Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that the new inclusion of Western long-range missile systems in Ukraine’s defenses would lead Moscow to hit “objects that we haven’t yet struck.”
Smoke billowed from Kyiv, hit by airstrikes after a lull in assaults on the capital city.
Putin’s threat came only days after the US announced it was giving Ukraine advanced weaponry.
Military analysts say Russia is hoping to overrun the embattled eastern Donbas region, where Russia-backed separatists have fought the Ukrainian government for years, before any weapons that might turn the tide arrive. The Pentagon said earlier this week it will take at least three weeks to get the precision US weapons and trained troops onto the battlefield.
Russian forces pounded railway facilities and other infrastructure early Sunday in Kyiv, which had previously seen weeks of eerie calm. Ukraine’s nuclear plant operator, Energoatom, said one cruise missile buzzed the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear plant, about 220 miles to the south, on its way to the capital — citing the dangers of such a near miss.
In a posting on the Telegram app, the Russian Defense Ministry said high-precision, long-range air-launched missiles were used. It said the strikes destroyed on the outskirts of Kyiv destroyed T-72 tanks supplied by Eastern European countries and other armored vehicles located in buildings of a car-repair business.
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Major developments:
► The main temple of a Ukrainian Orthodox monastery in the Donestk region has been hit by Russian airstrikes, a Ukrainian official said Saturday. The Sviatohirsk Lavra, a wooden structure, was ablaze in a video posted to Twitter by presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
►Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday on Twitter that he’s embarking Tuesday on a multistop international trip that will conclude with a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels to discuss Ukraine, as well as the applications of Sweden and Finland to NATO.
►Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that Russia now controls almost 20% of the country’s territory. Before the war, Russia controlled 7%, including the Crimea Peninsula and parts of the Donbas.
Ukrainian official pushes back on Macron
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday pushed back on French President Emmanuel Macron’s warning against humiliating Russia, despite its “historic” mistake of invading Ukraine.
“We must not humiliate Russia so that the day when the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means,” Macron said, it was reported Friday in French media. “I am convinced that it is France’s role to be a mediating power.”
On Sunday on Twitter, Podolyak said“While someone asks not to humiliate, the Kremlin resorts to new insidious attacks. Today’s missile strikes at Kyiv have only 1 goal – kill as many as possible.”
He then called for more weapons to fight Russia, as well as additional sanctions.
Contributing: Associated Press
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism