Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized US President Joe Biden in a rare rebuke, saying the US decision to allow Ukraine to attack Russia with US weapons does not go far enough.
While Zelensky, speaking at the main Asian security summit in Singapore, thanked Biden for allowing Ukraine to attack limited Russian territory with American weapons, he said restrictions need to be removed.
Last week, the United States gave Ukraine permission to use American missiles to fire on Kharkiv, where Russian troops have been increasing in numbers. But this is the only area where they are allowed to shoot, and Ukraine is only allowed to shoot certain weapons.
Zelensky said: ‘Is that enough? Not because? Because I have given you the example of the airfields from which Russia fires permanently, calmly, knowing that Ukraine will not respond because it does not have the corresponding systems or the corresponding permits.’
He said Russia has the advantage with the restrictions imposed on Ukraine, as its armies can continue to use artillery and long-range weapons to attack civilian infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) criticized US President Joe Biden in a rare rebuke.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky steps off his plane as he arrives to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore.
While Zelensky thanked Joe Biden (pictured) for allowing Ukraine to attack limited Russian territory with American weapons, he said restrictions need to be removed.
“They have these weapons there and they don’t remove them because they know that Ukraine cannot attack them with Western weapons even if they shoot at us,” he said.
Ukraine imposed emergency power cuts across most of the country on Sunday, a day after Russia unleashed large-scale attacks on energy infrastructure and claimed it had made progress in the eastern province of Donetsk.
The closures were implemented in all but three regions of Ukraine following Saturday’s drone and missile attack on energy targets that injured at least 19 people.
Ukraine’s state power grid operator Ukrenergo said the shutdowns affected both industrial and domestic consumers.
Continued Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in recent weeks have forced the government to institute rolling blackouts across the country. However, without adequate air defenses to counter attacks and allow for repairs, shortages could still worsen as needs increase in late summer and cold winter.
Among the most significant recent attacks were a bombing in April that damaged kyiv’s largest thermal power plant and a massive attack on May 8 that targeted power generation and transmission facilities in several regions.
A view of the damaged residential area after the Russian S-300 missile attack hit Kharkiv, Ukraine, May 31, 2024.
Damaged car lies in rubble after Russian missile attack on May 31, 2024 in Kharkiv, Ukraine
Doctors bandage the head of a man injured after a Russian bombing on May 31, 2024 in Kharkiv.
Following Saturday’s bombing, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that air defenses had shot down all 25 drones launched overnight.
Russia claimed on Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Umanske in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region.
Russia’s new coordinated offensive has focused on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, but appears to include testing Ukrainian defenses in Donetsk further south while launching raids on the northern regions of Sumy and Chernihiv.
In Russia, six people were wounded in shelling in the city of Shebekino in the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Sunday. He also said that a local official, the deputy head of the Korochansky district, had been killed by “detonation of ammunition.” He did not give details.
In the neighboring Kursk region, three people were injured on Sunday when an explosive device was launched from a drone, according to acting regional head Alexey Smirnov.
