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Zelenskyy’s chief of staff asks for weapons’ ‘lend-lease’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff is calling on the West to create a new “lend-lease” program for Ukraine, referring to the World War II effort that sent US supplies to the Soviet Union to help it fight Nazi Germany.
“Today Ukraine is the holy grail of Europe, and without exaggeration, Ukraine is reviving those principles that gave life to current Western civilization,” Andriy Yermak said in an address late Friday.
He said what Ukraine needs most are real-time intelligence and heavy weapons.
Yermak also repeated the Ukrainian president’s calls for help in closing the skies over Ukraine to stop Russian bombing and missile attacks. The West has refused to impose a no-fly zone for fear of widening the war.
He said options include supplying Ukraine with air defence systems or fighter jets or creating an “air police force to protect civilian infrastructure”.
