, without this support, we will have no
chance of winning,” he said.
He said Russia enjoys a 10-to-one advantage in terms of artillery
shells. “To defend 100 percent of what’s in our control, we would
need to go from one to comparing numbers, 10-10.”
DIR <- back to index