'Not sufficient': Zelenskyy slams Biden for restricting use of Atamcs into Russian territory

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to escalate, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised Joe Biden for “not doing enough” when it comes to allowing US weapons to be fired into the Russian territory.

While speaking at the 21st edition of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit, the Ukrainian president thanked his American counterpart for giving Kyiv permission to use American weapons to strike inside the Russian territory. However, he said that the restrictions including the use of long-range Atacms – should also be dropped, The Telegraph reported.

“Is that sufficient? No. Why? Because I have given you the example of airfields from which Russia is permanently firing, in calm knowing that Ukraine will not fire back because it has no corresponding systems and no permissions," Zelenskyy said on Biden’s decision in regards to the use of American weapons.

Ukraine wants more

Last month, the Biden administration gave permission for Ukraine to use American missiles like Himars to fire across the border north of Kharkiv, where Russian forces are massing. However, he blocked the conflict-stricken country from using the more advanced Atacms systems.

During his address at the summit, the Ukrainian leader noted that Russia continued to use artillery, long-range fire, and some 300 weapons systems carrying tens of thousands of missiles on its side of the border and has managed to target a huge Ukrainian population.

“So they have these weapons there and they do not remove them because they know that Ukraine cannot target them with Western weaponry even if they fire against us,” he said.

Zelenskyy slams China

The Ukrainian president went on to accuse China of working hard to stop countries from going to the upcoming peace summit. The comments from Zelenskyy came after China slammed the summit for not inviting Russia for peace negotiations.

“China, unfortunately, is working hard today to prevent countries from coming to the peace summit,” Zelensky told reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Last month, Beijing maintained that the conference “should have the recognition of Russia and Ukraine, equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all peace plans,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news conference on Friday.

“Otherwise, it is difficult for the conference to play a substantive role in restoring peace,” she furthered. While China stated that it would be “difficult” for it to attend if Russia did not participate, a proposal that Ukraine has rejected, Biden is yet to commit to the summit as well.

With inputs from agencies.