In a lengthy statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Zelensky said after meeting with Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his US counterpart Antony Blinken earlier this week, “there should be no unanswered questions about why Ukraine needs sufficient long-range capabilities.
“When we ask for these systems, we repeatedly hear ‘We are working on it’.
”I am grateful to those who made the commitments and are fulfilling them, but we are still far from fully implementing what has been agreed.
“It’s difficult to repeatedly hear ‘We are working on this’, while Putin continues to burn down our cities and villages.”
Mr Putin said allowing long-range strikes “would mean that Nato countries, the United States, and European countries are at war with Russia… if this is so, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us”.
Earlier this week, Mr Lammy and Mr Blinken announced further financial support for Ukraine, including a £600 million package from the UK and $717 million (£550 million) from the US to meet immediate humanitarian, energy and stabilisation.