Ukraine’s Zelenskiy requests weapons systems from Western leaders

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is asking Western leaders for a wide range of weapons systems to assist the country in its fight against Russia’s invasion. According to Thai PBS World, he asked leaders of countries in the Joint Expeditionary Force, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, to meet in Latvia to discuss his request for assistance.

“I ask you to increase the possibility of supplying air defence systems to our country, and to help speed up the relevant decisions to be taken by our partners.”

The British-led JEF is meant to respond rapidly to crises in Northern Europe. Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Sweden are part of the force. The US has led Western allies by supporting Ukraine with military training, air defence systems, funding and other weaponry. But, Zelenskiy says more help is needed to sustain its campaign against Russia.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is enlisting the help of international legal advisers to assist in investigating alleged sex crimes by the Russian military. The recaptured city of Kherson has become the site of the investigation as authorities have started gathering evidence of the crimes.

According to Inquirer.net, the Global Rights Compliance team is reportedly helping with the full-scale investigation to support overwhelmed Ukrainian authorities as they seek to hold Russians accountable for alleged crimes committed. Such sexual crime accusations surfaced after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Accusations of rape and other sexual crimes were mounted nationwide according to the UN investigative body.

So far, the investigation is reportedly quite daunting as the allegations of international crimes amount to tens of thousands. The ongoing war is also making it harder for investigators to do their jobs. Julian Elderfield, one of the legal advisers who visited Kherson made a statement.