'Give us better weapons if you don't want Putin to drag us into World War 3': Ukrainian President Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. AP

In his latest bid to secure more military assistance from the West, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country requires more and better weapon systems to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from dragging the world into World War 3.

Zelenskyy’s call for more aid comes as a $60 billion aid package to Ukraine remains stalled in the US Congress. Moreover, amid increasing prospects of Donald Trump winning the presidency later this year, who has hinted he could undo the US policy of support to Ukraine, there are concerns that the hard-fought Ukrainian gains could be lost amid waning Western support.

Speaking to CNN’s Fred Pleitgen virtually at the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece, Zelenskyy urged the country’s allies to be “realists” instead of “pessimists”. He also appeared to soften his stand on Trump and said that he has invited him to visit Ukraine.

What we have now is not sufficient, we need more: Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy said that the current supplies with Ukraine are not enough to prevent the march of Putin. This is the latest push from Zelenskyy to secure advanced weapon systems from the West, which include long-range missiles and F-16 fighter planes.

The result of the war depends on such deliveries, said Zelenskyy, warning that the inability to make such deliveries would push the world into World War 3.

“Once we have weapons and concrete political steps from our allies, we will break Putin’s backbone…What we have now is not sufficient. If we want to truly prevail over Putin, if nobody wants Putin to drag world into World War 3 [then weapons should be delivered],” said Zelenskyy in his translated remarks.

Zelenskyy will hear Trump on Ukraine ‘with pleasure’

Zelenskyy said that he would listen to Trump “with pleasure”. He added that he has invited Trump to visit Ukraine and see the situation on the ground to make up his views.

Trump is the presumptive Republican Party nominee for the US presidential election later this year. He has indicated that he would lead an isolationist foreign policy and could undo the US support to Ukraine. The hard-right wing of the Republican Party loyal to Trump has stalled a $60 billion aid package to Ukraine.

As for Trump’s reported plan to end the Ukraine war with the surrender of Ukrainian territory to Russia, Zelenskyy said that he has only seen media reports and has not heard anything from Trump.

“First and foremost, those signals were on certain media platforms. I haven’t heard that directly from Trump. His ideas in detail, I did not have an opportunity to discuss them with him and to discuss his ideas on how to end the war. If I have such an opportunity I will with pleasure listen to them and then we can discuss the topic,” said Zelenskyy.

Previously, Zelenskyy had rejected Trump’s take on the Ukraine conflict that broadly seeks the surrender of Ukrainian territories to Russia to reach a ceasefire. The Washington Post has reported that Trump believes that Ukraine should cede the Donbas and Crimea regions to Russia to end the war. He has said he could achieve the peace deal within 24 hours. Last year, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would not agree to a deal that includes ceding land.

“If we are talking about ending the war at the cost of Ukraine, in other words to make us give up our territories, well, I think in this way Biden could have brought it to an end even in five minutes, but we would not agree,” said Zelenskyy in an interview with ABC News.