Nineteen of the dead were registered in Pryluks in the Chernihiv region, Zelenskyy said. The attack was a combined strike, using many ballistic and cruise missiles as well as Shahed drones, the Ukrainian president said in his evening address. During the day, there were further attacks with Shahed drones and glide bombs.
Zelenskyy stressed that it was important for heads of state and government not to stay silent in the face of what was happening. At the same time, he expressed regret over signals of a normalization of the war. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin does not feel that the escalation is causing him real problems, Zelenskyy said. Sanctions policy has been weakened in many areas, and signals about lifting sanctions on oligarchs amount to a normalization of the war.
According to the president, this is not just a problem for Ukraine, but for all states in Europe and the Western world. What is happening in Ukraine is a rehearsal for what Russia wants to keep open as a possibility against any other country, in Europe and beyond. The war is Putin’s nature and ideology, Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian air defense shot down 44 missiles overnight, both cruise and ballistic, Zelenskyy said. In addition, 117 Shahed drones were downed. Not all projectiles launched by Russia could be intercepted, and defending against ballistic missiles is particularly difficult. The president called for additional packages of interceptor missiles and further measures to support Ukraine.
Source: www.radiosvoboda.org
