Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the international community in a call not to overlook long-range Russian attacks on Ukrainian towns and major infrastructures, as the nation faced a week of proactive attacks on its territory.
On Sunday, Zelenskyy claimed that Russian troops had dropped more than 3,300 munitions of Ukraine in the last week, among which were more than 2,000 attack drones, 1,200 aerial bombs, and 116 missiles. He claimed that the attacks were happening nearly every day and that they were often targeted at energy infrastructure, logistics, as well as residential areas despite the ongoing diplomatic talks on war termination.
The air force of Ukraine reported that Russia had 101 drones on Saturday night through Sunday morning. Out of them, 69 were intercepted or suppressed electronically. The rest of the drones hit targets in 13 different locations as it was announced by the air force.
The attack occurred overnight, when Russia was perpetuating an offensive to Ukraine power grid throughout the winter. The country of Ukraine was also still recovering after a massive drone and missile assault on Friday night that resulted in power blackouts in most parts of the country.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said that the strikes on Saturday night struck an industrial facility in the central city of Poltava, a residential building in the eastern region of Donetsk, called Kramatorsk, and one or more residential buildings in the southern city of Kherson.
Zelenskyy made a social media post early on Sunday warning that Russian attacks were becoming more frequent and more destructive because the world was not responding strongly enough. He claimed that the situation is fixable with valuable international assistance of Ukraine, especially air defense and weapons to Ukrainian soldiers. Zelenskyy also emphasized that it is necessary to continue diplomatic pressure on Russia.
According to the Ukrainian president, it will have to make war very expensive to Russia such that it can no longer sustain it. He also declared new Ukrainian sanctions on foreign firms that were suspected to be providing important parts that were utilized in the manufacturing of Russian drones and missiles.
On Sunday, later, Zelenskyy termed the Russian energy sector as a legal target of Ukrainian attacks by citing that funds on Russian oil sales are utilized to finance arms that are being used against Ukraine. In an address to students in Kyiv, he told them that Ukraine had a choice of either hitting military targets or hitting the economic sources that fund the war effort in Russia.
In the meantime Ukraine was still launching long range attacks across into Russian territory. Defense Ministry of Russia reported that it shot down 22 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Independently, the Federal Security Service of Russia also confirmed that it had arrested a suspect connected to the recent attempt to shoot and kill senior intelligence official of the Russian military Vladimir Alexeyev in Moscow. Russia officials announced that the suspect had been arrested in Dubai and handed over to Russia. The Russian media reported that Alexeyev survived the attack and successfully had a surgery.
The fighting in Ukraine continues, with Russia stepping up long-range attacks on the country, urging the world to take action.