(Reuters) – Chairman Voldy Meezelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine is hoping for its territory a strong response to almost daily Russian drone attacks from Western countries.
Within an hour of Zelenskiy’s comments, officials from Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, distributed by nightly video address, reported a Russian drone attack that killed one person and injured up to 14 people.
The drone attacked the southeastern city of Dnipro overnight, killing four people.
“Our partners must understand that these Russian strikes target not only our people, but all international, diplomatic efforts aimed at ending this war,” Zelensky said at the evening video address.
He pointed out that 172 drones had been headed to Ukraine overnight – the Ukrainian army said 94 of them had been defeated.
“Russia is shocking everyone trying to end the war. It is impossible to ignore hundreds of (Iran-designed) Shaheds every night.
“We expect a response, a serious response. We are working to ensure there is a strong response, especially from all people in the US, Europe and the world that relies on diplomacy.”
The US brokered two ceasefires last week. One is designed to allow transport from the Black Sea, while the other is intended to halt attacks on energy targets.
Ukraine and Russia accus each other of violating agreements on energy sites.
In his remarks, Zelensky also told Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Silsky, about the situation along the 1,000 km (621 miles) frontline of the war.
“We are maintaining active measures that will prevent the occupying people from entering the Sumy and Kharkiv regions (in Ukraine),” Zelenskiy said.
Although Russian troops have recaptured their territory, Ukrainian troops still remain in existence in the Kursk region of western Russia.
Zelensky said on Friday that Ukrainian forces have taken “specific measures” in Russia outside the Kursk region to ease pressure on Ukrainian forces in the region.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Editing by Paul Simao)
