Zelenskyy seeks to convince Scholz of need for Taurus missiles and NATO invitation for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he hopes to persuade German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the necessity of providing long-range weapons to Ukraine and supporting an invitation for Kyiv to join NATO.

Source: Zelenskyy at a briefing in Brussels after a meeting of the European Council, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Zelenskyy was asked about the fact that Olaf Scholz is clearly not ready to act on two points from Ukraine's Victory Plan: the authorisation of long-range strikes into Russian territory and the fast-tracked invitation for Ukraine to join NATO.

"We've had many conversations with Olaf and other partners who have these long-range capabilities," Zelenskyy answered.

He said the deployment of Ukrainian-made long-range capabilities, coupled with British-French Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles, had resulted in the sinking of 23 Russian vessels in occupied Crimea, which he regarded as a significant success.

"We've never used any long-range German weapons. The reason is that they were not provided to us. So we are not discussing their use with Olaf; our conversations are one step before that. We need these long-range weapons... I respect his stance – it's his right to agree or not," Zelenskyy added.

The Ukrainian president was then asked about the German Chancellor's position on Ukraine’s  NATO invitation.

"He's never said no, but he's never said yes either. We're going to work on it," Zelenskyy replied.

Background: 

• Zelenskyy revealed that he had discussed the need for Ukraine to join NATO with US presidential candidate Donald Trump, reminding him that Kyiv gave up its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the USSR in exchange for "security guarantees".
• Zelenskyy stressed that if Ukraine's partners do not support his Victory Plan, it will benefit Russia and be a huge mistake.

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