Zelensky begs U.S. E.U. for help as Russia embarks on new wave of air attacks

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is begging the United States (U.S.) and member states of the European Union (E.U.) for help, calling for more international pressure to be placed on Moscow following another night of heavy Russian air attacks on the Ukrainian capital.

“Today is one of the largest attacks on Kiev. Odesa, Dnipro region, and Chernihiv region were also targeted,’’ he wrote on the X platform.

These airstrikes had drowned out all efforts by the U.S. and other countries to achieve peace, he said.

Zelensky called on the U.S., Europe “and others around the world who called for an end to the war’’ to take action.

The response to such Russian attacks must not be silence, he said.

There were fires in the capital with a number of buildings destroyed, and there were several injuries, he said.

The port city of Odessa was also hit hard, with two people killed and at least 10 others were injured after a drone strike, Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov wrote on Telegram.

The Ukrainian Air Force says Russia attacked its neighbour with 315 drones and drone dummies, two North Korean ballistic missiles and five cruise missiles.

It said that 284 targets were destroyed, including all missiles and cruise missiles.

In the Russian border region of Belgorod, a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

There were also reports of injuries.

The Russian Defence Ministry reported that 102 Ukrainian drones were shot down over several Russian territories and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.

The information provided by the warring parties cannot be independently verified.

According to Russian media reports, one of the targets was a drone factory near the city of Yelabuga in the republic of Tatarstan.

Russia’s aviation authority placed temporary restrictions on take-offs and landings at 13 airports during Monday night and Tuesday morning, including the airports of Moscow and St. Petersburg. (Dpa/NAN)