Kyiv, Ukraine. Sending air defense systems to Ukraine to help protect it from Russian cruise missiles, rockets and drones is an “absolute priority,” Germany’s foreign minister said in kyiv on Tuesday after visiting a local power plant that was left largely reduced to ruins by a recent bombing.
Annalena Baerbock said what she called a “global initiative” launched by Germany to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems had raised almost one billion euros ($1.09 billion), “but it is completely clear that even more is needed.” he said at a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Germany is the second largest provider of military aid to Ukraine after the United States.
Ukrainian officials have for months pleaded with the country’s Western partners to provide more sophisticated air defense systems, especially American-made Patriots, so kyiv’s forces can defend themselves against Russian airstrikes that have battered the country during the war. . Civilian areas, as well as electrical networks and military objectives, have been hit repeatedly.
As the bombing continues, Ukraine’s depleted troops try to contain a fierce Russian offensive along the eastern border in one of the most critical phases of the war, which began on February 24, 2022.
Germany recently promised a third American-made Patriot battery for Ukraine, but officials in kyiv say they still face an alarming shortfall in air defenses against Russian attack.
Kremlin forces have used their advantage in the skies to weaken Ukraine’s power grid, hoping to undermine Ukrainian morale and disrupt its defense industry.
Baerbock, accompanied by Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, toured a thermal power plant in central Ukraine that was severely damaged on April 11. Inside the plant’s charred interior, workers from Centrenergo, a state-owned company that operates the plant, were still picking up debris several kilometers away. weeks after impact.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kremlin forces were still focusing their efforts on the eastern province of Donetsk and the northeastern region of Kharkiv, where explosives-laden Russian glide bombs are causing destruction in military and civilian areas.
“This brings us again and again to the need for air defense, for additional defense systems that can significantly mitigate the difficulties of our warriors and the threat to our cities and communities,” Zelenskyy said Monday night on social media. .
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces are still in control of the disputed areas, although Russia says it has captured a number of border villages.
It was not possible to independently verify the claims of either side on the battlefield.
Baerbock had planned to visit Kharkiv on Tuesday, but the trip had to be canceled for security reasons, the German news agency dpa reported. Nearly 11,000 people have been evacuated from the Kharkiv border areas since Russia launched its offensive actions there on May 10.
An overnight Russian drone attack hit transportation infrastructure in the regional capital city of Kharkiv, damaging more than 25 trucks, buses and other vehicles, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said Tuesday. Seven people were injured, he said.
Ukraine’s general staff said the frequency of Russian attacks in Kharkiv decreased on Monday, although fighting continued.
Russian troops are also conducting reconnaissance and sabotage raids in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions of northern Ukraine, shelling border settlements and laying more minefields, according to Dmytro Lykhovii, spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff. The front line is about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) long.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has resisted calls from Ukrainian officials to provide Taurus missiles, which are equipped with stealth technology and have a range of up to 500 kilometers (300 miles).
German- and Swedish-made missiles could hit targets deep in Russia from Ukrainian soil. But Berlin has opposed that prospect, saying sending missiles would risk becoming directly involved in war.
The restriction on not allowing Ukraine to fire on Russia has denied Kiev the ability to target Russian troops and equipment massed for strikes across the border, a Washington-based think tank said.
“These US and Western policies are seriously compromising Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against ongoing Russian offensive operations in the Northern Kharkiv (region) or any area along the international border where Russian forces may choose to conduct operations.” offensives in the future,” the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment Monday night.
Meanwhile, more than 3,000 Ukrainian prisoners have submitted applications to be pardoned and join the military, Ukraine’s Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska said on Tuesday, adding that authorities expected up to 5,000 prisoners to apply under the program.
The measure, which Zelenskyy signed into law late last week, is part of an effort to expand the military, which is outnumbered by Russian forces. Other measures to swell the ranks include increasing fines for draft evaders fivefold and offering soldiers incentives such as cash bonuses or money to buy a house or car.
Inmates convicted of felonies are not eligible and applicants must pass tests before putting on the uniform.
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Geir Moulson contributed to this report from Berlin.
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