From CNN’s Amy Cassidy
Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko speaks to the media at the Ukrainian Embassy in London, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russia launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine on Thursday, hitting cities and bases with airstrikes or shelling, as civilians piled into trains and cars to flee. Ukraine’s government said Russian tanks and troops rolled across the border in a “full-scale war” that could rewrite the geopolitical order and whose fallout already reverberated around the world. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP)
Ukraine currently does not have enough military equipment to defend itself, the country’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Vadym Prystaiko, said Thursday.
“At this particular moment, we have enough people; we don’t have enough equipment,” Prystaiko said when asked if Ukraine’s forces on the ground are capable of repelling Russia’s attack.
While speaking to reporters at the Ukrainian Embassy in London, he added that Ukraine has been open about needing military equipment, plus financial and humanitarian support from other countries.
European Union leaders are expected to announce a package of humanitarian support for Ukraine later on Thursday as well as sanctions against Russia.
“But we’re putting up a real fight … tanks, helicopters, planes being shot down. We are defending our land,” Prystaiko said.
Some areas are difficult to defend, he conceded, with Russia blocking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
This is limiting Ukraine’s capabilities of bringing in reinforcements and supplies, he said, adding that humanitarian supplies will be needed “quite soon, quite critically” with the Russians “targeting critical infrastructure.”
Source: edition.cnn.com
