Zelensky: Ukraine is doing everything possible to get more advanced air defense
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday evening, following Russia’s latest missile attack, that Ukraine is doing “everything possible” to obtain a more advanced anti-aircraft defense.
There is already “substantial progress” in ongoing efforts to convince Western allies to supply Ukraine with modern fighter jets, which will become a “key component” of Ukraine’s defense, Zelensky said.
“We are moving faster in defense modernization than could have been predicted six months ago,” Zelenski said.
Ukraine has been requesting fighter jets for months to defend its skies and maximize the effectiveness of its combined arms forces during a future counteroffensive.
Of all the models available, Ukraine has shown the most interest in the US-built F-16, which has been in service since the 1970s and is operated by more than 20 nations.
Critics argue that allies’ reluctance to supply Ukraine with F-16, Typhoon and Dassault fighter jets and long-range ATACMS missiles will prevent Kiev from launching a counteroffensive and liberating Ukrainian territory.
Explosions were reported in Russian-occupied Mariupol
Explosions were reported in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol on Friday evening, according to video footage on social media. It is not clear what exactly caused the explosions.
Mariupol city council said in a Telegram post that there had been strikes at the Azovstal steel plant, which is now under Russian control.
Meanwhile, on Friday evening there was shelling coming from the side controlled by Ukraine, according to the Joint Control and Coordination Center of the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (PRD).
The center said the Ukrainian military fired two long-range missiles at Mariupol from the northwest around 8:10 p.m.
Mariupol has become an important staging point for Russian forces in southern Ukraine, and military convoys frequently pass through there.
The balance of dead children due to the war is increasing
At least 483 children were killed and nearly 1,000 were injured, according to figures from the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, UNICEF says that approximately 1.5 million Ukrainian children are at risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems with lasting effects.
Almost 1,500 Ukrainian children were orphaned, the National Social Service of Ukraine said.
The largest number of injured children came from Donetsk, the epicenter of much of the fighting, where 462 children were killed or injured, according to Ukrainian officials.
That figure does not include casualties in the Russian-held city of Mariupol, which is also part of Donetsk province, where Ukrainian officials have had difficulty verifying the number of dead and wounded.
INITIAL NEWS
The Zaporozhye power plant, located in the south of Ukraine in an area controlled by Russia, is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, and the area has been repeatedly hit by bombings for which both sides blame each other, informs the Reuters agency.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s intelligence directorate said Russian forces would soon bomb the plant and then announce a radiation leak. This would force an investigation by international authorities, during which all hostilities would be halted.
The ministry added that Russia had interrupted the planned rotation of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who are at the plant.
Last week, witnesses said Russian military forces had strengthened defensive positions in and around the plant in anticipation of a counteroffensive.
In February, Russia said Ukraine was planning to stage a nuclear incident on its territory to blame Moscow.
Russia has repeatedly accused Kiev of planning “false flag” operations with unconventional weapons, using biological or radioactive materials. No such attack materialized.
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