Ukraine urges more air defence systems after attacks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on his allies to increase their support for his country after the intense air attacks of Russian forces.
Ukraine continues to work with its partners “to ensure the strengthening of our defense in response to these attacks,” Zelenskiy wrote in X.
“The priority is clear: more air defense systems and missiles and more support for our defenders.” He called for faster implementation of each agreement.
Russia bombed Ukraine again over the weekend with multiple drone and missile attacks.
He said people were killed in Sloviansk in the east and Chernihiv in the north, while damage was reported in seven regions.
According to the Ukrainian Civil Defense, a 50-year-old man was killed in Novhorod-Siverskyi in the Chernihiv region and another person was killed in Sloviansk.
A 15-year-old boy was also injured in Sloviansk.
Zelenskiy wrote that the Russian military launched more than 240 unmanned aerial vehicles and five ballistic missiles.
Overall this week, he said, Russian forces have deployed more than 1,600 attack aircraft, about 1,200 guided aerial bombs and about 70 missiles of various types.
“The primary target of these strikes is the infrastructure that enables daily life to continue,” he wrote.
Ukraine has been defending itself against Russian occupation for nearly four years.
Alexander Gusarov, mayor of the town of Pechenihy, said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday that Russia’s missile attack on a dam in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region had disrupted an important supply route for Ukrainian forces.
Gusarov said that the road leading through the Pechenihy dam to the frontline sections of Vovchansk, Velykyi Burluk and Kupyansk, where Ukrainian forces are under severe pressure, has been closed.
According to other news on Ukrainian Telegram channels, the bridge over the water reservoir near the village of Staryi Saltiv was also destroyed.
The army sought to allay concerns about the supply route, saying the 16th Corps was preparing for the complete destruction of the dam on the Siverskiy Donets River.
It was stated on Facebook that alternative routes were available and that the troops on the front had sufficient weapons and ammunition supplies.
Stating that efforts to repair the road are continuing, the statement emphasized that attacks on reservoirs, dams or nuclear power plants are prohibited under international law due to potential catastrophic consequences.
Many bridges and dams in the region were destroyed in the first months of Russia’s comprehensive occupation of Ukraine, which started in February 2022.
