Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky pressed the West for more powerful weapons as he prepared to meet with top US officials in the war-torn country’s capital on Sunday. Russian forces have been concentrating their attacks on the east, including trying to dislodge the last Ukrainian troops in the battered port of Mariupol.
Zelensky announced the planned visit by US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, at a news conference on Saturday night in a Kyiv subway station. The White House has not commented.
Zelensky said he was looking for the Americans to produce results, both in arms and security guarantees. “You can’t come to us empty-handed today, and we are expecting not just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons,” he said.
