Russia Selenskyj: Must attack Russian airfields

Following the recent Russian airstrikes against Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has renewed his appeal to the West to allow attacks far into the Russian hinterland.

The Russian airstrikes could only be stopped with attacks against Russian military airfields deep in Russian territory "and the logistics of Russian terror", said Zelensky in his evening video address.

To this end, a Ukrainian delegation is holding talks with those responsible in Washington. According to Ukrainian media reports, the American side was even presented with a list of potential targets of these Ukrainian attacks with long-range weapons of American or other Western production.

"Clearing Ukrainian airspace of Russian guided bombs is an important step towards forcing Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace," said Selenskyj. According to the latest Ukrainian figures, six people died in Kharkiv alone and a further 99 people were injured in the Russian airstrike, which hit a multi-storey residential building. "And this is just in Kharkiv, and this is just one day of Russian attacks," emphasized Zelenskyi.

"I appeal to the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany: we must be able to truly and comprehensively protect Ukraine and the Ukrainian people," Selensky continued. "We need long-range authorizations, and we need your long-range missiles and rockets."

Western partners have so far denied Ukraine permission to attack targets on Russian territory with the heavy weapons supplied. The Ukrainian military is therefore reliant on attacking these targets with combat drones of its own production. However, the explosive power of these drones is relatively low.

Ukraine is waiting for more air defense systems

For the upcoming new school year, Ukraine is urgently waiting for additional air defense systems that have already been promised. According to Selenskyj, these are necessary "to give our Ukrainian children more security in schools, in our cities and in our energy sector". He therefore hoped that the agreements already reached would be implemented quickly. However, Selensky did not provide any details.

Many battles on the fronts in Ukraine

Ukrainian defenders and Russian attackers have fought numerous battles along the fronts in eastern Ukraine. In the early evening, the General Staff in Kiev spoke of a total of 109 armed clashes over the course of the day.

The focal point of the fighting was once again the area around the city of Pokrovsk on the edge of the Donbass. There, Russian units stormed the Ukrainian defense lines 23 times with artillery support. The attacks were reportedly repulsed. Russian attacks were also reported from the vicinity of the nearby town of Kurakhveh. This information could not be independently verified.

According to these reports, heavy Russian artillery attacks also shook the Sumy region. At least 15 different settlements were shelled. The supply lines for the Ukrainian troops that have invaded the western Russian region of Kursk run through Sumy. There was no information from the Ukrainian side about the progress of this offensive.

Massive Russian artillery attacks were also reported from the Ukrainian-occupied city of Sudzha in the Kursk region. Ukrainian media commented that the Russian military was systematically destroying its own town, in which around 200 of the original 5,000 inhabitants still lived. "Even though Sudzha is already in the rear of the front line, the town is being razed to the ground by the Russians," wrote the Unian agency. Ukraine has declared Sudzha the seat of its military command for the Kursk region.

SDA