Zelensky says Ukraine's partners should ramp up military support to his country

KYIV. March 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to Western nations to intensify support to his country, once again requesting them to provide airplanes, tanks, and anti-ship weapons.

"The price for the security of Ukraine and Europe is quite specific: planes and tanks, missile defense systems and anti-ship weaponry for our nation," Zelensky said in a video address to Ukraine's international partners late on Saturday.

"This is what our partners have that is covered with dust at their storage facilities. All of this is for the freedom of not only Ukraine, this is for the freedom of Europe," he said.

"Just 1% of all NATO's planes and 1% of all NATO's tanks. And we have already been waiting for 31 days," he said.

According to Zelensky, Ukrainian foreign and defense ministers on Saturday met with their U.S. counterparts in Poland, where U.S. President Joe Biden joined them. The talks "concerned what we actually need as long as this ping-pong is continuing about who and how is to give us planes and other elements of defense," he said.

The security assistance that Ukraine is getting from abroad includes many shotguns and machineguns, but this is not enough, the Ukrainian president said.