Kyiv, Ukraine. Russian forces fired missiles and drones into the kyiv region and five other areas of Ukraine in an overnight attack, officials said Wednesday, ahead of several days of intense diplomatic activity around war which is now in its third year.
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 29 of 30 aerial targets, including four cruise missiles, one Kinzhal ballistic missile and 24 Shahed drones. Several people were injured, authorities said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the air force’s response, saying it could be a “daily achievement” if the country had the tools to successfully repel Russian attacks. He has repeatedly called on Ukraine’s Western partners to provide more air defense systems, and the United States has agreed to send Another Patriot missile system.two US officials said Tuesday night.
How best to support Ukraine’s efforts to stop the Russian invasion will be a central issue at international meetings in the coming days.
kyiv’s forces, outgunned and outnumbered, are struggling to contain the Russian military, which is trying to exploit Ukraine’s vulnerabilities. Ukraine has been short of troops, ammunition and air defenses in recent months as Kremlin forces try paralyze the national electricity supply and drill the first line in the eastern parts of the country.
Ukraine will need to weather the Russian attack over the summer, military analysts say, and in the meantime train more soldiers, build fortifications and hope the supply of Western military aid accelerates so that in 2025 kyiv can mount its own attack. offensive.
Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies, including US President Joe Biden, will meet in Italy on Thursday for their annual summit to discuss how to get more money for Ukraine from Russian assets frozen in their countries.
Also on Thursday, defense chiefs from the United States, Europe and other nations hold their monthly meeting on Ukraine’s security needs. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will host the event in Brussels.
Next weekend, representatives from almost 90 countries and organizations, half of them European, will attend a meeting organized in Switzerland Ukraine Peace Summitwhich will take place without Russia.
Both sides in Europe’s largest conflict since World War II have been reaching out to friendly nations to help keep their armed forces supplied. The war has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including more than 11,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations.
While Ukraine has turned to Western countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin has turned to nations such as Iran and North Korea for help. Unconfirmed reports suggested that Putin could soon make a third visit to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Fighting along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line has focused in recent months on the partially occupied Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces are trying to reach the key city. hilltop Chasiv Yar and other strategic centers.
Last month, Kremlin forces also launched an offensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, bordering Russia. Putin said he wanted to establish a buffer zone there to prevent cross-border Ukrainian attacks. The offensive drove some Ukrainian fighters away from Donetsk.
However, Russia’s advances have been incremental and costly.
In the Kharkiv region, Russian units have stalled in Vovchansk, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday.
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