Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on his country’s Western supporters to give the Ukrainian military a free hand to strike back at Russia, given the increasing number of Russian airstrikes on his country.
“The sooner the world helps us tackle the Russian warplanes dropping these bombs, the sooner we can attack Russian military infrastructure and Russian military airfields, and the closer we will be to peace,” Zelensky said Sunday in his usual speech. video speech in the evening.
The Ukrainian military has long been demanding permission from the West to attack Russian bases and air bases far behind the front line with heavy weapons.
Until now, Ukraine was only allowed to use the weapons and ammunition supplied by the West at the front and in the border area with Russia.
For strikes inside Russia, Ukraine must rely on domestically produced drones, which are not as effective as more advanced foreign-supplied missiles or cruise missiles.
Zelensky calls for more air defense
Earlier, Zelensky complained about the continued Russian bombing and again appealed to the West for more help with air defense.
In the past week alone, Russia has dropped 800 glide bombs over Ukraine, Zelensky announced in Kiev on Sunday. He also published a video of the heavy destruction and fires in the regions of Cherson, Dnipro, Odessa and Zaporizhzhya, among others.
“Ukraine needs more air defense systems. We need strong assistance from our partners,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine also needs the means to shoot down Russian fighter-bombers, he said.
On Saturday, seven people were killed in an attack on the city of Vilniansk in the Zaporizhzhya region. According to official figures on Sunday, more than 40 people were injured. Lower figures had initially been reported the day before.
At least one person was killed in a Russian airstrike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Sunday and another eight people, including an eight-month-old baby, were seriously injured in the attack, Mayor Oleh Terekhov said.
The glide bomb exploded right in the city center. Kharkov’s military administrator, Oleh Synjehubov, specified that a post office had been hit in the attack.
The West has been supporting Ukraine in its defense campaign against the Russian invasion, which has been going on for more than two years. The country has repeatedly asked for more American Patriot air defense systems to better protect its cities from Russian airstrikes.
Incident at the border of Ukraine with Hungary
On Ukraine’s western border with Hungary, a border guard fatally shot a man and wounded another man Saturday evening after trying to attack them with a machete, according to a report by the Ukrainska Pravda news website, citing border guards and authorities.
The incident took place in the western Ukrainian region of Chernivtsi. Authorities did not immediately release details about the suspected attackers or information about what might have led to the attack.
There have been clashes along the border as guards attempt to enforce rules banning men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country except in exceptional circumstances.
In a separate incident, 17 men travelling in a minibus were stopped along the border with Hungary while allegedly trying to leave Ukraine illegally, border guards said.
The men came from different regions of Ukraine and were trying to flee to Hungary. Authorities said an initial investigation showed the men had to pay between $3,000 and $12,000 to leave the country.
Russian occupiers seize Ukrainian property
Occupying forces in the Russian-annexed Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine are preparing to hand over homes to military personnel, the Center of National Resistance in Kiev said on Sunday.
Apartments would be handed over not only to the occupiers of Moscow, but also to migrants from Central Asia, the center said.
The internationally unrecognized leadership in Luhansk is preparing corresponding laws. Many Ukrainians have fled the occupied territories, leaving their belongings behind.
Immigrants from Central Asia are mainly used by Russia as cheap labor, especially for the reconstruction of cities and villages destroyed by the war.
According to a statement from the center, the occupying forces are confiscating houses abandoned during the war and handing them over to the homeless.
Civilians are also forcibly moved from areas close to the front. Russian soldiers would then be housed in civilian buildings, the report said.
Russian state employees in Luhansk are being assigned apartments abandoned by Ukrainians to carry out administrative tasks in the occupied territory, the center said. Such apartments and houses are offered for sale at low prices.
“The Kremlin promotes such resettlements because it wants to fully Russify the occupied territories,” the statement said.
The occupiers refused to recognize the documents on residential real estate issued in accordance with Ukrainian law. Instead, they demanded that ownership be formalized in accordance with Russian laws. Homeowners would therefore be forced to first apply for a Russian passport and then go through Russian legal procedures.
The center stressed that the Russian approach was illegal and advised Ukrainian citizens to keep original documents or certified copies of ownership certificates. The Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly announced its intention to retake the annexed territories.
Ukrainian citizens have also been dispossessed on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Many homes, including one belonging to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s family, were seized by the Russian state.
