West 'afraid' to even talk about helping shoot down Russian missiles: Zelensky

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the West on Friday of being too "afraid" to even raise the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles and drones targeting Ukraine, even though it is helping Israel to do so.

Faced with massive Russian missile strikes and drone attacks, Kyiv wants its allies to help it shoot down the weapons from their own territory, stressing this would save the lives of Ukrainian civilians without a risk of killing Russian soldiers.

"If allies are jointly shooting down missiles and drones in the sites of the Middle East, why is there still no similar decision to jointly shoot down Russian missiles and (Iranian) Shaheds in the skies of Ukraine?" Zelensky said at a conference in Kyiv, adding: "They are afraid to even say 'we are working on it'."

"And this is not done even when missiles and drones are literally heading for the territory of our neighbours," he said, calling it "humiliating for the democratic world".

The West fears a wider conflict and that such a measure would be seen as a major escalation by Russia.

Kyiv is also upping pressure on Western countries to let it use weapons for strikes deep into Russian territory, which has so far been restricted.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin warned Thursday that Moscow would see a green light for such a use of the weapons as NATO countries being "at war with Russia".