Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling for the lifting of restrictions on how Ukraine can use long-range weapons supplied by its Western allies, after a deadly Russian airstrike near Kiev that he said likely involved a North Korean missile.
“The Russians have no geographical restrictions on the use of such weapons – since the first days of the full-scale war, the entire territory of our state has been under constant threat of attack,” Zelensky wrote on X on Sunday.
“When Ukraine’s long-range capabilities have no limits, this war will definitely have a limit – we will truly bring its just end closer.”
Ukraine is not allowed to to use Western weapons to fire on targets deep into Russian territory, in part because leaders in Europe and the United States fear it could draw them into the war.
Zelensky said that Russia had fired 30 missiles and over 800 glide bombs at Ukraine in one week.
He condemned Russia’s “deliberate terrorist strike” in a Kiev suburb at the weekend that killed a father and his 4-year-old son, saying preliminary information suggested the Russians had used a North Korean missile.
However, there were conflicting accounts out of Kiev. Zelensky’s adviser Andriy Yermak said an Iranian-designed drone hit the family’s house in the suburb of Brovary. Earlier, rescue workers said that missile fragments hit the house.