A top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday expressed frustration with the outcome of a series of meetings held by President Biden and other NATO leaders this week, saying many of the military requests Kyiv has been pleading for were not met.
Mr. Zelenskyy made an impassioned video plea from Kyiv to NATO leaders meeting in Brussels Thursday, saying Ukraine was asking for only “1 percent” of the Western military alliance’s stock of tanks and fighter jets as it tries to fight off a bigger and better-armed Russian invading force.
The U.S. and its allies have stepped up some military shipments to Kyiv, but the main decision taken at this week’s summit was to beef up NATO troops in countries along the Ukrainian and Russian borders.
“We were very disappointed, if we are being honest,” said Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s Office of the President, speaking through a translator in a videoconference Friday hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank.
While expressing gratitude for Western support so far, Mr. Yermak added, “We expected bold decisions [at the summit]. It seemed as if the allies were making decisions as if there was no war going on.”
Mr. Biden has emphatically ruled out U.S. or NATO troops joining the fighting in Ukraine, has opposed a NATO-enforced “no-fly zone” inside Ukraine, and has rejected a Polish proposal to send Soviet-era MiG jets in Warsaw’s air force to Ukraine. Mr. Biden and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg have said that many of the Zelenskyy government’s requests risk drawing the West into a direct conflict with Russia.
But Mr. Yermak said Friday that the increasingly dire situation inside his country dictates a change in approach.
“Now is not the time to explain why, now is the time to take concrete steps,” he said. While Washington has been at the forefront in bolstering Ukraine’s military, he added, “honestly, we need more and we need it more quickly.”
The unexpectedly strong resistance put up by Ukrainian forces in a month of fighting is an argument in support of more aggressive Western military aid, he said.
“If we get everything we need, yes, we have a very good chance to win this war,” Mr. Yermak said.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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