Interview from NPR team in Ukraine yeterday
One of President Zelenskyy's top advisers told NPR what Ukraine wants
>> Ukraine's Zelenskyy hosts European leaders, welcomes more U.S. weapons
Macron shared a train ride into Kyiv with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis arrived on a separate train.
Next week, European Union leaders are expected to make a decision on Ukraine's request to become a candidate for membership in the EU.
French President Emmanuel Macron (center), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right), and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi travel by train to Kyiv after departing from Poland. The three leaders met later with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to talk about the war in Ukraine. Ludovic Marin/AP
"It's yet another sign that Western support for Ukraine is here for good," Zelenskyy said in his regular late-night address. "I'll keep asking for necessary weapons and equipment, but the bravery and skillfulness of our service members can't be imported."
Ukrainian leaders have criticized what they describe as lukewarm support from these key European countries, and Thursday's meeting is being closely watched to gauge the level of support for Ukraine's war with Russia.
"How can the country that rapes our women be allowed save face?" Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Zelenskyy, told NPR in an interview this week. "What do we need to win this war, to have this war come to an end? We need weapons."
Podolyak is Ukraine's chief negotiator, and in the early weeks of the war he led a team that met several times with Russian representatives. But the talks made no progress. As evidence of Russian abuses mounted on the battlefield, the Ukrainian public turned against such talks.
In a poll last month, more than 80% of Ukrainians said they were unwilling to give up territory for peace, even if it means a prolonged conflict, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
(U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (left), and U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley speak at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. The NATO defense ministers are meeting to discuss the war in Ukraine. The U.S. announced an additional $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine, which includes heavy weapons. Olivier Matthys/AP)
> Podolyak said if Ukrainians cede territory to Russia now, even if under a temporary ceasefire, there are no guarantees Russia would not invade again later.
"A cease-fire would be a de facto Russian victory," he said. But, he added, "We are ready to agree to something so long as this [Russian] threat does not persist."
For now, Podolyak and other Ukrainian leaders say Ukraine desperately needs more artillery to combat the Russian forces that are making grinding progress in the eastern part of the country. After weeks of heavy fighting, the Russians are on the verge of capturing the city of Sievierodonetsk in the Donbas region.
Podolyak posted a wish-list of weapons on Twitter, which included requests for 1,000 howitzers, 1,000 drones and 500 tanks. He said this would give Ukraine "parity" with Russian forces.
He stressed that Ukraine is increasing dependent on Western weapons because it is running out of ammunition for its aging Soviet-era arsenal. Additional ammunition for those weapons is not widely available outside of Russia.
Ukraine has been transitioning to NATO equipment in recent years, but Podolyak says it takes European buy-in for Ukraine to fully transition to more modern systems which are made and sold worldwide.
But as long as the Russians have an advantage in artillery by a ratio of 10-to-1 or more, Ukraine will continue to struggle on the battlefield, he said.
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