Kiev, Dec 13, (dpa/GNA) – Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Saturday reported new overnight attacks by Russia on many parts of the country, with more than 450 drones and 30 missiles.
“The main strike again hit our energy supply, the south and the Odessa region,” Zelensky posted on social media. Work to restore electricity and water supplies was under way in the communities.
According to the authorities, a grain warehouse in the port of Odessa also caught fire.
“Two people were injured in the Odessa region,” Zelensky said, adding that more than a dozen civilian objects were damaged in the country.
“Thousands of families are without power after last night’s attacks in the regions of Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson and Chernihiv,” he said.
Officials said five more people were injured in Mykolaiv on the Black Sea during the attacks.
‘Terror against our people’
“It is important that everyone now sees what Russia is doing. Every step they take is terror against our people, every attack, because it is definitely not about ending the war,” Zelensky said, in apparent reference to Moscow’s rigid stance towards peace talks being led by the United States.
Despite the efforts of many countries, due to resume in Berlin on Sunday and Monday, a clear agreement to end the war is not yet in sight.
Parallel to the negotiations, Russia is exerting massive military pressure with airstrikes to force Ukraine to accept its terms for a ceasefire.
Russia wants to destroy Ukraine as a state, Zelensky said. “That is why we need support in everything that helps to protect lives and end this war: strengthening our air defences and our soldiers on the front lines,” he said.
The country needs long-range weapons and stronger pressure on Russia, Zelensky stressed.
GNA