Zelenskyy criticizes NATO, saying only Belarus shoots down Russian Shahed drones over its territory
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Getty Images)
Only Belarus has so far shot down Russian Shahed drones that flew into its territory. Meanwhile, Western partners are afraid to even say that they are working on this, says President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the XX annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy.
“When we hear that new missiles from Iran have arrived in Russia, this is the same evil that the allies have already had to shoot down in the skies of the Middle East,” Zelenskyy said.
According to him, the brand of missiles may be different now, but not Iran's terrorist motive behind the proliferation and use of these weapons.
“If the allies are shooting down missiles and drones together in the skies over the Middle East, why is there still no similar decision to jointly shoot down Russian missiles and Iranian Shaheds in the skies of Ukraine? Moreover, this is not done even when missiles and drones are flying into the territory of our neighbors,” the president said.
He added that when Ukraine raises this issue with its partners, “everyone is always trying to just talk it over.”
“And they are even afraid to say: 'We are working on it'. They are afraid of even these words. So far, only Belarus has distinguished itself by shooting down Russian Shaheds. I didn't think it would be like that. I think it's just humiliating for a strong democratic world,” Zelenskyy said.
Background
On September 8, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said that a Russian military drone had crashed in the eastern part of his country.
Later it became known that the Russian drone that went down in Latvia was most likely a Shahed. It was packed with explosives.
During the Russian attack on Ukraine on the night of September 7-8, Russian attack drones violated Romanian airspace.
In both cases, the air defense systems of Ukraine's neighboring countries observed the Russian targets but did not dare to shoot them down.
Following these incidents, Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas called for a change in the algorithm of NATO's air policing mission in the Baltic states to shoot down Russian missiles.
Meanwhile, Poland has named a condition under which it could shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine.
Read RBC-Ukraine's report on why NATO countries still do not shoot down Russian drones on their territory.
On September 5, it was reported that in the Gomel region of Belarus, the military shot down Russian Shaheds that had once again entered the country.
