Ukraine has been forced to go on the defensive in the past few months (file photo)
Kiev, Ukraine:
Russian attacks in eastern and southern Ukraine on Wednesday killed at least three people, officials said, as Kyiv called for the deployment of more Patriot air defense systems to counter a surge in missile attacks.
Moscow has escalated airstrikes in Ukraine over the past few weeks, targeting critical infrastructure including power stations in retaliation for deadly bombings of Russia’s border regions.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, suffered a power outage due to the attack, and officials said shelling killed at least one person and injured 16 others.
The region’s governor, Oleg Sinegubov, said: “Among the injured were four children. The apartment building was damaged. The number of victims may increase.”
The governor of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, which is partly occupied by Russia, said a woman was killed in a drone strike on the village of Mikhailivka.
“A 61-year-old local resident was seriously injured in his home,” the official, Oleksandr Prokudin, wrote on social media.
In the southeastern city of Nikopol, officials said artillery fire killed a 55-year-old man, while a ballistic missile attack off the coast of Nikolaev wounded eight people.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 13 Iranian-designed attack drones overnight, 10 of which were shot down in the Kharkiv region, the neighboring Sumy region and near the capital Kiev.
“not much time”
In an online briefing on Wednesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reiterated his call for the urgent delivery of air defense systems, which he said were crucial to preventing an increase in attacks.
“Russia’s current attacks are characterized by the intensive use of ballistic missiles that can reach their targets at extremely high speeds, leaving little time for people to take cover and cause significant damage,” Kuleba said.
“Patriot and other systems like it are defensive by definition. Their purpose is to protect life, not take life,” he said.
Ukraine has been put on the defensive in the past few months by ammunition shortages and Washington’s delays in a $60 billion aid package.
It has also been forced to make concessions to Russia on its eastern front and earlier this week warned of “difficult” fighting around the eastern city of Chavryar.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with recovering soldiers in the Sumy region on Wednesday.
Army ground force commanders warned last week that Russia was preparing for a possible large-scale offensive this summer, preparing to field a force of more than 100,000 soldiers.
Meanwhile, Russia announced that its air defenses had shot down 18 rockets near the border city of Belgorod, amid a recent increase in deadly attacks in Ukraine.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, said two people were injured in the attack and subsequent drone strike.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
