More military aid will shorten war, says Ukraine’s Zelenskyy

Ukrainian leader also called for futher sanctions to be put in place against Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday, April 14. Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

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Ukraine’s allies have it in their hands to avoid a drawn-out war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his latest nightly video address, renewing calls for more weapons for his country and to expand sanctions on Russia.

“When someone says it will take a year or years, I reply: it is in your hands to make the war significantly shorter,” Mr Zelenskyy said.

“The more and the faster we will get all the weapons we asked for, the stronger our positions will be and the sooner peace will come.”

He also called on other nations to enforce a ban on Russian oil, to inflict further pressure on the country to end its invasion of Ukraine.

He labelled existing sanctions on Russia as “painful” but stressed that they were not enough.

In his address, Mr Zelenskyy also said the situation was “still very difficult” in the south and east of Ukraine.

He said that “in the occupied districts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, the Russian military continues to terrorise civilians” and that they were “looking for anyone who has ever been associated with the Ukrainian army or government agencies".

Mr Zelenskyy also spoke about his country’s EU membership hopes.

He said that a questionnaire, which he had received from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, was almost complete.

The bodies of more than 900 civilians were discovered in the region surrounding Kyiv following Russia’s withdrawal from there.

Most of them had been fatally shot, police said on Friday.