Zelensky: West is afraid Russia will lose war, and it does not want Ukraine to lose it
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized the position of Western countries that ban the use of their weapons for strikes within Russia, adding that the West is afraid of Russia's defeat in the war and does not want Ukraine to lose it.
He said this in an interview with AFP, Ukrinform reports.
Zelensky also rejected French President Emmanuel Macron's call for an Olympic truce during the Paris Games, saying it would hand an "advantage" to Moscow by giving it time to move around troops and artillery.
He said Ukraine and its Western allies had the "same values" but often "different views", particularly on what the end of the conflict might look like.
"We are in a nonsense situation where the West is afraid that Russia will lose the war. And it does not want Ukraine to lose it," Zelensky said.
"Everyone wants to find some model for the war to end faster," he said, when asked about the possibility of a scenario for ending hostilities like the one that established a dividing line on the Korean peninsula.
The president urged China and countries from the developing world to attend a peace summit with dozens of leaders being hosted by neutral Switzerland next month to which Russia has not been invited.
He said global players like China "have influence on Russia. And the more such countries we have on our side, on the side of the end of the war, I would say, the more Russia will have to move and reckon with."
"We want the war to end with a fair peace for us," while "the West wants the war to end. Period. As soon as possible. And for them, this is a fair peace," he said.
In the interview, he said Ukraine only had "about 25 percent of what we need" to defend the country in terms of air defense. He also said "120 to 130" F-16 fighter jets or other advanced aircraft were needed "in order to have parity" with Russia.
He was highly critical of restrictions on striking Russian territory with Western arms, although Britain and the United States have hinted in recent days that these bans could be eased.
"They can fire any weapons from their territory at ours. This is the biggest advantage that Russia has. We can't do anything to their systems, which are located on the territory of Russia, with Western weapons," he said.