Zelenskiy: Russian troops are laughing at and hunting us

Ukrainian leader says US delaying use of western weapons on targets inside Russia has cost lives

- Katharine Viner, Luke Harding, Shaun Walker and Nick Hopkins

Joe Biden's delay in sanctioning the use of western weapons against targets in Russia has left the Kremlin's forces laughing at Ukraine and able to "hunt" its people, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told the Guardian.

In a wide-ranging interview in Kyiv, the Ukrainian president said that the White House's equivocation had cost lives and he urged the US president to overcome his perennial worries about possible nuclear "escalation" with Moscow.

On Thursday night it emerged that, after months of lobbying, the US had taken a small but symbolic step, for the first time permitting some American-made weapons to be used by Kyiv's military to fire inside Russia in its defence of the city of Kharkiv. But in his Guardian interview, Zelenskiy made clear he needed to be able to use "powerful" long-range weapons that could hit targets inside deep Russian territory - a red line the White House has refused to lift. The US, he said, needed to "believe in us more".

Without this green light, Zelenskiy said other allies, such as the UK, may not allow Ukraine to use their longrange weapons either. "Believe us, we have to respond. They don't understand anything but force. We are not the first and not the last target," he said of Russia.

"I think it is absolutely illogical to have [western] weapons and see the murderers, terrorists, who are killing us from the Russian side. I think sometimes they are just laughing at this situation," he said. "It's like going hunting for them. Hunting for people. They understand that we can see them, but we cannot reach them."

Zelenskiy also said:

• New US weapons had still not arrived in sufficient quantities to equip additional Ukrainian brigades in the north-east, where Russia is advancing.

• Vladimir Putin was similar to Adolf Hitler, saying: "Putin is not crazy. He's dangerous, which is much scarier."