Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky says Patriot missiles could ‘close our skies’ but are just gathering dust
Ukrainian president’s plea comes after Russian missile killed at least four people in Zaporizhzhia
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Ukraine would be able to completely defend its skies if it received around a dozen more Patriot air defence systems from Western allies, Volodymyr Zelensky has said, urging them not to let the systems “gather dust”.
Signalling his frustration, the Ukrainian president said: “I sometimes do not get it... Everyone understands that an additional 10-12 Patriot systems for Ukraine will ensure life for us and make the war for (Russian president Vladimir) Putin meaningless.
“We repeat again and again that air defences should save lives, not gather dust at storage bases,” he said.
His plea came after a Russian missile killed at least four people and injured 20 more, including a child, in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
Also in the Zaporizhzhia region, a drone hit and severely damaged an official vehicle from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, on the road to the Russian-held nuclear power plant there yesterday.
While the UN team is safe, the agency’s chief Rafael Grossi repeated his calls for “utmost restraint” from both sides.
In Russia, an overnight missile attack has damaged an industrial facility and set ablaze at least 14 of cars in Taganrog in Rostov.
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
Russian forces have continued to make gains in the eastern region of Donetsk, advancing along several fronts towards the city of Pokrovsk, a linchpin of the wider area’s defence.
Moscow has also mobilised thousands of North Korean soldiers to push back the Ukrainian incursion into the border region of Kursk, with some success.
And in the Kharkiv region, Russian forces are staging an attack on the city of Kupiansk, which is key to that area’s wider defence.
Read more:
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
Ukraine’s military say the hottest fighting along the roughly 640-mile frontline is taking place along multiple points in Donetsk
What are ATACMS? The US missiles being used inside Russia
Army Tactical Missile Systems are a long-range guided missile that gives operational commanders immediate firepower to strike deep inside Russia.
Produced by US global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin, the missiles carry a 500lb (227kg) class blast fragmentation warhead.
These missiles can reach up to 300km (186 miles) and are tough to intercept due to their high speed.
The weapons are fitted with a specialised GPS system and carry cluster munitions.
When fired, the clusters open in the air, releasing hundreds of bomblets rather than a single warhead.
What Russia's invasion has cost Ukraine after more than 1,000 days of war
Devastating human and material losses continue to mount, leaving Ukraine more vulnerable than at any time since the early days of the war.
As of 31 August, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine had documented at least 11,743 civilians killed and 24,614 wounded in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian prosecutors have said 589 Ukrainian children had been killed by 15 November.
Western countries believe Russia has suffered far worse casualties than Ukraine, sometimes losing more than 1,000 soldiers killed per day during periods of intense fighting in the east.
But it is Ukraine, with around a third of Russia’s population, that is likely to be facing the more severe manpower shortages arising from battles of attrition.
Russia now occupies and claims to have annexed around a fifth of Ukraine, an area around the size of Greece.
The draft 2025 budget envisages that about 26 percent of Ukraine’s GDP, or 2.2 trillion hryvnias ($53.3 billion), would go on defence. Ukraine has already received more than $100 billion from its Western partners in financial aid.
70 per cent of Ukrainians support ‘West German’ model for NATO accession, survey shows
Just over 70 per cent of Ukrainians support gradual NATO accession akin to West Germany’s model, a new survey by the Kyiv-based New Europe Center.
This invitation would cover Ukraine, but the alliance’s defensive umbrella would only extend to occupied territories after liberation.
Different NATO accession pathways are gaining traction in both the West and Kyiv as Russia holds a military advantage on the battlefield and the prospect of liberating occupied territories militarily remains slim.
Ukrainians have highest trust for Trump in Europe, survey suggests
Just over 44 per cent of Ukrainians trust US president-elect Donald Trump, around 10 points less than president Joe Biden, a survey by New Europe Center showed.
In comparison, a separate June poll by the Pew Research Center suggested that Hungaraians trusted Mr Trump the most at 37 percent, followed by Britain at 30 per cent and then France with 16 per cent of the population trusting him.
“This high level of support is likely due to the expectation of a clearer and more decisive policy towards Ukraine from the new US administration,” New Europe Center researchers said.
Zelensky open to idea of Western troops in Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he is open to the potential deployment of Western troops in Ukraine to guarantee the country’s security as part of an effort to end the almost three-year war with Russia.
Mr Zelensky stressed that even with an invitation to the NATO military alliance, long-term protection would still be uncertain in the face of future Russian aggression.
Read more here:
Zelensky open to idea of Western troops in Ukraine
President Zelensky stresses that even with an invitation to the NATO military alliance, long-term protection would still be uncertain in the face of future Russian aggression
Kitten named Peach saves life of Ukrainian man fleeing war
A Ukrainian man was rescued fleeing his war-torn country from a deep mountain ravine in subzero temperatures with an unlikely companion: his months-old kitten named Peach.
More than a dozen rescuers worked in a harsh blizzard to save Vladislav Duda, 28, who was found “soaked and frozen” and severely hypothermic in a 400-meter (437-yard) deep ravine in the northern Maramures region on Romania last week, according to the region’s mountain rescue service.
“The cat was warm and was warming him … so he saved his life,” Dan Benga, the director of the Maramures mountain rescue service, told The Associated Press. “The only thing we saw he is caring about is the cat. He doesn’t care about himself.”
Poland protests over damage to monuments in Russia
Poland will send a note to Russian authorities to demand an inquiry into the devastation of monuments commemorating Polish Home Army soldiers in the town of Yogla in eastern Russia, the Polish foreign ministry has said.
Relations between Poland and Russia are tense, especially since Moscow invaded neighbouring Ukraine in 2022.
“This is a place where former prisons, gulags were located, to which people from different parts of the world were sent, including Polish soldiers,” Polish foreign ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski said.
“And there were monuments commemorating prisoners, but they were not just monuments, they stand on the graves of people who died there from hunger, exhaustion, repression and diseases.”
Wronski added that Poland is asking Russia whether an inquiry will be launched and if perpetrators would be punished.
Politico lists Yermak, Zelenskyy among Europe’s most influential people
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and chief of staff Andriy Yermak have been listed amongst Politico’s annual list of the most influential people in Europe.
The list was divided into “dreamers”, “doers” and “disrupters”.
Mr Zelenskyy topped the dreamers for “changing the course of history.... with the power of words” and Mr Yermak as a runner-up doer as “the mastermind behind Kyiv’s push to engage with developing countries”.
Injury toll from Russian missile attacks in Kharkiv rises to 11
Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s northeastern region of Kharkiv injured at least 11 people, officials said having previously reported 10 injured.
Governor Oleh Syniehubov stated that Russian soldiers launched two missile attacks on the village of Zlatopil.
The first strike harmed non-residential structures and cars, while the second struck an administration facility.
Russia has bombarded the border region with numerous attacks since the beginning of Moscow’s full-fledged invasion in February 2022.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments