Nov 25, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Ukraine
needs more air defenses to protect its grain export routes as well regions
bordering Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday, as he
addressed an international summit on food security in Kyiv. The Swiss President
during the summit also pledged to provide additional support to Kyiv.
“There is a deficit of air defense - that is no secret,” Zelenskyy told the Grain from Ukraine summit, which was attended by senior officials from European countries, including Swiss President Alain Berset and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
Zelenskyy
was speaking after Russia attacked Ukraine with 75 drones overnight, the
biggest drone assault of the war. The joint press conference of the three
leaders was cut short by another air raid siren.
Zelenskyy
said Ukraine would be supplied by its foreign partners with vessels to
accompany convoys of cargo ships from Ukraine’s ports to guarantee their
security.
“I have
agreements with several countries about powerful accompaniment of convoys by
Ukrainians, but using [foreign] equipment,” he said.
The
Ukrainian president also said Kyiv hoped to solve its air defense shortage
through new supplies from partners and increasing its own production capacity,
something on which he said there had been progress.
“As of
today, I can’t say in details what we are making and where, but there is
progress,” he said.
Ukraine, a
major exporter of grain, has been exporting grain via unilateral corridors
through the Black sea, after Russia withdrew in July from a UN-brokered deal to
allow grain ships through its blockade.
Ukraine’s
current Black sea grain export corridors all start from ports in Ukraine’s
southern region of Odesa.
“There are
certain air defense systems... we are asking for them,” Zelenskyy said. “We’ve
already got an answer when those systems will start to guard that region.
Because there, both the corridor and the people are important,” he added.
Swiss president pledges more support
Swiss
President Alain Berset pledged his long-term support for Ukraine on Saturday in
a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart in Kyiv.
“In talks
with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Berset stressed that Switzerland
stands in solidarity with Ukraine for the long haul, even in times of multiple
concurrent crises,” the Swiss government said. Zelenskyy said on social media
platform X that mine clearing, peace proposals and the use of profits from
frozen Russian assets were also discussed.
Switzerland
has previously said it has frozen some 7.5 billion Swiss francs (USD 8.5
billion) in Russian assets.
During the
trip Berset also visited Bucha where many civilians were killed in the early
stages of the war and laid flowers at a memorial in Kyiv for the Soviet-era
Holodomor, when millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death. Berset also
said Switzerland would provide additional aid to the country, supplying 10 more
ambulances and six fire engines to replace damaged ones.
Switzerland,
which has the principle of neutrality embedded in its constitution, has
nevertheless imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and
joined an international call for a special tribunal to address Russia’s crime
of “aggression” against Ukraine. It says there is no contradiction as the legal
definition of neutrality means not favoring any warring party militarily.
Reuters
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