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

Mr Zelensky has arrived in New York to gather support from world leaders before the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly

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.

Mr Zelensky addresses the the Summit of the Future at United Nations headquarters (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

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 messenger app.

Guided bombs hit a high-rise apartment block in Ukraine‘s northeastern city of Kharkiv (REUTERS)

Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov added the building had already been attacked by Russia at the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Following the attack, Mr Zelensky called on allies to help Ukraine “stop the terror”.

“There is much discussion now at the UN General Assembly about collective efforts for security and the future. But we just need to stop the terror. To have security. To have a future,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops drove Russian forces out of a huge processing plant in the town of Vovchansk in Ukraine’s north-east that had been occupied for four months, officials said.

The plant, a partly steel structure with some 30 buildings, had been a Russian stronghold in the Kharkiv border region since May.

The Kremlin’s spokesman has reiterated Russia has no alternative but to achieve all of its aims in the “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Mr Putin has been adamant peace talks will only begin if Kyiv abandons swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine to Russia and drops its Nato membership ambitions.

Moscow denies intentionally targeting civilians in its invasion of Ukraine. It says its strikes on infrastructure aim to reduce Ukraine‘s ability to fight.

Additional reporting by Reuters