- Published
Ukraine's president has used a speech at the Nato summit in Turkey to urge allies to deliver the air defence systems Kyiv urgently needs to protect it from escalating Russian attacks.
"We are capable of doing everything else ourselves, but when it comes to air defence, we need our partners' determination," Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday morning.
Zelensky's call for help rings with extra intensity after Russian missiles rained down on the Ukrainian capital twice in less than a week, crashing into blocks of flats and killing more than 50 civilians.
The summit in Ankara will also be a chance for Zelensky to hold a crucial meeting with Donald Trump and press home his case that Russia's "brutal" attacks are a show of weakness, not strength, and that Vladimir Putin should be pressured into talks towards a "dignified" peace.
The latest strikes on Ukraine come as it has been stepping up its own long-range drone attacks against Russia, hitting oil refineries and military targets there and causing significant fuel shortages and power cuts.
Underscoring that threat, Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said anti-air defences intercepted "most" of the 430 unmanned aerial drones fired by Ukraine towards the capital overnight. The severity of the damage was not immediately clear.
Russian social media accounts are full of videos of people queuing for hours to buy petrol and fighting over what little they're allowed.
Speaking before the summit, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged member states to "pull their weight" and ensure Ukraine gets what it needs "to defend its sovereignty".
He underlined that Kyiv was "changing the dynamic on the battlefield", referring to efforts to stall Russian ground troops in the east.
That's also about the recent drone strikes, apparently giving Ukraine an edge.
The phrase of the month here is "window of opportunity".
But as the war in the skies has intensified, Russia's ballistic missiles are causing Kyiv real problems.
Ukraine's air force issues a daily tally of the weapons Moscow launches alongside the number intercepted.
On Monday, almost all drones were blocked successfully but the failure rate for missiles was glaringly obvious.
Ukraine did not stop a single ballistic missile in that attack.
It isn't easy: they fly at several thousand kilometres an hour and there just aren't enough US-made Patriot air defence missiles in Ukraine to counter them.
"It is simply absurd that, in today's world, production has still not been scaled up to the level actually required to protect people from ballistic terror," Zelensky said, venting his frustration in a video address on Monday.
He has been calling on European allies to hand over their own stockpiles of Patriot missiles, arguing that they're no good to anyone in storage when civilians are being killed now in Ukraine.
"Russia is placing its bets on ballistic weapons, and those who want peace must place their bets on protection against ballistic attacks," Zelensky argued on Monday, setting out his case for meetings in Ankara.
But Patriot systems are in short supply worldwide and it's not clear how many would ever be enough if Russia were to escalate its ballistic attacks further.
That's why Zelensky also talks about Ukraine producing its own equivalent, with Nato help.
The Russian attacks, though, do suggest that Ukraine's deep strikes are getting under the Kremlin's skin.
After years of Russia targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including power stations in mid-winter, Moscow now accuses Kyiv of "terrorism" for hitting its oil refineries with drones.
Zelensky calls it an "influence campaign" and he will be keen to share details with Nato allies.
The aim is to pressure Putin into peace talks on terms that Kyiv could stomach – that doesn't include surrendering the entire eastern Donbas region, as Moscow still demands.
The campaign targets have been high profile.
An oil terminal in St Petersburg was hit with drones ahead of Putin's showpiece economic forum in the city in June. Then there were strikes on a refinery in Moscow itself, creating explosion videos that went viral.
Now there's a confirmed hit on an oil refinery in Omsk, Siberia, 2,500 km from Ukraine's border. The drone must have flown undetected for many hours, which shows how stretched Russia's own air defences actually are.
Ukraine's "influence" efforts also include Crimea, the peninsula which Putin seized in 2014 and which is deeply important to him personally.
Ukrainian drones are now hitting military logistics, oil refineries and power plants there almost every day, causing power cuts, fuel and food shortages and an official state of emergency.
A local resident told the BBC the situation was "catastrophic", reminiscent of the turbulent 1990s after the USSR collapsed.
One of Putin's great claims is that he "saved" the country from that chaos, raising Russia "from its knees".
Now his all-out war is bringing danger even to Moscow in the form of drone strikes, and widespread fuel rationing.
So Zelensky will tell Nato, and try to persuade Trump, that Ukraine has turned the tide in this war, and that its campaign of pressure can, with help, compel Russia to engage in proper negotiations for peace.
Trump has seemed impressed by Ukraine lately, although he spoke to Putin for 90 minutes by phone this week, giving the Russian leader a chance to get his war story in first.
Above all, Kyiv wants to end this war fast, through "strength or diplomacy", before another gruelling winter kicks in.
But to have any chance of that, Zelensky will argue, Ukraine needs more interceptor missiles to protect its cities and civilians.
Related topics
- Published18 hours ago
- Published1 day ago
Facts Only
* Volodymyr Zelensky used a speech at the NATO summit in Turkey to urge allies to deliver air defense systems.
* Zelensky stated that partners' determination is needed for air defense, as Ukraine is capable of other actions.
* Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian capital twice in less than a week, resulting in the crashing of apartment blocks and the death of over 50 civilians.
* Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that anti-air defenses intercepted most of the 430 unmanned aerial drones fired by Ukraine overnight.
* Ukraine's air force issues a daily tally of Russian launched weapons alongside the number intercepted.
* In one attack, Ukraine did not stop a single ballistic missile.
* There are insufficient US-made Patriot air defense missiles in Ukraine to counter ballistic missiles.
* Zelensky called for European allies to hand over their stockpiles of Patriot missiles.
* Russian drone strikes targeted oil refineries and military targets, causing fuel shortages and power cuts.
* Moscow accused Kyiv of "terrorism" for hitting oil refineries with drones.
* Drone strikes have also occurred on Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014.
Executive Summary
Ukraine's president used a speech at the NATO summit in Turkey to request that allies provide air defense systems necessary to protect Ukraine from escalating Russian attacks, emphasizing a need for partner determination in this area. This appeal followed recent intense Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital, which resulted in civilian casualties. The summit is also intended as an opportunity for the president to engage with Donald Trump and advocate for a shift in Russian behavior toward a "dignified" peace by framing Russia's actions as a display of weakness. Concurrently, Ukraine has been conducting its own long-range drone attacks against Russian targets, including oil refineries and military sites, which Moscow claims are acts of terrorism; this effort is framed by Ukraine as an "influence campaign" designed to pressure Putin into negotiations acceptable to Kyiv.
The situation involves direct military concerns regarding air defense capabilities, evidenced by the inability to stop ballistic missiles and the shortage of necessary systems like Patriot missiles. Simultaneously, there is a dynamic where Ukrainian actions are interpreted by Russia as aggression, while Ukraine seeks to frame its own actions to achieve political goals through external pressure on Russia.
Full Take
The narrative presented juxtaposes a direct request for material defense—air defense systems—with a strategic effort to leverage asymmetrical actions (drone strikes) and high-level diplomatic engagement to shift the perception of conflict. The core pattern involves framing military necessity not just as a defensive requirement but as a global issue concerning ballistic threat and sovereignty, utilizing this framing to gain external support. The tension lies between immediate kinetic survival (needing missiles) and long-term strategic pressure (seeking peace terms).
The invocation of the "window of opportunity" suggests an attempt to create urgency for allies while simultaneously presenting Ukraine's actions as successful provocation that warrants diplomatic concessions from Russia. The pattern of Moscow accusing Kyiv of "terrorism" for strikes against critical infrastructure suggests a systemic rejection of Ukrainian action, shifting the focus from military engagement to moral legitimacy. This dynamic implies that achieving peace hinges on redefining the terms of the conflict: moving beyond territorial demands to address perceived existential security threats created by asymmetric warfare and infrastructure targeting. The underlying implication is whether external support can bridge the gap between immediate physical protection and negotiated political resolution when one side frames the other's operational success as pure aggression.
BRIDGE QUESTIONS:
What is the long-term viability of relying on external stockpiles versus developing self-sufficiency for critical air defense systems? How does the international community balance humanitarian aid and security support with demands for politically palatable peace terms from Moscow? If Ukraine's drone strikes are framed as an "influence campaign," what independent metrics exist to assess the actual impact of these actions against Russian strategic interests, separate from immediate kinetic damage?