Ukraine has said its troops in the east were facing one of the strongest Russian offensives in 32 months of all-out war, as Moscow’s military launched more than 160 explosive attack drones at Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities over the weekend.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to tighten sanctions on Russia to starve it of key parts for its drones and rockets, to lift restrictions on missile strikes deep inside Russian territory, and to do more than “just watch” as thousands of North Korean troops neared his country’s border in support of Moscow’s forces.
“Currently, the armed forces of Ukraine are holding back one of the most powerful Russian offensives since the start of the full-scale invasion,” said Ukraine’s most senior general, Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Kyiv’s forces are under heavy pressure in parts of the eastern Donetsk and Kharkiv provinces. In Donetsk, Russia took the town of Vuhledar last month and is engaged in heavy fighting for the towns of Toretsk and Chasiv Yar as it targets the regional logistics hub of Pokrovsk. Russia claimed over the weekend to have seized the villages of Vichneve and Kurakhivka near Pokrovsk, but Kyiv did not confirm their occupation.
[ South Korea considers arming Ukraine after North Korean deploymentOpens in new window ]
Apartment blocks, power infrastructure and a university building were damaged in Kyiv on Sunday when Russia fired 96 “Shahed” strike drones at Ukrainian cities, 66 of which were shot down and a further 27 of which disappeared from radar screens, possibly due to electronic interception. The attack followed a barrage of 71 attack drones on Saturday, 60 of which were shot down or lost by radar trackers.
Officials in Kyiv, the northeastern regions of Sumy and Poltava, and Odesa on the Black Sea coast reported damage to residential areas.
“In October, more than 2,000 Shahed drones were used against Ukraine ... This means more than 170,000 components that should have been blocked from being supplied to Russia. Microchips, microcontrollers, processors and lots of different parts without which this terror would simply be impossible,” Mr Zelenskiy said.
“All this is supplied to Russia from abroad. And sadly, including from companies in China, Europe, America ... The same applies to Russian missiles. They all have components from other countries,” he added.
He also called on allies to let Kyiv use western-supplied missiles to hit military targets deeper inside Russia and urged them to respond to North Korea’s alleged deployment of troops to help Moscow’s war effort, thousands of whom are now close to Ukraine’s borders, he claimed. “But instead of such necessary long-range capability, America watches, Britain watches, Germany watches,” he said.
“Everyone in the world who truly wants the Russian war against Ukraine not to expand ... must not just watch. They must act.”
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