Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s allies vowed Thursday to provide the beleaguered country with advanced air defenses as Russian troops attacked the Kyiv region with kamikaze drones and fired missiles at civilian targets elsewhere in a bid to protect the beleaguered country. The retaliatory bombing connects Russia with the strategic bridge between Russia. annex Crimea.
missile attack Killed at least five people and destroyed an apartment building in the southern city of Mykolaiv, while heavy artillery destroyed more than 30 houses, a hospital, a kindergarten in the town of Nikopol, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and other building power plants.
Russia has stepped up its bombing of civilian areas in recent weeks as its troops lose positions in several occupied parts of Ukraine Illegal annexation by Russian President Vladimir Putin. War hawks in the Kremlin have urged Putin to further escalate the bombing campaign to punish Ukraine for Saturday’s truck bombing of the landmark Kerch Bridge. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We need to protect our skies from Russian terror,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told human rights group the Council of Europe. “If it is done, it will be a fundamental step towards ending the entire war in the near future.”
In response to Zelensky’s repeated calls for a more effective air defense system, the British government has announced that it will supply missiles for the advanced NASAM air defense system the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine. The UK also dispatched hundreds of aerial drones for information gathering and logistical support, plus 18 howitzers.
“These weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attack and, in conjunction with the US NASAMS, strengthen its overall missile defence,” said British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
Other NATO Defense Ministers This week’s meeting pledged to provide systems to defend against missile attacks at medium and long ranges.
Germany has delivered the first of four promised IRIS-T air defense systems, while France has pledged to provide more artillery, air defense systems and missiles. The Netherlands has said it will launch missiles, and Canada plans to provide about $50 million more in military aid, including winter gear, drone cameras and satellite communications.
Speaking in Berlin, German-German Olaf Schultz said Putin “and his promoters have made one thing very clear: this war is not only about Ukraine” but “a war on our lives” A crusade of ways, a crusade against Putin’s so-called collective West.” . He was referring to all of us. “
NATO plans nuclear exercises next week as Putin insists it will use any means necessary Defend Russian territory, including illegally annexed areas of Ukraine. Exercises are held once a year.
On the battlefield in Ukraine on Thursday, Russian troops hit a five-story apartment building in Mykolaiv with an S-300 missile, the regional governor. It’s a weapon typically used to target military aircraft, says Vitaliy Kim. Six hours later, an 11-year-old boy was rescued from the rubble of the building but later died.
“Nothing to say. Bioterrorist,” Kim wrote on Telegram.
Video shows rescuers pulling the boy out of concrete and metal debris with a flashlight. As they carried him on a stretcher across the building’s front door to an ambulance, a man who appeared to be his father leaned over and kissed the boy’s head before putting a blanket over him.
Four other people were reportedly killed in Mykolaiv.
A few months ago, as the front of the war moved east and south, residents of Ukraine’s capital region were repeatedly shaken by airstrike alerts on Thursday as explosive-laden Iranian-made drones found their targets.
Iranians in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory are training Russians on how to use the Shahed-136 system, which can conduct air-to-ground attacks, electronic warfare and targeting, Ukrainian officials said.
Low-flying drones have put Ukrainian cities on edge, but the British Ministry of Defence said they were unlikely to penetrate deep into Ukrainian territory because many were destroyed before they hit their targets. Ukraine’s Air Force Command said Thursday that its air defenses shot down six drones over the Odessa and Nikolayev regions during the night. Ukrainian authorities also reported the downing of four Russian cruise missiles.
Describing the scope of Russia’s retaliatory attack, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament said that Russian troops attacked more than 70 energy facilities in Ukraine this week.
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has threatened a “harder” response to future attacks in Ukraine. The 12-mile-long Kerch Bridge is a prominent symbol of Moscow’s power.
Kyiv’s army recaptured villages and towns in a fall offensive, but it exposed the trauma of residents who had lived under Russian occupation for months.
In Velyka Oleksandrivka, a liberated town in the annexed Kherson region, seven months of Russian occupation left bridges blown to pieces, vehicles on roads blackened and buildings scarred by shelling.
“It’s a disaster,” resident Tetyana Patsuk said of her house. “I’ve been crying for a month. I’m still in shock. Now that I’m 72, I can’t recover from that feeling of losing everything, that’s all.”
Authorities in Moscow promised free accommodation for Kherson residents who choose to evacuate to Russia, as the Ukrainian military claimed on Thursday greater success in forcing its enemies to retreat from the Kherson region. Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed leader of Kherson, cited possible missile strikes on civilians when hinting at the move.
Sardo’s deputy, Kirill Stremusov, tried to play down the move, saying: “No one is retreating … no one intends to leave the territory of the Kherson area.” But the British military said the move Reflects Russian fears that the battle is about to enter the city of Kherson.
Russia has repeatedly described the relocation of Ukrainians to Russia as voluntary, but there have been reports of many being forcibly deported from the occupied territories to Russian “filter camps” in harsh conditions. In most cases, the only way out of the camps was to go to Russia or Russian-controlled areas.
Among those forced to leave are children.Associated Press The investigation found that officials deported Ukrainian children without consent, lied about their parents not wanting them, used them for propaganda, changed their nationality to Russian and gave some to Russian families.
On the Russian side of the border, the Ukrainian military blew up an ammunition depot in Russia’s Belgorod region and damaged a multi-storey building. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. The village where the warehouse is located was evacuated.
The fight over Europe’s largest Zaporozhye nuclear power plant remains “concerning”, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Thursday. A Russian missile attacked a remote substation on Wednesday, causing the plant to temporarily lose its last external power source, necessary to prevent the reactors from overheating.
Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in Kyiv after returning from Russia that his group was pushing for a demilitarized zone around the nuclear power plant, but said he had received no indication that Putin was ready to discuss it. The final “parameters” of a nuclear-like power plant. come to an agreement.
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Yesica Fisch in Velyka Oleksandrivka, Ukraine, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed to this report.
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