Image: Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP
The mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, spoke of a “massive attack”. At least one person died in a high-rise fire in Kiev caused by falling debris from a destroyed Russian missile. Another person is in the hospital and two others are injured, Klitschko said on Telegram.
The Kiev military administration stated that the two upper floors of the apartment building were destroyed and that people could still be buried under the rubble. Falling debris from missiles hit several parts of the capital, including the historic districts of Podil and Pecherskyi.
After the recent massive Russian attacks with drones, cruise missiles and missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the country’s air defense for saving hundreds of lives. “The world must see that terror is losing,” said Zelenskyj in his video message distributed in Kiev on Monday evening.
US Patriot-type anti-aircraft systems helped destroy the evil, said Zelensky, who also called for more help to improve the country’s defenses. “And of course there is no greater humiliation for a terrorist state than the success of our warriors,” he said. “There is no alternative but the complete liberation of our country.” Zelenskyi also reported that he met with the military leadership in Kiev to discuss the steps of the major offensive against the Russian invasion. The schedule is the most important thing. “The schedule of how we’re going to move forward. We will. The decisions are made.”
According to a newspaper report, Zelenskyj is also asking South Korea for air defense and early warning systems. “I know there are many limitations in supporting arms, but these principles should not be applied to defense systems and equipment to protect our assets,” he told the South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo. Anti-aircraft systems are not a weapon, but are used exclusively for defense. “We need a shield to rebuild Ukraine and I really hope that South Korea will support us in this area.”
South Korea is a major arms exporter. So far, the country has ruled out the delivery of lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing relations with Russia and Moscow’s influence on North Korea. However, the Seoul government said in April that it might change its stance if a situation arises that “the international community cannot accept.”
“Can win this war”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Russia’s defeat was the most important goal of his country’s forthcoming counteroffensive. “We must shake the Russians’ certainty that they can win this war. Russia must and will lose this war,” Reznikov told the newspapers of the German Funke media group and the French newspaper Ouest-France (Tuesday editions). “We will liberate all temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine until we restore the internationally recognized borders of 1991.” That includes the Crimean peninsula as well as the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Resnikov sees real military progress for Ukraine in the summer. “In two or three places on the battlefield, in the south as well as in the east. There will be new waves of Russian soldiers fleeing on our territory,” he told the newspapers.
Against this background, Ukraine continues to push for the delivery of fighter jets for air defense. “If Great Britain and Germany were to combine their capacities for the Eurofighter, that would be an important step,” Resnikov said. “There is already an international coalition of main battle tanks with the core model of the German Leopard 2 and American Abrams and British Challengers. We could also form a fighter jet coalition with the core model F-16 and Eurofighters and Gripen.” Gripen jets are produced by the Swedish company Saab. “First of all, we would appreciate it if Germany would take part in training our pilots on Eurofighters.” Britain, which has offered training, like Germany, does not have the F-16 fighter jets that Ukraine wants at all.
Source: Nachrichten
