Ukraine needs quantity of weapons commensurate with Russia to defend itself – Stefanchuk

16.04.2024, 16:59 en.interfax.com.ua

To defend itself, Ukraine needs a quantity of weapons commensurate with Russia, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk has said.

"Apart from its own production, Russia receives artillery shells and ballistic missiles from North Korea in addition to drones from Iran. Russia continues to terrorize civilians: Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa, Kyiv – there are no cities against which Russians has not launched massive combined attacks. To defend itself, Ukraine needs to have a proportionate quantity of weapons, in particular air defense systems," he said at a meeting with President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Theodoros Roussopoulos in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

The press service of the Verkhovna Rada office said the parties also discussed the need to hold the Russian political and military leadership accountable for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Stefanchuk expressed hope that PACE will reaffirm its support for the creation of a special tribunal by adopting a corresponding resolution.

Also, the issue of the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia was raised at the meeting. The speaker of the Ukrainian parliament noted the importance of the PACE initiative to create the Ukrainian Child Rights Network as part of the implementation of the resolution adopted by the Assembly.