Zelensky to appeal to Biden’s legacy in plea to lift weapon restrictions

“Biden can strengthen Ukraine and make important decisions for Ukraine to become stronger and protect its independence while he is the president of the United States,” Zelensky said. “I think it is a historical mission. Well, at least from the perspective of Ukraine.”

Ukraine has recently ramped up its pleas for its Western partners to approve using long-range weapons, including U.S. ATACMS and the Franco-British system known as Storm Shadows or SCALP.

Until now, Ukraine’s partners have refused to grant such permission, largely citing fears that Russia would see it as a major escalation and could retaliate. Officials in Ukraine are frustrated by this argument, saying that Putin has repeatedly made such threats, but that after 2 1/2 years of full-scale war, no real red lines have been identified. Banning Ukraine from using the weapons also poses an immense danger to Western security, Kyiv has warned.

Zelensky said Ukraine needs both more long-range weapons and the green light to use them inside Russia.

“But neither America nor the United Kingdom gave us permission to use these weapons on the territory of Russia, on any targets at any distance,” he said. “We have not used long-range weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Zelensky said Friday that he believes Biden is receiving information from his team that Russia could escalate, “but, and this is important, not everyone around him thinks so. And this is already an achievement.”

Biden’s decision “depends on many things and depends, of course on a certain number of people. And whether he will hear our arguments,” Zelensky said. “We had some decisions in the history of our relationship with Biden, there were very interesting and difficult dialogues. He later changed his point of view.”

Zelensky said he also expects to meet Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

He said he would “see what [Harris] thinks about this victory plan” and that meeting Trump “will be important for both of us.”

“The United States will have a new president. And we need to talk to each of the candidates about their attitude to this,” Zelensky said. “I will also talk to the Congress. I need their support in this matter.”