(Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine expected a strong response from Western countries to the nearly daily Russian drone attacks on its territory.
Within an hour of Zelenskiy’s comments, delivered in his nightly video address, officials in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, reported a mass Russian drone attack that killed one person and injured up to 14.
Drones hit the southeastern city of Dnipro overnight, killing four people, and the central city of Kryvyi Rih, where nine others were injured.
“Our partners must understand that these Russian strikes target not only our people, but also all international efforts, diplomatic efforts aimed at ending this war,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
He noted that 172 drones had been directed at Ukraine overnight – the Ukrainian military said 94 of them had been downed.
“Russia is striking against everyone who seeks to end the war. It is impossible to ignore hundreds of (Iranian-designed) Shaheds every night.
“We expect a response, a serious response. We are working to ensure there is a strong reaction, especially from America, Europe and all those in the world who rely on diplomacy.”
The U.S. has brokered two ceasefires over the past week – one designed to allow shipping through the Black Sea, the other intended to stop attacks on energy targets.
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of violating the accord on energy sites.
In his remarks, Zelenskiy also said he spoke to Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, about the situation along the 1,000-km (621-mile) front line in the war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Also discussed, he said, were areas “where our forces are operating inside Russian territory.”
“We are maintaining active measures that prevent the occupiers from advancing into (Ukraine’s) Sumy and Kharkiv regions,” Zelenskiy said.
Ukrainian troops still maintain a presence in western Russia’s Kursk region seven months after a cross-border incursion, though Russian forces have recaptured territory.
And Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had taken “certain steps” in Russia outside the Kursk region to ease pressure on Ukrainian troops in the area.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Paul Simao)
