Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow’s huge aerial assault on Kyiv and the surrounding region proved Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “man of war,” ahead of the Ukrainian leader’s scheduled meeting with US President Donald Trump in Florida.
According to CNN, standing beside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Zelensky told reporters that the latest Russian attacks, the year’s longest sustained assault on the capital, “really showed Putin doesn’t want peace.”
“We want peace,” Zelensky said. “And he’s a man of war.”
The attack on Kyiv city and the surrounding region lasted nearly 10 hours, killing at least two people and injuring 44 more, including two children, according to local authorities.
More than 40% of residential buildings in Kyiv also have no heating as a result, amid freezing temperatures, Oleksiy Kuleba, a senior government minister, said on social media.
Local residents were kept on edge into Saturday, with air raid sirens blaring on and off intermittently during the day.
Speaking on board a plane bound for the United States, Zelensky said he would be looking for a signal during talks with Trump that Ukraine would receive legally binding security guarantees as part of any peace deal.
He also repeated calls for the bolstering of Ukraine’s air defenses, saying the country needed more missiles to fend off Russia’s relentless attacks.
“The support of Europeans is important to us today. We do not have enough additional air defense systems,” he said.
Ahead of his meeting with Trump, Zelensky stopped in Canada for talks with Carney, who announced a further 2.5 billion Canadian dollars ($1.83 billion) in economic assistance for Ukraine.
