Ukraine’s Zelenskyy thanks NATO allies for defense aid

By Alperen Aktas

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that he met with representatives from the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Canada and the Netherlands to NATO, expressing gratitude for their defense contributions and calling on them to provide additional air defense systems ahead of winter.

“We are grateful to Germany for the Patriot systems, to the United States for the opportunity to purchase weapons and air defense systems through the PURL initiative, to the United Kingdom and France for the missiles, to Canada and the Netherlands for their contributions to the PURL initiative, and to all other countries for their assistance,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram after the meeting.

“This support truly saves lives of our people, and it is very important that new countries join the initiative.”

The Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative is a US-NATO program that allows European and Canadian NATO member states to fund the purchase of American-manufactured weapons for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said discussions at the meeting focused on protecting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure before winter, including acquiring new air defense systems and missiles and strengthening tactical aviation.

He also emphasized the need to maintain sanctions on Russia and other “key pressure points” to compel Moscow to end the war.

NATO introduced the PURL initiative in July due to an overall shortage of military aid and after US President Donald Trump suspended such aid to Ukraine and accused allies of failing to share the burden.