Ukraine needs the ability to strike deep within Russia now, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged US and allied military leaders in Germany as Kyiv continues to press its case that without long-range strikes and bolstered air defences, it faces a bleak winter.
The meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group on Friday was taking place during a dynamic moment in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, as it conducts its first offensive operations of the war while facing a significant threat from Russian forces near a key hub in the Donbas.
It also comes days after Russia launched a deadly air strike against a Ukrainian military training centre that killed more than 50 and wounded hundreds.
Then on Friday Russia fired five ballistic missiles at the city of Pavlohrad in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, injuring at least 50 people, regional Governor Serhii Lysak said.
Three of those injured in the daylight attack were children aged four, nine, and 11 years old, he said.
“We need to have this long-range capability, not only on the divided territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russian territory, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace,” Zelenskiy told the contact group.
“We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about what they need: peace or Putin.”
To date, the US has been reluctant to further loosen restrictions on the long-range missiles it does provide, out of concerns that it could further escalate the conflict.
However, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said Zelenskiy convinced him to support the long-range strike use and he hoped the other Western allies also got behind the request.
Canada did not have long-range munitions it could provide on its own, Blair said.
So far, the surprise assault inside Russia’s Kursk territory - in which Zelenskiy said Ukraine had been able to capture about 1300km of Russian territory and kill or injure about 6000 Russian soldiers - has not drawn away President Vladimir Putin’s focus from taking the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which provides critical rail and supply links for the Ukrainian army.
Losing Pokrovsk could put additional Ukrainian cities at risk.
While Kursk had put Russia on the defensive, “we know Putin’s malice runs deep” and Moscow was pressing on, especially around Pokrovsk, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
Recent deadly air strikes by Russia have renewed Zelenskiy’s calls for the US to further loosen restrictions and obtain even greater Western capabilities to strike deeper inside Russia.
Zelenskiy also said systems that were already promised have been too slow to arrive.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the systems promised, particularly Patriot air defence systems, needed to be delivered to help Ukraine defend its electrical grid and infrastructure during winter fighting.
Russia in 2023 repeatedly struck power systems in Ukraine.
During the meeting Austin announced the Biden administration would provide another $US250 million ($A370 million) in weapons to Ukraine, including air defence munitions and artillery.
As well as resources for air defence and artillery, the meeting on Friday was expected to focus on shoring up gains in expanding Ukraine’s own defence industrial base, to put it on more solid footing as the final days of Joe Biden's US presidency wind down.
Western partner nations were working with Ukraine to source a substitute missile for its Soviet-era S-300 air defence systems, Austin said.
The US was also focused on resourcing a variety of air-to-ground missiles that the newly delivered F-16 fighter jets could carry, including the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, which could give Ukraine a longer-range cruise missile option, said Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, who spoke to reporters travelling with Austin.
No decisions on the munition had been made, LaPlante said, noting policymakers would still have to decide whether to give Ukraine the longer-range capability.
Since 2022, the member nations together have provided about $US106 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, of which the US has provided more than $US56 billion.
The German government said Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to meet Zelenskiy in Frankfurt on Friday afternoon.
