The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, appealed via Facebook to Western countries to provide Ukraine with immediate help, in the form of aircraft and air defence.
"We are grateful to everyone; to every citizen, every vote in support of the defence of our state and every word of support. We thank our British, Canadian and Dutch friends for their latest initiative to establish an International Support Group for Ukraine,” said Oleksiy Danilov. "But right now - at this moment, this day, this minute - we need the fastest and most practical help, on which Ukraine and the West’s victory depends; this is a matter of protecting the Ukrainian sky - we need the transfer of combat aircraft and air defence."
The Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council stressed that the lives of peaceful Ukrainians depend on this decision.
"If NATO does not want, or is unable, to close the skies over Ukraine, we will close it ourselves, give us weapons, if your weapons are in cases," he added.
According to him the Kremlin, while developing a plan of aggression against Ukraine, also relied on the West's traditional sluggishness and confusion.
"The West's behaviour since 2007 has shown an endless willingness to bow to Russian demands; to put aside its routine ‘concerns’ in return for gas and oil, for the opportunity to get a corrupt stake in Gazprom, for a quiet life. It was like that up until 2022, and it seemed that it would be like that in the future, too. However, after 24 February, everything went wrong for Russia. The West woke up when it found itself on the verge of losing everything that constitutes its very essence: its values, morals and principles. The world united around Ukraine, and the line between light and darkness ran along the lines of the Ukrainian trenches."
As reported before, Ukraine is asking its Western partners to close the airspace or provide the country with aircraft and air defence equipment to protect civilians from Russian missiles and aircraft. In particular, Ukraine wants to obtain Soviet-made aircraft which are used by the Polish Armed Forces.
Yesterday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the United States does not object to Poland handing over its planes to Ukraine and does not block such a move, but the Polish authorities must ultimately decide for themselves.