Zelensky urges Western countries to give Ukraine freedom to strike Russia

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on his country’s Western backers to give the Ukrainian military freedom to respond to Russian strikes, in light of the increasing number of Russian attacks on his country.

Zelensky said in his evening video address on Sunday, “The sooner the world helps us deal with the Russian planes that drop these bombs, the sooner we can attack the Russian military structure and Russian military airports and the closer we will be to peace”.

Ukraine’s military has long demanded that the West grant its permission to attack Russian bases and air bases with heavy weapons inside Russia away from the front line.

So far, Western countries have allowed Ukraine to use the weapons and ammunition they provide to it near the front line and in the border area with Russia.

Ukraine has relied on domestically produced drones for its attacks on Russian outlying areas, which lack the effectiveness of the most advanced missiles coming from abroad.

Zelensky earlier complained about continued Russian attacks and again called on the West to provide more aid in air defense.

Just last week, Russia dropped 800 glide bombs over Ukraine, Zelensky announced in Kiev on Sunday evening.

A video showing severe destruction and fires was also posted in the districts of Kherson, Dnipro, Odessa and Zaporizhia as well as other areas.

“Ukraine needs more air defense systems… We need strong help from our partners… Ukraine also needs means to shoot down Russian fighter jets,” Zelensky said.

On Saturday, seven people were killed in an attack on the city of Vilniansk in Zaporizhia.

According to official statistics on Sunday, more than 40 people were injured, and on Sunday, at least one person was killed in a Russian airstrike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, and eight other people, including an eight-month-old baby, were seriously wounded in the attack, according to Kharkov Mayor Olei Terikhov.

A slide bomb exploded in the center of the city’s heartland; Kharkov military governor Olei Sinihupov said a post office was hit in the attack.

The West supports Ukraine in repelling the more than two-year-old Russian invasion.

Kiev has long asked for more US Patriot air defense systems to better protect its cities against Russian airstrikes.

On Ukraine’s western border with Hungary, a border guard shot and killed one man and wounded another man after they tried to attack him with a machete on Saturday evening, according to a report by the news site Ukrainska Pravda, citing border guards and authorities.

The incident took place in the Chernivtsi region of western Ukraine, as the authorities didn’t immediately disclose details about the suspected attackers or any information about the reasons for the attack.

The region along the Ukrainian border has been rocked by clashes over efforts by guards to enforce rules that prohibit men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country without exceptional circumstances.

In a separate incident, 17 men were arrested while traveling in a minibus along the border with Hungary while trying to leave Ukraine illegally, border guards said.

The men came from different regions of Ukraine and were trying to flee to Hungary.

The initial investigation showed that the men were supposed to pay between $3,000 and $12,000 to leave the country, according to authorities.