Zelenskyy links Ukraine's security crisis to post-Soviet nuclear disarmament

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has argued that control of the skies will determine the outcome of the war with Russia, while renewing calls for greater Western support in strengthening Ukraine's air-defence capabilities.

In remarks published by the Financial Times, Zelenskyy linked Ukraine's current security challenges to its decision in the 1990s to relinquish the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal in exchange for security assurances from Western powers and Russia.

"Without nuclear weapons, you are no longer part of the club that others fear attacking," Zelenskyy said. "Instead, you become part of the club that can be attacked."

Despite continued Russian missile and drone attacks, Zelenskyy expressed confidence that Ukraine could ultimately prevail if international support remains steady and Ukrainian forces continue to hold the front lines.

"If our partners do not abandon Ukraine financially, if our soldiers continue holding the front, if every kilometre of Russian advance continues to cost them tens of thousands — and sometimes hundreds of thousands — of personnel, then the decisive struggle will take place in the skies," he said.

"Because the skies will determine the outcome of this war."

Zelenskyy said he planned to meet U.S. President Donald Trump and other NATO leaders in Ankara, where he would urge allies to provide additional air-defence systems, including those that have so far been reluctant to transfer such equipment.

"We understand that every NATO country has established limits regarding the number of missiles and air-defence systems it must retain in service," he said.

The Ukrainian leader also called on NATO members to help Ukraine develop its own anti-ballistic missile defence capabilities through technology transfers and licensed production.

"Europe should stop being negligent in this regard. It should share technologies and industrial capabilities with other countries, because there will never be enough Patriots for everyone," Zelenskyy said.

He suggested licensed domestic production of Patriot air-defence systems as a long-term solution, noting that he had repeatedly raised the issue with Washington.

"At the G7 summit in France I again raised the issue of obtaining a Patriot production licence," he said. "I have been raising this issue for years. We are waiting for a positive signal from the United States."

Until such support materializes, Zelenskyy said Ukraine will continue to intensify strikes against military targets inside Russia and in Russian-controlled territories, particularly Crimea.

He said the objective is to "do everything to hit military bases, depots, air defence — all the sites from which aircraft take off, from which we receive missile strikes — and, of course, the logistics that supply and sustain everything."

Referring to previous operations targeting the Russian-annexed Black Sea peninsula, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had demonstrated its ability to gain temporary air superiority.

"We showed what it means to operationally control the sky at a specific point, at a specific time," he said.

By Vafa Guliyeva