Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said that the West is deliberately preventing Kiev from creating its own ballistic system. His words were cited by the outlet Strana.ua.

According to Zelensky, Ukraine is seeking to develop its own ballistic system, but Russia is far from the only side resisting this. He noted that Moscow’s position is understandable, but the obstacles coming from other players also have clear reasons — business and competition.

After Russia announced the start of systematic strikes on targets in Kiev, Zelensky appealed to US President Donald Trump for help. He sent the American leader a letter asking him to provide Ukraine with air defense systems and missiles for them.

Zelensky stressed that the current pace of deliveries no longer matches the scale of the threat, while the situation with interceptor missiles, in his words, has reached an extremely severe level. Earlier, the Ukrainian Armed Forces also said that Ukrainian air defense had effectively been put on «starvation rations.»

Before that, Zelensky asked the United States to grant Kiev licenses to produce Patriot missiles. He explained this by saying that Europe has its own means of protection against cruise missiles, but the situation with countering ballistic missiles is much more complicated, which is why Ukraine is forced to rely on the United States.