This Wednesday, Russia massively attacked the northeast, center and southeast of Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is putting pressure on the international community in the United States not to cease its military support at a time when the counteroffensive has made the greatest progress since it began. almost four months ago.
Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 17 of the 24 Shahed suicide drones launched by Russia early in the morning, but some of them hit an oil refinery in the Poltava region (center). Others were shot down over the regions of Sumi (northeast), Kirovograd (center) and Dnipropetrovsk (southeast).
Meanwhile, Russia suffered attacks against the annexed Crimean peninsula, according to the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, who first reported the downing of drones and later the interception of missiles.
The Center for Strategic Communications of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated on its Telegram channel that a command post of the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol was successfully attacked.
While Ukraine and Russia assessed the damage caused by the attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin received the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, in St. Petersburg, with whom he discussed the war in Ukraine and with whom he accepted the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to meet with him in October in Beijing.
Russia’s new massive attack occurred just hours after Zelensky spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York.
There he not only complained that Russia is allowed to have nuclear weapons while Ukraine had to give them up in 1994, but also Moscow’s use of energy, food, the nuclear threat and the deportation of minors as weapon.
This Wednesday, Zelensky defended at the UN Security Council his Formula for Peace, which includes the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory, the cessation of hostilities, accountability by Russia before a special court and guarantees of security for Ukraine.
Zelensky has already met this Wednesday in New York with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, a country from which he has been asking for components of its prestigious air defense system for some time, precisely to counter Russian attacks with missiles and drones, most Iranian Shahed.
He also finally met with the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio da Silva, with whom he met in May at a G7 meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, but did not attend the meeting they had agreed to due to “scheduling problems.”
Zelensky has criticized Lula for considering that he places responsibility for the war on both sides, in addition to suggesting that a way out of the conflict could be the transfer of territory to Russia.
After finishing his commitments in New York, the Ukrainian president will travel to Washington to meet at the White House with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, who the day before in the General Assembly warned that no country will have its independence assured if Ukraine loses its independence. war for the Russian invasion.
He will also hold meetings with the leaders of the US House of Representatives and Senate, and with military commanders.
Kiev fears that the military and financial support of its main ally will decrease in the face of the presidential elections in that country in 2024 and given the skepticism of some Republican legislators about the success of the counteroffensive.
At the moment, he can show in the American capital progress in recent weeks on the eastern and southwestern fronts of the country, the greatest since Ukrainian troops launched their offensive on June 4.
In an interview with CNN the day before, Zelensky said that no one can predict whether the troops will achieve significant success before the end of the year, but he did express his confidence that “there will be more progress.”
The Ukrainian president also wants to give Biden a final push to finally approve the supply to kyiv of ATACMS long-range missiles with a maximum range of 300 kilometers.
“We are at the finish line, that’s for sure,” Zelensky said.