UPDATE: Zelensky urges allies to ‘speed up’ weapon supplies; it won’t matter, says Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Friday, speaking to a US-hosted donor meeting, implored Western allies to “speed up” arms deliveries as his nation faces Russia’s onslaught.

Addressing the gathering at Ramstein Air Base in Germany by video-link, Zelensky said partners needed “not to bargain about different numbers of tanks but to open that principal supply that will stop evil”.

However, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said weapons from the West will not make any difference.

Russia added that the West were living in delusion if they think Ukraine will win the war.

Russia

Meanwhile, the Kremlin warned Friday that Western tanks will make little difference on the ground in Ukraine, as Western powers gathered to discuss a new package of military aid for Kyiv.

“One should not exaggerate the importance of such supplies in terms of the ability to change something,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“This will add problems for Ukraine, but this will change nothing in terms of the Russian side advancing on the path to achieving its goals.”

‘Ukraine can’t win’

The West has a “dramatic delusion” that Ukraine can win on the battlefield against Russia, the Kremlin said Friday, as Kyiv’s allies gather in Germany to discuss support for Ukraine.

“We see an adherence to the dramatic delusion about the possibility of Ukraine having success on the battlefield,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, referring to Western countries.

He added that the conflict was “developing in an upward spiral”.

UN humanitarian convoy reaches Ukraine

In a related development, the United Nations said Friday that its first humanitarian convoy had reached the area around war-scarred Soledar in eastern Ukraine.

“This is the first inter-agency convoy to reach this area since the war began,” UN humanitarian agency spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva. AFP