Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that his country urgently needs more air defenses as it faces increased attacks from Russia in the east.
"Air defense (is) the biggest deficit for us.
I think that the biggest problem is ... today we really need two Patriots for Kharkiv region because there are people under attack: civilians and warriors.
They are under Russian missiles," Zelensky told reporters ahead of his meeting with Blinken.
"Instead, Russian forces are exploiting the degradation of Ukraine’s air defense umbrella caused by continued delays in Western security assistance and appear to be leveraging tactical adaptations stemming from several months of Russian efforts to test Ukrainian air defenses," the Washington-based group said in a report.
Persons:
Volodymyr Zelensky, Antony Blinken, Zelensky
Organizations:
Patriots, Ukraine
Locations:
Russia, Kharkiv, Russian, Washington