Tens of thousands of lives will be lost if Ukraine is denied use of long-range missiles on Russia, warns Zelensky

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned tens of thousands of lives will be lost if Ukraine is denied the use of western weapons deep inside Russia.

Mr Zelensky has for weeks been pressing Western allies to allow the use of US Atacms and British Storm Shadows against targets in Russia, but so far Sir Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden are yet to publicly make a decision.

The Western leaders appear to be attempting to strike a balance between supporting Ukraine’s war efforts while avoiding a further escalation in tensions with Vladimir Putin amid fears of a third world war.

This week, Mr Zelensky arrived in New York to gather support from world leaders before the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in Washington DC.

And speaking to US broadcaster ABC, he pushed his calls to allow for the use of British and American long-range missiles.

“Putin will continue to destroy us, to kill people, to kill children, absolutely,” he said.

“He will act in this way. We will lose thousands of schools and tens of thousands of lives. That is what will be happening.”

Mr Zelensky also claimed that Mr Putin was “afraid” of Ukraine’s Kursk operation, which has taken more than 1,000 square km of Russian territory.

And he added: “And I think that we are closer to the peace than we think. We are closer to the end of the war. We just have to be very strong, very strong.”

His comments came as bombs hit a high-rise apartment block in Ukraine‘s northeastern city of Kharkiv, killing at least three people and injuring 22 more, according to local authorities.

“Russia is terrorizing the Kharkiv region with impunity… A direct strike on a residential building,” Ukraine‘s ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on the Telegram