Antonio Guterres raises alarm over ‘harmful escalation’ after hours-long Russian drone and missile barrage this week.
United Nations Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres has condemned a Russian drone and missile assault towards Ukraine this week that has been described as the biggest such assault within the three-year struggle.
In an announcement on Saturday, Guterres’s spokesperson mentioned the Russian strikes “disrupted the facility provide to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant, as soon as once more underlining the continuing dangers to nuclear security”.
“The secretary-general is alarmed by this harmful escalation and the rising variety of civilian casualties,” the assertion learn.
Ukrainian officers mentioned Moscow fired greater than 500 drones and 11 missiles on the capital Kyiv in a single day into Friday in an assault that killed one particular person, injured not less than 23 others and broken buildings throughout town.
The sounds of air raid sirens, kamikaze drones and booming detonations reverberated till daybreak.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to as the assault “intentionally large and cynical”.
Russia has been stepping up its long-range assaults on Ukrainian cities as United States-led efforts to succeed in a ceasefire to finish the struggle have stalled.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s prime navy commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, warned of a potential new Russian offensive within the Kharkiv area, part of northeastern Ukraine that has seen heavy preventing since Russia invaded in 2022.
Moscow has been slowly grinding its means alongside a number of elements of the Ukrainian entrance line in latest months, throwing forth steady waves of infantry because it seeks to press dwelling its benefit in troops and munitions.
Russian forces have already pushed into northern Ukraine’s Sumy area over the previous months, carving out a small foothold there.
Russia fired 322 drones and decoys into Ukraine in a single day into Saturday, Ukraine’s air pressure mentioned. Of those, 157 have been shot down and 135 have been misplaced, doubtless having been electronically jammed.
Ukraine has additionally ramped up its retaliatory strikes in Russia, with the Ministry of Defence saying it shot down 94 Ukrainian drones in a single day into Saturday, together with 45 additional drones within the morning and early afternoon.
4 Ukrainian drones additionally have been shot down whereas approaching Moscow on Saturday, in keeping with Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. In the meantime, a lady was killed in a Ukrainian drone assault within the Rostov area, the appearing governor mentioned.
Individually, the Ukrainian navy mentioned in an announcement on social media on Saturday that its particular forces struck Russia’s Borisoglebsk navy airfield within the Voronezh area, hitting a glide bomb retailer and a coach plane.
The navy mentioned that different plane have been additionally doubtless hit, with out giving particulars.
The governor of Voronezh, Alexander Gusev, wrote on Telegram that greater than 25 drones have been destroyed over the area in a single day. He mentioned an influence line was quickly broken, however made no point out of a navy airfield.
The assaults come as Ukraine’s Zelenskyy mentioned on Friday that he had a “crucial and fruitful” cellphone dialog with US President Donald Trump in his efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences.
The US president additionally spoke to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a day earlier in a dialog that he mentioned was disappointing.
“I’m very disillusioned with the dialog I had in the present day with President Putin, as a result of I don’t suppose he’s there, and I’m very disillusioned,” Trump mentioned after the decision on Thursday. “I’m simply saying I don’t suppose he’s trying to cease, and that’s too unhealthy.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned on Friday that it was “preferable” to realize the targets of Russia’s invasion by political and diplomatic means.
“However so long as that isn’t potential, we’re persevering with the particular operation,” he mentioned.
