Zelensky issues frantic plea as ‘thousands’ of Russian troops mass on Ukraine’s border

Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded permission to strike with Western missiles as ‘thousands’ of Russian troops mass on the Ukrainian northern border.

New formations of soldiers and “expanded activities” at depots and warehouses in settlements north of Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, have been identified by the Institute of War Studies.

Volodymyr Zelensky warned that “thousands” of troops were preparing for a fresh assault, and issued a fresh plea to the West to allow them to fire Western missiles into Russia to halt the advance.

A US think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), however, concluded that the build-up may also be to “stretch and fix Ukrainian forces” which are struggling to hold positions across the front lines.

Ukrainian officials are frustrated that they have been banned from striking targets inside Russia with Western missiles, arguing that this has given Russian forces a safe area to prepare ground attacks and fire missiles at Ukrainian cities.

Following an attack toward Kharkiv on 10th May, officials have warned that the Kremlin also plans to attack Sumy, which lies 100 miles from Kharkiv.

On 3rd May, the UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said it was up to Ukraine to decide how to use British weapons and insisted it had a right to strike targets on Russian territory.

Meanwhile, over the weekend Poland and Sweden gave permission for Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia, along with the secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.

Pressure is now building on the US to follow the UK, despite concerns that this will escalate the war. Germany and Italy have both ruled out such permission.

Stoltenberg said that if Ukraine “cannot attack military targets on Russian territory then it ties one hand of the Ukrainians on their back and makes it very hard for them to conduct defence,” at a NATO meeting on Monday.

On a visit to Spain on Monday, Mr Zelensky secured another £850,000 military aid package but the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, did not give Ukrainian commanders permission to fire Spanish weapons at Russia.

“Spain has been supporting Ukraine for two years. Unfortunately, Russian aggression continues and we have to increase our support,” Mr Sanchez said at a joint press conference.

So far, Ukraine has been using domestic drones to hit targets across Russia, mainly oil refineries, railways and military airfields. However, on Monday, sources confirmed that it had struck a Russian nuclear radar station near the border with Kazakhstan, 1,000 miles away.

This became the second Ukrainian strike against Russia’s nuclear missile infrastructure in four days, which comes as a concern to its Western allies, who are worried about further escalation.