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)
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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.



Masked Rioters Attack Highway in Central France

Police officers pass a boarded up high street shop on the Champs Elysees ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain tonight, and Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow, in Paris, France, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson
Police officers pass a boarded up high street shop on the Champs Elysees ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain tonight, and Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow, in Paris, France, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson
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Masked Rioters Attack Highway in Central France

Police officers pass a boarded up high street shop on the Champs Elysees ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain tonight, and Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow, in Paris, France, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson
Police officers pass a boarded up high street shop on the Champs Elysees ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain tonight, and Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow, in Paris, France, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson

Dozens of masked assailants wielding metal bars and Molotov cocktails attacked cars on a highway and clashed with police Saturday in the city of Limoges in central France, officials said.

The overnight clashes left 10 police wounded, according to authorities, who said they suspect a gang turf war.

The unrest came in the middle of France's summer tourism season.

The armed attackers descended on the RN141 highway and tried to block it during a battle with police, according to officials.

"There were between 100 and 150 masked individuals, armed with Molotov cocktails, fireworks, stones, iron bars and baseball bats," local police union leader Laurent Nadeau told AFP.

Police responded with tear gas and crowd-control munitions.

Mayor Emile Roger Lombertie called the rioters an "urban guerrilla group".

"They're organized, structured, there's a plan, weapons," he said.

"This was not a spontaneous protest to complain about something. No pretext, nothing. It's about destroying things and showing the territory belongs to you," Lombertie added.

Prosecutors said vehicles were attacked but there were no immediate reports of wounded drivers.

Unrest had erupted nearby, in Val de l'Aurence, on the night of July 14, France's national day.

Lombertie said this "very poor neighborhood, with young people from immigrant backgrounds" had become a "lawless zone".

France's interior ministry announced on Saturday plans to deploy a special security force to the city.