Zelenskyy asks G7 for air defences after new round of Russian strikes

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the G7 countries to speed up supplies of air defence systems after another day of a Russian missile barrage struck civilian and infrastructure targets across Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president’s plea came during a video conference held by the G7 leaders, including US President Joe Biden. Zelenskyy told the group Russia “has fired more than 100 cruise missiles and dozens of various drones” over the past two days, many hitting cities that have been free of attacks for months.

“When Ukraine obtains enough modern and effective surface-to-air defence systems, the key element of Russian terror — missile attacks — will no longer work,” he said.

The second Russian fusillade appeared to be less intense than the nationwide bombings on Monday that left dozens of Ukrainian civilians dead in some of the country’s largest cities. Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday that Russia had fired 28 cruise missiles and scores of kamikaze drones targeting critical infrastructure, 20 of which had been destroyed by Ukrainian air defences.

A government app that warns residents when Russian missiles have entered Ukrainian airspace showed all 24 of the country’s provinces on red alert.

The city of Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine was struck by 12 rockets in the early hours of Tuesday morning, killing one person and damaging several residential buildings, businesses and a pipeline, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office.

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Andriy Sadoviy, the mayor of Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine, said strikes had knocked out power supplies for a second day. “There has been a rocket attack on a critical infrastructure facility in Lviv. Part of the city is again without electricity,” he said in a Telegram channel post.

A power station in the Vinnytsia region was hit by kamikaze drones, the electricity company DTEK reported, while there was also a drone attack on Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine.

Two missiles were shot down by air defences in the Kyiv region, its governor Oleksiy Kuleba wrote on Telegram.

Pictures posted on social media showed people in Kyiv taking shelter in basements and in the capital’s cavernous metro system for a second day.

Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine’s national police, speaking on state television, said updated reports had confirmed at least 19 people were killed and 108 injured in Monday’s missile and drone barrage. He added that 199 infrastructure sites had been damaged.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strikes were retaliation for an attack on Saturday that damaged a vital road and railway bridge connecting Russian-occupied Crimea with the Russian mainland.

Monday’s assaults on civilian targets were denounced by several western governments as war crimes.

In his remarks to the G7, Zelenskyy did not mention Putin by name, but he made clear that he believed no direct peace negotiations or agreements could be held as long as Putin was Russia’s leader.

“Talks can be either with another head of Russia — who will comply with the UN Charter, the basic principles of humanity and territorial integrity of Ukraine — or in a different configuration,” Zelenskyy said. “One person is blocking peace — and this person is in Moscow.”

Zaporizhzhia has suffered constant bombardment in recent weeks. On Tuesday it was hit with Russian S-300 surface-to-air missiles adjusted to be used against ground targets, said Ukraine’s state emergency service.

It said rescuers were searching for people trapped under debris and that repairs were being made to damaged infrastructure. It shared photographs on Telegram of first responders putting out a huge blaze that engulfed a commercial centre.

“Most of the rockets landed on the island of Khortytsia, where buildings were destroyed, windows were broken and rooftops were damaged . . . Also, a car dealership was damaged directly in the city,” said Tymoshenko of the Ukrainian president’s office.