President Zelensky confirms US warned Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil refineries
(Baonghean.vn) - The Ukrainian president has confirmed media reports that the White House has urged him to stop attacks on Russian infrastructure. However, Mr. Zelensky said the attacks will continue unless the US provides him with better weapons.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky gave an interview to Washington Post journalist David Ignatius, published on March 28, in which he called on the US Congress to approve a $61 billion aid package. In it, the Ukrainian leader confirmed media reports from last week that Washington had asked him to stop targeting Russian oil refineries with drones.
“The US response to this is not positive,” Zelensky told Ignatius, adding that Washington had no right to block it.
“We have used our drones. No one can tell us, you can’t,” he said. The United States has long said it has a veto over how the weapons it supplies to Kiev are used.
Ukraine launched drone attacks on several Russian oil facilities earlier this month, claiming they were “delivering a symbolic blow by bringing the war closer to Moscow” and disrupting fuel supplies to troops on the front lines, RT reported.
However, after Russia responded by targeting power plants across Ukraine, Zelensky changed his mind, telling Ignatius that the attacks inside Russia were a form of deterrence, because Kiev was running out of missiles for its Western-supplied air defense systems.
“If there is no air defense to protect our energy system and the Russians attack it, my question is: Why can’t we respond to them? Their society has to learn to live without gasoline, without diesel, without electricity. … That’s fair,” the Ukrainian leader said.
According to journalist Ignatius, President Zelensky “felt he had no choice but to fight back across the border.” However, in the same interview, the Ukrainian leader reiterated his request for the US to send long-range ATACMS missiles so he could advance deeper into Russian territory.
“ATACM-300, that is the answer,” Zelensky said.
Repeatedly asking the US Congress to approve more funding, the Ukrainian leader argued that his army would have to retreat and forget about organizing another offensive.
“That means we will retreat, we will retreat, step by step, small steps. We are trying to find some way to not retreat,” he added.
RT commented that Ukraine has become completely dependent on supplies of weapons, ammunition and equipment from the US and its allies, who have always insisted that supplying Kiev does not make them a party to the conflict.
