Zelenskyy instructs Defense Forces and special services to propose formats for Ukraine’s response to Russian strike
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief after Russia’s massive strike on Kyiv overnight on 14 May. He instructed Ukraine’s Defense Forces and special services to propose possible formats for responding to the attack.
He reported this on social media, Censor.NET informs.
Details
"The first issue was a detailed report by our military on the defensive operation that took place in recent days against a massive and effectively continuous Russian strike that lasted almost two days. This is a special terrorist tactic by the Russians, who accumulated drones and missiles over a certain period and deliberately calculated the strike so that its scale would be significant and the complications for our air defense would be as great as possible," he said.
- In total, in the waves of massive attacks on 13 and 14 May, the Russians used 1,567 drones and 56 missiles of various types. Ukraine’s drone interception rate was 94%. The missile interception rate was 73%. The key challenge is ballistic missiles and covering thousands of rear infrastructure facilities and Ukrainian cities, Zelenskyy noted.
Radars to protect the sky
Zelenskyy said that, together with military commanders, the defense minister, the energy minister and other officials involved, he had discussed in detail the current needs of Ukraine’s air defense forces and increasing supplies of the necessary equipment, including radars. Specific instructions were issued to the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the Air Force and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
"There were also reports on strikes in various regions of ours, from Rivne and Frankivsk to Kyiv and Kharkiv region. Search-and-rescue operations are still underway in Kyiv at the site where the entrance section of a residential building was destroyed, virtually wiped out from the first to the ninth floor by this Russian attack. The fate of almost 20 people who may have been in this building is unknown. As of now, seven people are known to have been killed and 39 injured in Kyiv alone. All necessary forces of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the National Police, municipal and medical services have been deployed.
I am grateful to everyone who is helping at the strike sites and rescuing people. I will also speak in detail with our diplomats about the tasks we have today in the search for missiles for air defense. Everyone must focus on anti-ballistic systems and the missiles for them. This is priority number one, and the assessment of Ukrainian diplomacy’s work in May and June will depend, among other things, on whether our air defense forces are sufficiently supplied. I have instructed Ukraine’s Defense Forces and special services to propose possible formats for our response to this Russian strike," he added.
