Zelenskyy said it was “too early” to know whether the Middle East conflict will hurt Ukraine’s weapons supply line. “But we will do everything so that our domestic financing is not stopped, and then our domestic production will work at full capacity,” he said.
Kateryna Chernohorenko, former deputy defense minister of Ukraine, said in a post on Facebook Monday that drone developers, electronic warfare specialists and others must work together to avoid stocks running short. She called on Ukrainian arms firms to act quickly to buy up stockpiles of critical components to see the country through the next 12 to 24 months.
“The situation in the Middle East could very quickly escalate into a crisis of components for the defense industry in Ukraine,” she said. “Prices, quotas and supply chains will change dramatically.”
Talks continue
On the face of it, Trump remains committed to finding a solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. His envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Ukrainian representatives last week for talks in Geneva. Trump has also spoken to Zelenskyy ahead of planned three-way talks including Russia, which had been expected later this week.
Zelenskyy said the next talks were due to begin March 5-6 in Abu Dhabi, but that the “hostilities” in the Middle East mean this plan can’t be confirmed. “Nevertheless, no one has canceled the meeting,” he said, suggesting it could be relocated to Turkey or Switzerland if needed. “The meeting must take place, it is important for us.”
Yet Trump’s attempts to force the pace of negotiations, including by hitting Russia’s oil industry with U.S. sanctions, have so far failed to produce a breakthrough. Trump himself has said in the past that he might one day run out of patience and “back away” from trying to help deliver peace. “This was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation,” Trump said as long ago as last May.