Following the recent Russian air strikes against Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his appeal to the West to authorize attacks deep into the Russian hinterland. The Russian air strikes can only be stopped by attacks on Russian military airfields deep on Russian territory “and the logistics of Russian terror,” Zelensky said in his evening video address.
For this purpose, a Ukrainian delegation is holding talks with those responsible in Washington. According to Ukrainian media reports, the American side was even given a list of potential targets of these Ukrainian attacks with long-range weapons of American or other Western production.
“Clearing Ukrainian airspace of Russian guided bombs is an important step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace,” said Zelensky. According to the latest Ukrainian data, six people died in Kharkiv alone, and another 99 people were injured in the Russian airstrike that hit a multi-story residential building. “And that’s just in Kharkiv, and this is just one day of Russian attacks,” Zelensky stressed.
“I appeal to the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany: we must be able to truly and comprehensively protect Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Zelensky continued. “We need long-range permits, and we need your long-range missiles and rockets.”
The western partners have so far refused to allow Ukraine to attack targets on Russian territory with the heavy weapons it has supplied. The Ukrainian military is therefore dependent on attacking these targets with combat drones of its own production. However, the explosive power of these drones is relatively low.
Ukraine is waiting for more air defence systems
For the upcoming new school year, Ukraine is urgently waiting for the additional air defense systems that have already been promised. These are necessary, said Zelensky, “to give our Ukrainian children more security in schools, in our cities and in our energy sector.” He therefore hopes that the agreement that has already been reached will be implemented quickly. Zelensky did not provide any details, however.
Many battles on fronts in Ukraine
Ukrainian defenders and Russian attackers have engaged in numerous battles along the fronts in eastern Ukraine. The General Staff in Kyiv reported in the early evening that there had been a total of 109 armed clashes during the day.
The focus of the fighting was once again the area around the town of Pokrovsk on the edge of the Donbass. There, Russian units attacked the Ukrainian defense lines 23 times with artillery support. The attacks were repulsed, it was reported. Russian attacks were also reported from the area around the nearby town of Kurakheve. This information could not be independently verified.
According to these reports, heavy Russian artillery attacks also hit the Sumy region. At least 15 different settlements were shelled. The supply lines for the Ukrainian troops that have penetrated the western Russian region of Kursk run through Sumy. The Ukrainian side has not provided any information on the course of this offensive.
Massive Russian artillery attacks were also reported from the Ukrainian-occupied town of Sudzha in the Kursk region. The Russian military is systematically destroying its own town, in which around 200 of the original 5,000 residents still live, Ukrainian media commented. “Even though Sudzha is already in the hinterland of the front, the town is being razed to the ground by the Russians,” wrote the Unian agency. Ukraine has declared Sudzha the seat of its military command for the Kursk region.
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