Ukrainian and British officials warned on Saturday that Russian forces are relying on weapons capable of causing massive casualties as they try to advance in the capture of eastern Ukraine and fierce and protracted fighting is depleting the resources of both sides.
Russian bombers have probably been firing heavy anti-aircraft missiles in the 1960s in Ukraine, the UK Defense Ministry said. Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers with a nuclear warhead.
When used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, “they are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause serious and low collateral damage,” the ministry said.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, leaves after a joint press conference with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, June 11, 2022. Von der Leyen makes his second visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor. He was one of the first European leaders to go to Ukraine during the war. (Photo by AP / Natacha Pisarenko)
Both sides have spent large amounts of weapons on what has become a war of attrition for the eastern region of mines and coal factories known as the Donbas, putting great strain on their resources and stocks.
Russia is likely to be using 5.5-ton anti-missile missiles because it lacks more accurate modern missiles, the British ministry said. He did not give details of where exactly these missiles are believed to have been deployed.
As Russia also tried to consolidate its dominance over occupied territory so far in the 108-day war, the U.S. Secretary of Defense said the invasion of Ukraine by Moscow “is what happens when the oppressors step on the rules that protect us all. “
A Ukrainian tank leads in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Thursday, June 9, 2022. (Photo AP / Bernat Armangue)
“That’s what happens when the great powers decide that their imperial appetites are more important than the rights of their peaceful neighbors,” Austin said during a visit to Asia.
“And it’s a foretaste of a possible world of chaos and unrest in which none of us would want to live.”
Zelenskyy calls for more EU sanctions on Russia
During a visit to Kyiv by the top European Union official, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy called for a new round of “even stronger” EU sanctions against Russia.
Zelenskyy called for new sanctions to be targeted at more Russian officials, including judges, and to hamper the activities of all Russian banks, including the bank of gas giant Gazprom, as well as all Russian companies that help Moscow. either way “.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, speaks at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, June 11, 2022. Von der Leyen pays his second visit in Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor. He was one of the first European leaders to go to Ukraine during the war (AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko)
He spoke during a brief press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the heavily guarded Kyiv presidential office.
The couple talked about Ukraine’s aspirations to become a member of the EU. Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “will do everything” to join the bloc.
Von der Leyen praised Ukraine’s “strength and resilience” in the face of Russia’s “horrible and atrocious” invasion and said the EU would help rebuild it so that the country could “emerge from the ashes”.
“We mourn with you. We share the tears with you,” he said.
Drones help track down and destroy invaders
Von der Leyen was on his second visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor. He was one of the first European leaders to go to Ukraine during the war.
Russia creates a company to sell Ukrainian grain
Officials stationed by Russia in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine have set up a company to buy local grain and resell it on behalf of Moscow, a local representative told Interfax news agency on Saturday.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of stealing Ukrainian grain and causing a global food crisis that could result in millions starving to death.
People board an evacuation train at Pokrovsk train station in eastern Ukraine on Friday, June 10, 2022. (Photo AP / Bernat Armangue)
Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of the pro-Russian interim administration in Zaporizhzhia, said the new state-owned grain company has taken control of several facilities.
He said “the grain will be Russian” and “we don’t care who the buyer is.”
Balitsky added that the company is considering buying grain from both this year’s and last year’s crops, and the harvest will begin in two weeks. It was not clear whether the farmers whose grain Russia was selling were collecting.
He said his administration would not appropriate the strength of cereals or pressure producers to sell them.