Western leaders should “rethink” the amount of weapons they are sending to Ukraine and “increase them drastically”, a Ukrainian MP has said.
Kira Rudik told Sky News that Ukraine will only be able to fight Russian aggression and win the war by getting more air defence systems.
“Right now, we cannot promise people when they go to bed that they will wake up in the morning,” she said.
“This is the key issue right now for Ukraine, to get air defence[s] so we can continue fighting and we can continue pushing Russia back.”
Asked about fears that US-made F-16 jets could suffer a similar fate as other warplanes targeted by Russia at Ukrainian air bases, Ms Rudik said increased air defences would protect the aircraft.
She added that Ukraine’s allies needed to “switch their perception” from “letting Ukraine fight to letting us win the war”.
“We still feel in ourselves that we can win this war and our people are ready to fight,” she said.
“It is so critical, and we are asking all leaders to rethink the amounts of weapons that they are sending our way and increase them drastically, because we know that we are not only fighting for ourselves, we are fighting… for the freedom, values and for the way the world would look like.”
On Western fears that Russia could escalate if Ukraine is handed modern weapons and fighter jets, Ms Rudik said Moscow had “already escalated”.
“They have already committed all kinds of war crimes on our territory to our people, and there is no thinking that they would stop unless they are stopped,” she said.
