عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Zelenskiy Says West Should Permit Long-Range Attacks, Supply Weapons to Carry Them Out

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a joint news briefing, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine September 2, 2024. (Reuters)
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a joint news briefing, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine September 2, 2024. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Zelenskiy Says West Should Permit Long-Range Attacks, Supply Weapons to Carry Them Out

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a joint news briefing, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine September 2, 2024. (Reuters)
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a joint news briefing, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine September 2, 2024. (Reuters)

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday Ukraine's Western allies should not only allow their weapons to be used for strikes deep inside Russia, but also supply Kyiv with more of the arms themselves.

Ukraine has long urged partners to allow it to fire Western weapons at targets far into enemy territory, and those calls have grown louder as Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian energy installations, other infrastructure and residential buildings intensify.

After a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday, Zelenskiy said Kyiv was "more positive" about the prospects of getting such permission.

"For today, only to allow – is also not enough," he said, adding that allies should ensure deliveries of weapons to use for such attacks. "We didn't get everything we would like to use," Zelenskiy added.

Zelenskiy added that some agreements on supplies had not been fulfilled.

He said he discussed with Schoof strengthening Ukraine's air defenses. He mentioned there were "some ideas" on how to increase the fleet of F-16 jets donated by allies, one of which was lost in a crash in Ukraine last week.

"We will keep providing air defense equipment, and F-16s, and funding for munitions," Schoof said.

Schoof added that the Netherlands would provide Ukraine with around 200 million euros ($221.4 million) in support to repair energy infrastructure and for humanitarian assistance.

The Netherlands will deliver refurbished gas turbines with a total value of 29.5 million euros and has allocated 45 million euros for repairing energy infrastructure, the Dutch foreign ministry said in a statement.

The money comes from a 400-million-euro aid fund the Dutch government pledged to Ukraine earlier this year.

Zelenskiy also commented on the situation on front lines, saying that Ukraine's cross-border incursion into Russia's western region of Kursk was moving "according to the plan".

He added that Ukraine believed the operation could help to ease pressure on the Pokrovsk front in Ukraine's east, where Russia has accelerated its advances.

So far, he said, the situation there remained difficult.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Iran, European Countries Hold ‘Frank, Constructive’ Talks to Break Nuclear Stalemate

Majid Takht-Ravanchi briefs Iran’s National Security Committee on the results of the second round of dialogue with the European countries early last month. (Iranian parliament)
Majid Takht-Ravanchi briefs Iran’s National Security Committee on the results of the second round of dialogue with the European countries early last month. (Iranian parliament)
TT
TT

Iran, European Countries Hold ‘Frank, Constructive’ Talks to Break Nuclear Stalemate

Majid Takht-Ravanchi briefs Iran’s National Security Committee on the results of the second round of dialogue with the European countries early last month. (Iranian parliament)
Majid Takht-Ravanchi briefs Iran’s National Security Committee on the results of the second round of dialogue with the European countries early last month. (Iranian parliament)

Talks between Iran and European powers in Geneva regarding Tehran's disputed nuclear program were serious, frank and constructive, high level Iranian diplomats said, just a week before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

European Union diplomat Enrique Mora said he held a “constructive meeting” with Iranian deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi in Geneva on “exploring ways for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue.”

For his part, Gharibabadi posted on X that he and Takht-Ravanchi held open and constructive discussions with Mora and his team.

“We exchanged views mainly on nuclear and sanctions lifting as well as other issues of mutual interest,” he wrote.

“We also addressed Europe’s support for Israeli crimes in Gaza,” Gharibabadi said.

The Iranian delegation and the three European powers, Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, met in Geneva on Monday.

“Against a challenging context, we discussed concerns and reiterated our commitment to a diplomatic solution. We agreed to continue our dialogue,” they said in a statement posted on their X accounts.

Before the meeting with the Iranian delegation, the German foreign ministry told AFP that the talks were “not negotiations” while Iran said they were merely “consultations.”

Iran's ISNA news agency reported that the two Iranian diplomats and their counterparts from the E3 “discussed issues of mutual interest, including negotiations for lifting sanctions, the nuclear issue and the worrying situation in the region.”

It was the second round of such talks between Iran and the E3 in less than two months, following a discreet meeting in Geneva last November.

At that time, an Iranian official told Reuters that finalizing a roadmap with Europeans would “put the ball in the US court to revive or kill the nuclear deal.”

On Monday, Gharibabadi said in a post on X, “We discussed ideas involving certain details in the sanctions-lifting and nuclear fields that are needed for a deal.”

“Sides concurred that negotiations should be resumed and to reach a deal, all parties should create and maintain the appropriate atmosphere. We agreed to continue our dialogue,” he added.

Officials in Tehran fear that Trump will revive his maximum pressure strategy that sought to wreck Iran's economy to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program, ballistic missile program and regional activities.

In 2018, the US, led by then-President Trump, exited Iran's 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran.

That prompted Tehran to violate the pact's nuclear limits by rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.

Indirect talks between US President Joe Biden’s administration and Tehran to try to revive the pact have failed.

Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term.

Last December, a top Iranian diplomat warned Tehran would withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty after the E3 informed the UN Security Council their readiness to use all diplomatic tools to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, including using snapback.

The snapback mechanism - part of the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - allows signatories to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran in cases of the “significant non-performance” of commitments.