Zelenskyy urges West to send Patriots as Russian strikes on Kharkiv kill11

Ukraine, May 19

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Russian strikes killed at least 11 people, including a pregnant woman, and injured 25 others in two separate attacks in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region on Sunday, local officials said.

It was the latest in what have been constant attacks in recent weeks on Kharkiv city and the region of the same name by Russian missiles and guided bombs as Russian troops have launched an offensive in the northeast of the region. The first strike on Sunday killed five and wounded 16 in a recreation area just outside Kharkiv, while another five people were killed and 9 injured later in the day in two villages in Kupiansk district.

Local governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces shelled two villages of the district with a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher. In the city of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov gave the toll of dead and wounded.

After Sunday’s attack President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again called on Western allies to supply Kyiv with additional air defence systems to protect Kharkiv and other cities.

“The world can stop Russian terror – and to do so, the lack of political will among leaders must be overcome,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

“Two Patriots for Kharkiv will make a fundamental difference,” he said, referring to Patriot missile defence systems. Air defence systems for other cities and sufficient support for soldiers on the front line would ensure Russia’s defeat, the president added.

Ukraine has frequently accused Russia of using “double tap” strikes to kill or injure emergency workers at the scene of strikes. — Reuters