Zelenskyy calls for European air defense system as Russian strikes wreak havoc in Zaporizhzhia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday called for a joint protection of our European skies with a multilayered air defence system after Russian forces bombarded the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with rockets overnight, killing at least one person.

The attack also left dozens injured, including four children, Zelenskyy said Tuesday as he urged European leaders to make the continent safe by building an ambitious air defence umbrella.

“Now is the time to implement the joint protection of our European skies with a multilayered air defence system. All the technologies for this are available,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram. “We need investments and desire, we need strong actions and decisions from all our partners.”

With the war grinding on for more than three years since Moscow's full-scale invasion began in Febrnuary 2022, there has been no respite from Russian strikes on civilian regions of Ukraine and its army's advance on the approximately 1,000-kilometre front line.

Months of US-led peace talks and a settlement to end the war don't seem to be any closer despite President Donald Trump's ultimatums.

In Zaporizhzhia, the Russian barrage struck more than 20 apartment buildings early Tuesday, starting fires, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on state television.

“We hadn’t yet recovered from enemy strikes on Aug. 30. We are currently repairing those buildings, those windows, but now the enemy has added more work for our municipal workers,” Fedorov said.

Just over the past two weeks, Zelenskyy said on Telegram, Russia has launched more than 3,500 drones, more than 2,500 powerful glide bombs, and almost 200 missiles at targets inside Ukraine.

According to Zelenskyy, Russia also struck a civilian logistical facility in the Kyiv region. Additionally, he shared a video on social media of a Russian drone hitting Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city in the northeast.

According to local officials, the drone struck the National Pharmaceutical University in the city centre, injuring four people.

Zelenskyy repeats call for more sanctions on Russia

Zelenskyy reiterated his call on nations to impose more stringent economic penalties on Russia.

“The only reason Russia can allow all this is that it doesn’t feel any pain,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Until Russia experiences truly severe losses — above all economic ones — it will avoid genuine diplomacy and an end to the war.”

Russian glide bombs, usually dropped by jets at high altitude and far behind the front line, and drone swarms are a major challenge for Ukrainian defences. Glide bombs aren’t very accurate, but they leave big craters, and Ukraine has no effective countermeasure against them.

Russian drones also recently landed on Polish soil, prompting NATO to beef up the alliance’s European air defenses as tensions with Moscow mounted.