The request is not new.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated an appeal this Saturday to his Western allies to provide Kiev with more air defense systems.
A request which comes after a new Russian night attack which left at least six dead, according to kyiv.
Attacks targeting the Black Sea port city of Odessa overnight Friday led to the deaths of four people, including a young child, and the destruction of a nine-story building, officials said Ukrainian officials.
Eight people were injured in the attack, according to Ukrainian rescuers.
Images posted on social media showed several floors of a building completely collapsed.
Odesa.
Now you have to go to the next page, so you will see this post. Then, the robot can be unlocked.
Вього загинули 4 особи, з них 1 дитина, постраждало 8 людей, з яких 1 дити на.
Врятовано 5 осіб.
Пошукові роботи тривають.
pic.twitter.com/8EUYCLgl9R
— DSNS.GOV.UA (@SESU_UA) March 2, 2024
At the same time, bombings killed a 76-year-old man in the Kharkiv region, near the Russian border, and another person in the southern Kherson region, according to regional authorities.
“Russia continues to strike civilians,” President Zelensky lamented on social media.
“We need more air defense from our partners.
We must strengthen Ukraine's air shield to better protect our people from Russian terrorism.
More air defense systems and more missiles for air defense systems save lives,” he insisted.
A building affected in Saint Petersburg
After more than two years of war, in recent days, the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly urged his Western allies to deliver military assistance more quickly, calling in particular for ammunition, more air defense systems and combat aircraft. .
However, American aid is still blocked in Congress due to the opposition between Republicans and Democrats, and the Europeans, whose production capacities are limited, are slow to deliver the shells promised in recent months.
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Victory against Russia “depends on you,” Volodymyr Zelensky warned a few days ago.
According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Roustem Oumerov, half of the Western weapons promised to kyiv are being delivered late.
This problem adds to the fatigue of the soldiers engaged on the front, marked by two years of a grueling war, facing a larger Russian army.
For their part, Kiev forces reportedly carried out their own drone attack overnight Friday and Saturday, which damaged a residential building in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city located about 1 000 km from the border with Ukraine.
The Russian National Guard indicated that “the crash of a drone” was the “probable” cause of the incident, which prompted the evacuation of “around a hundred people”.
Municipal authorities had earlier assured that no victims had been recorded.
Also read “Enough to kill a hundred soldiers”: in Ukraine, in the secret of the drone battle
Videos posted on Russian social media showed what appeared to be a drone falling from the sky into the building and setting off an explosion, while residents reported blown out windows and small fires caused by a drone.
According to Ukrainian media, Russian air defenses shot down a drone that was targeting an oil depot less than a kilometer away.
In recent months, the Ukrainian army has struck several Russian oil depots using explosive drones, depriving Moscow's forces of significant resources.
On the front, Russian forces have been gaining ground in recent days, seizing several small villages in Donbass (east) and forcing the Ukrainians to reorganize their defense lines in the area.
“The situation on the front remains difficult, but under control,” judged the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrsky, on Saturday following a visit to the troops engaged on the front.