Europe

Kyiv calls for more western air defence systems and long-range missiles to halt Russian attacks

Moscow military claims its troops have seized villages of Novooleksandrivka and Spirne in Donetsk region

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a rocket strike in Vilniansk, Zaporizhzhia region, southeastern Ukraine, on Saturday. Photograph: Kateryna Klochko/EPA

Daniel McLaughlin
Sun Jun 30 2024 - 19:00

Russia claimed to have occupied two more villages in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv said its forces urgently needed more air defence systems and long-range missile complexes after rocket attacks killed at least 14 civilians and injured dozens over the weekend.

Moscow’s military said on Sunday its troops had seized the villages of Novooleksandrivka and Spirne in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where Russia’s invasion force has been creeping forward for months against units of Kyiv’s military that are still outnumbered and outgunned in some areas. Ukraine did not immediately comment on Russia’s claims.

At least seven people were killed and 38 injured when two Russian missiles hit the town of Vilnyansk, which is near the front line in southeastern Ukraine and about 30km from the city of Zaporizhzhia. Three children were among the dead and nine were wounded in the attack on Saturday afternoon.

Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on Sunday seven people had been killed and 14 injured in Russian missile and artillery attacks over the previous 24 hours on towns and villages in the province, where the most intense fighting is near the towns of Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar, outside the occupied and largely destroyed small cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

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“Our cities and communities suffer daily from such Russian attacks. But there are ways to overcome this: destroy terrorists where they are located, destroy Russian missile launchers, strike in a really long-range way and increase the number of modern air defence systems in Ukraine,” said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

“And the decisions we need must be accelerated. Any delay in decisions in this war means the loss of human lives,” he added.

“This week alone, Russia used more than 800 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine. Against our cities and communities, against our people, against everything that ensures a normal life. Ukraine needs the necessary forces and means to destroy the carriers of these bombs, in particular Russian combat aircraft.”

Ukraine hopes to receive its first US-made F-16 fighter jets this summer from western allies who are preparing the planes and have been training Ukrainian pilots and ground crew to fly and service them for several months.

Kyiv’s forces have used explosive drones and western-supplied missiles in recent months to strike Russian airfields and air defence systems in occupied Ukraine and Russia itself, in an apparent campaign to weaken Russia’s air protection before the F-16s arrive.

Russia said it shot down 36 drones over six of its regions on Sunday, amid almost daily Ukrainian drone strikes targeting oil refineries and storage depots and other energy infrastructure hundreds of kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

Herman Smetanin, general director of state-owned Ukrainian arms firm Ukroboronprom, said his country had “developed and put into mass production our own long-range strike drones. Now they hit strategic enemy targets at a distance of more than 1,000km.”

Meanwhile, Russia continues to target Ukrainian infrastructure after pounding the energy grid in recent months and destroying half the country’s capacity to produce electricity, causing billions of euro of damage and raising fears for the reliability of power supplies next winter.

Kyiv’s military said on Sunday that Russia had attacked eight regions of Ukraine over the previous 24 hours, using everything from tanks and mortars to air-launched bombs and missiles to hit 106 settlements and 181 infrastructure facilities.

Belarus said on Saturday it was reinforcing its air defences near its border with Ukraine to counter “possible provocations in the airspace”, a day after its close ally Russia accused the US of provoking its forces with drone flights near occupied Crimea in the Black Sea.

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin is a contributor to The Irish Times from central and eastern Europe

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