While Russia's Vladimir Putin considers sanctions and a no-fly zone over Ukraine an act of war, Ukrainian Member of Parliament Alexey Goncharenko told Newsmax that "protecting our skies" remains a priority, but it will only require planes and defense systems, not pilots.
"I had zoom with more than 50 American congressmen from both parties, Republicans and Democrats, and I asked them to support us with air defense systems, with [gasoline], with aircraft you can give to us," Goncharenko told "Saturday Report," speaking from a Kyiv metro subway platform.
"We have wonderful pilots. We don't need your boots on the ground. We don't need your pilots in our sky also, but we can do everything else [ourselves]. But please help us, provide us with aircrafts, with air defense systems, with weapons."
Goncharenko added Ukrainians are "coming against tanks with Molotov cocktails."
"So you understand that that is something heroic, but they can do much more if they will be really armed," he told host guest host Rita Cosby.
Goncharenko, who has joined a militia designed to protect Kyiv, denounced Russia's breaking of a cease-fire agreement in Mariupol.
"There should be a humanitarian corridor for hundreds of people there, women, children, wounded people, and when we collect these people, organized, and we are ready to sit on busses and leave for the city. Russians started to shoot exactly at the place where people were considered to be organized, but unfortunately they was something that we were prepared for," Goncharenko lamented.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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