Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that the work of the air force in some parts of the country is "unsatisfactory" and that steps are being taken to improve the response to massive Russian drone attacks on civilian areas, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Russian air strikes in recent months have targeted Ukraine's power grid, leading to power outages, heating and water supplies for families during the harsh winter.
As the war approaches its fifth year later this month, there is no sign of a breakthrough in the U.S.-led peace effort after the latest talks this week. Further meetings between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, brokered by the U.S., are planned "in the near future, probably in the United States," Zelensky said.
Zelensky said he had discussed with the defense minister and the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force what new air defense measures Ukraine needed to counter the Russian shelling. He did not give details of what would be done.
Russia fired 328 drones and seven missiles at Ukraine overnight Friday and early morning, the Ukrainian air force said, saying air defenses shot down 297 of them.
One person was killed and two others were injured in a nighttime Russian attack with drones and powerful glide bombs in the Dnepropetrovsk region, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Khanzha, said.
A Russian air strike in the southern Zaporizhia region in the early hours of the day wounded eight people and damaged 18 apartment blocks, the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, said.
Amid the freezing winter conditions in Kiev, more than 1,200 apartment buildings in various areas of the capital have been without heating for days due to Russian bombing of the power grid, Zelensky said.
The British Ministry of Defense said today that Ukraine's power grid is "experiencing its worst winter crisis".