Ukraine’s Zelenskiy: We have to create an effective air shield over Europe

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(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that an incursion into Poland by Russian drones meant Europe had to work on creating a joint air defence and an effective air shield.

“We need to work on a joint system of air defence and create an effective air shield over Europe,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram after speaking by telephone to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and other European leaders.

“Ukraine proposed this a long time ago. There are concrete decisions on this. We must react together to all current challenges and be prepared for potential threats to all Europeans in the future,” he added.

Speaking later in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had presented proposals for joint protection of European airspace “in a coordinated, well-thought-out, joint way”.

“No one can guarantee that there won’t be hundreds, if there are already dozens of drones. Only joint European forces can provide protection,” he said.

Zelenskiy suggested that joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises due to get under way in Belarus could serve as a “training plan” for future Russian action.

Strong action is vital, he said, to counter what Russia was doing.

“There are more than enough statements, but so far there is a shortage of action,” he said.

“The Russians are testing the limits of what is possible. They are testing reactions. They are monitoring how NATO countries’ armed forces act, what they can do and cannot yet do.”

Zelenskiy said Ukraine and all of Europe were “very much counting on a strong reaction from the United States”.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleskandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot)