Zelensky vows Ukraine won’t use partners’ weapons against targets on foreign soil

Ukraine will never use the weapons, provided by partners, on the territory of other states, which does not include territories temporarily occupied by Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said this during a press conference in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"As for the downing of the A-50 and other planes manned by our enemies, this is in any case the result achieved by the alliance between Ukraine and its partners. Without this alliance, it would be very difficult for us, and in some areas it would be impossible to defend our state," Zelensky said.

He thanked Ukrainian soldiers for their effective performance in destroying enemy equipment, and partners – for supporting Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression.

"I will offer a general answer: if this plane is flying over the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, we use our weapons, if it’s in other areas, we use Ukrainian weapons. Ukraine does not have the opportunity, does not have the right, and will never use the weapons received from partners in other territories, except for the temporarily territory of Ukraine," added the president of Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on February 23, Ukraine’s Defense Forces shot down Russia’s highly-valued A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft in a joint operation of the Air Force and defense intelligence.

Currently, this is the third case where an A-50 plane is hit. Earlier, a similar aircraft was attacked by Belarusian guerillas at the Machulyshchi airbase (February 2023), and on January 14, 2024, Ukraine’s Air Force shot down another A-50 and an Il-22 aerial command plane.