Thread by @revishvilig

Interesting points by President Zelenskyy from the interview with WaPo:
- Strikes on oil refineries
"The reaction of the U.S. was not positive on this but we used our drones. Nobody can say to us you can’t.” 1/8

"If there is no air defense to protect our energy system, and Russians attack it, my question is: Why can’t we answer them? Their society has to learn to live without petrol, without diesel, without electricity. … It’s fair.” 2/8

- Long-range capabilities:
Zelensky wants to use ATACMS-300s not to attack Russian territory but those airfields in Crimea. 3/8

"When Russia knows we can destroy these jets, they will not attack from Crimea. It’s like with the sea fleet. We pushed them from our territorial waters. Now we will push them from the airports in Crimea.” 4/8

- US aid package:
“If there is no U.S. support, it means that we have no air defense, no Patriot missiles, no jammers for electronic warfare, no 155-milimeter artillery rounds,” he said. “It means we will go back, retreat, step by step, in small steps.” 5/8

“We are trying to find some way not to retreat. we have stabilized the situation because of smart steps by our military.” If the front remains stable, he said Ukraine can arm and train new brigades in the rear to conduct a new counteroffensive later this year. 6/8

Ukraine is running short of interceptors and other air-defense weapons to protect its cities and infrastructure. Without the support of Congress, we will have a big deficit of missiles. 7/8

- On drones:
Zelensky touted his program for a domestically produced “army of drones, including some that can reach 1,000 kilometers or more into Russia.” But he cautioned that “drones are not enough for winning the war. Drones are not missiles" 8/8

Source: archive.is/BkUC6#selectio…

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