Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky instructed Defense Minister Rustem Umerov during his late video address to present to the US evidence of damage to Ukrainian energy infrastructure caused by Russian strikes, Ukrinform reported, quoted by BTA.
„I instructed the Defense Minister of Ukraine to present to our American partners all cases of damage to our energy infrastructure caused by Russian attacks. In the last 24 hours alone, there was a targeted Russian drone strike on the gas infrastructure in Poltava region. There was also an artillery strike on Kherson, which damaged the city's energy infrastructure. Yesterday, one of the Russian attacks on Kharkiv damaged the city's heat pipeline infrastructure. All this shows that Russia will continue to sabotage diplomacy by acting in this way, and that Moscow's only remaining tactic is to prolong the war," Zelensky said.
The president stressed that despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's statements, Russian forces continue to advance with all their available military means, which is why it is necessary to increase pressure on Russia for diplomacy to be successful.
Zelensky recalled that Ukraine accepted the US proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, and since then the responsibility for the delay in diplomatic efforts has fallen entirely on Russia.
Ukrinform recalls that during the negotiations between the US and Ukrainian delegations in Riyadh, the two sides agreed to develop measures to implement the agreements between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, which include a ban on strikes on energy facilities in both Russia and Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported, citing local authorities, that a Russian drone strike killed one person and wounded six others, sparking a large fire at a hotel complex and other buildings in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Sergiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said the injured had been taken to hospital. Firefighters had managed to bring the flames under control.
“There is also a fire in an apartment building and in private homes,” he said.
Photos and videos posted online showed flames and smoke rising over the city. Others show a shattered interior of a building, badly damaged upper floors of an apartment building and streets covered with broken glass and debris from buildings.
Storm units of the Ukrainian armed forces, formed by former prisoners, are trying to stabilize the front and push the Russian army from Volchansk in the Kharkiv region, Russian military expert Andrei Marochko reported.
The Ukrainian armed forces have lost more than 520 soldiers in the area of operation of the Russian group "Center" in a day, the head of the group's press center, Alexander Savchuk, told journalists.
„The group's units have improved their tactical position. "They defeated the formations of two mechanized, airborne assault brigades and the airborne assault regiment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of Novosergeyevka, Kotlino, Krasnoarmeysk, Petrovskoye and Novoaleksandrovka. The losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to over 520 servicemen, two tanks, an armored combat vehicle, six vehicles and four field artillery pieces, including a 105-mm M101 howitzer," he said.