After the attack on Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky called for help with anti-aircraft defenses.
Kiev wants Russia’s military to topple Ukrainian defenders with terrorist attacks. The city of Kharkiv in the northeast of the country is currently being targeted. Over the weekend, Ukraine’s second-largest city was the target of heavy Russian airstrikes. An attack on a hardware store was particularly devastating. At least a dozen people died and more than 40 were injured in the bomb attack on the building. The public prosecutor’s office in Kharkiv announced this on Sunday. Firefighters battled for more than 16 hours to douse the fire.
Two Russian cruise missiles hit a hardware store. At least 120 people were inside the store when the attack took place, said Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekov. He described the airstrike as “terror”. A mall employee said the two blasts happened in quick succession. “I heard the first blow and my colleague and I fell to the ground,” said 26-year-old Dmytro Sirotenko, who was wounded in the face. “There was a second impact and we were covered in rubble.” A rescue worker brought him and several co-workers and customers to safety. The Russian military said Ukrainian forces had hidden a weapons depot and command post in a hardware store. “The tactic of human shields is used in Kargi.”
A call to Biden and Xi
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rushed to Kharkiv after the attack. From there, in a video, he again called on NATO countries to supply Ukraine with the weapons it needs. “Ukraine needs adequate anti-aircraft defense,” Zelensky said. This is the only way to protect people from Russian attacks. The President of Ukraine has also requested US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to participate in the peace conference to be held in Switzerland. Zelensky said his country has been struggling for 27 months to repel Russia’s relentless attacks.
The leadership in Kiev hopes the meeting in Switzerland in mid-June will help increase international pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I appeal to the world leaders – President Biden of the United States and President Xi of China – who are still absent from the global effort of the World Peace Summit,” he said. Russian representatives were not invited to the discussions in Switzerland. So it seems clear that the Chinese head of state will not come either.
“Imperial Megalomania”
At a citizens’ dialogue on Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz once again spoke out against the use of weapons supplied to Kiev by the West against targets on Russia’s border. Scholes said the goal of his Ukraine policy “is to prevent it from turning into a big war.” He accused Putin of sacrificing many Russian soldiers in the war against Ukraine. The German chancellor said there is a statistic that 24,000 Russian soldiers are killed or seriously wounded every month. “All for imperial megalomania on the part of the Russian president.”
Russia accused Ukraine of attacking civilians over the weekend: Four residents were killed in Ukrainian rocket attacks, according to Vyacheslav Kladkov, the governor of Belgorod in southern Russia. Twelve people, including a child, were reportedly injured in two Ukraine bombings. (APA/Reuters/Red.)
