Zelensky, Trump discuss strengthening Ukraine’s air defence in phone call

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone call with former US President Donald Trump to discuss strengthening Ukraine’s air defence amid escalating Russian strikes on energy facilities. Zelensky said Trump expressed willingness to support Kyiv’s defensive efforts.

Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he discussed the possibility of bolstering his country’s air defence in a phone call with US President Donald Trump.

“I informed President Trump about Russia’s attacks on our energy system, and I appreciate his willingness to support us,” Zelensky said on X. According to him, the two leaders talked about opportunities to bolster Ukraine’s air defence, as well as concrete agreements to achieve that goal, Xinhua news agency reported.

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Zelensky said that there are “good options and solid ideas” on how to strengthen Ukraine. “If a war can be stopped in one region, then surely other wars can be stopped as well — including the Russian war,” Zelensky wrote on social media. He added, “I informed President Trump about Russia’s attacks on our energy system, and I appreciate his willingness to support us. We discussed opportunities to bolster our air defense, as well as concrete agreements that we are working on to ensure this.”

Earlier this week, Ukraine imposed emergency power outages in Kyiv and nine regions across the country after Russian missile and drone strikes largely targeted the country’s energy facilities. On September 27, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN General Assembly that Moscow remains open to negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

Russia launched a major airstrike on Friday that targeted the Ukrainian power grid, causing blackouts across much of the country. Power was restored on Saturday to more than 800,000 residents in Kyiv; however, localized outages remain, officials said.