At the opening meeting of the so-called Ukraine Contact Group at the US air base in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again asked the Western allies for long-range missiles. In addition, the Ukrainian armed forces need more F-16 fighter jets and more air defense capabilities in order to be able to stand up to the Russian military, he said. Zelensky demanded that the Western allies ignore Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “red lines”.

The Ukrainian president was referring to Putin’s threats regarding possible attacks by Ukraine in Russia with Western weapons. “We need more weapons to drive the Russian troops out of our territory and especially from the Donetsk region,” said Zelensky. Ukraine needs the “long-range capability” not only on occupied territory in Ukraine, “but also on Russian territory.”

The world has enough air defense systems to ensure that Russian terror does not produce results, said Zelensky. “I will not speak publicly about the number of air defense systems we have received, but the number of air defense systems that have not been delivered is significant.”

Scholz rejects attacks with German weapons in Russia

So far, the USA and other important partners of Ukraine have only allowed limited attacks on Russian territory with Western weapons. Zelensky has long been calling for long-range weapons with which Ukraine could attack Russia even deep inland. Russia fires large parts of its missiles at Ukraine from great distances. The USA has repeatedly rejected Zelensky’s demand to use US weapons far from the Ukrainian-Russian border. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is also considered a vehement opponent of such a change of course.

© Lea Dohle

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Ukraine wants peace – unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Zelensky. “We must force Putin to seek peace,” he added. “We must make it so that Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about the fact that they need real peace.” Putin stands for destruction. “He wants our cities or the ruins that are left of them.”

In addition to Zelensky, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) are also taking part in the meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group. At the beginning of the meeting, Austin announced additional US aid for Ukraine in the amount of 250 million dollars. US President Joe Biden has signed a corresponding new aid package. “It will strengthen the capabilities to meet Ukraine’s changing needs,” said Austin.

Meeting between Selenskyj and Scholz in the afternoon

Zelensky is expected to travel from Ramstein to Frankfurt am Main during the course of the day and meet with Chancellor Scholz there. Both want to meet for a one-on-one meeting in the early afternoon, a government spokesman confirmed. This is Zelensky’s fifth visit to Germany since the war began. He last spoke in the Bundestag in Berlin in June.

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Austin invited the members of the contact group to the conference in Ramstein, the largest US air force base outside the United States. This includes around 50 states. It is the 24th meeting of the body, although most of the discussions took place as video conferences.

Follow current developments on the Ukraine war in our live blog.