Vladimir PutinKiev’s armed forces are increasingly trying to break through Ukrainian defenses, Kiev warned Friday as it stepped up pleas to the West for quick deliveries of tanks and other heavy weaponry.
The Ukrainian army said heavy fighting was underway in the east of the country.
The attacks came one day after Russian rockets and drones killed at least 11 people in what appeared to be a response to US promises,
Germany and other allies join Britain in supplying tanks Ukraine.
In his nightly speech, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said: “This evil, this Russian aggression, can and must be stopped only with adequate means weapons.”
The Ukrainian army said it shot down 47 of 59 Russian missiles yesterday.
Russia also launched 37 airstrikes, 17 of them with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. All drones were shot down, it said.
Eleven people were killed and 11 injured in the attacks, which spanned several regions and also damaged dozens of buildings, a state emergency service spokesman said.
Local officials today reported heavy shelling in northern, northeastern and eastern Ukraine, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting since Russia’s invasion on February 24 last year.
“Fierce fighting continues along the front lines. Our defenders are holding their positions firmly and inflicting losses on the enemy,” said Oleh Synehubov, governor of the northeastern region of Kharkiv.
Ukrainian troops would also suffer heavy losses.
Britain said in a regular intelligence update that Russian forces had likely carried out probing attacks near Orikhiv in the southeast and Vuhledar in the east, but were unlikely to have made “substantial progress”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov argued that the US could end the conflict quickly if it wanted to, but instead “pumped weapons into Ukraine”.
Meanwhile, a senior French MP and ally of Emmanuel Macron said France should “leave the door open” to send fighter jets to Ukraine.
Thomas Gassilloud, chairman of the National Assembly’s National Defense and Armed Forces Committee, added that “things are moving fast.”
Following the tank pledges, Mr. Zelensky is now pleading with the West for longer-range fighter jets and missiles.
When asked by the Standard whether France could supply planes, Mr Gassilloud said: “As far as deliveries to Ukraine are concerned, we must examine requests on a case-by-case basis and leave all doors open.”
Dutch ministers have also indicated that they may send US-built F-16 jets.