PRAGUE (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during a visit to the Czech Republic on Friday that Kyiv needed long-range weapons form the United States to fight Russian forces that have invaded his country.

"Without long-range weapons it is difficult not only to carry out an offensive mission but also to conduct a defensive operation," he told a joint press conference with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.

"First of all, we are talking about long-range systems with the United States and it depends only on them today."

Zelenskiy was visiting Prague as part of a foreign tour before a NATO summit next week at which he has urged the military alliance to take concrete steps towards Ukrainian membership.

He also called in Prague for accession talks to start this year with the European Union.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, Editing by Timothy Heritage)