OUTLINE FOR VICTORY: Zelenskiy said that he would present Germany’s Scholz a plan for winning the war, which he hoped would end no later than next year
AFP, KYIV
Russia yesterday said it had downed 47 Ukrainian drones, while Kyiv reported that it neutralized 24 drones fired by Moscow, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to Berlin to ask for sustained military support.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that many missiles were fired from the Russian border region of Belgorod, without specifying the number or the type.
It said Russia had fired 28 drones at Ukraine, of which 24 were destroyed in the Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Mikolayev and Kherson regions.
A woman walks next to a house damaged by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces also said Kyiv’s forces had struck a fuel depot overnight in the eastern Russian-occupied Lugansk region, setting it on fire. It did not give any details.
Moscow did not confirm the attack, but the Russian Ministry of Defense said its forces had downed 47 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 17 in the southeastern Krasnodar region, 16 over the Azov Sea and 12 over the border region of Lursk.
The Krasnodar governor said on Telegram that Ukrainian drone attacks had damaged three homes and set a vehicle on fire.
Russian forces have made advances across the eastern front line and targeted Ukraine’s power grid as the country faces its toughest winter since the full-scale Russian invasion started in February 2022.
Visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, Zelenskiy, dressed in his trademark military clothes, thanked Germany for its backing and said that “it is very important for us that this assistance does not decrease next year.”
He said he would present Scholz with his plan for winning the war, voicing hope that the conflict would end “no later than next year, 2025.”
“Ukraine more than anyone else in the world wants a fair and speedy end to this war,” Zelenskiy said. “The war is destroying our country, taking the lives of our people.”
Scholz pledged that Germany and EU partners would send more defense equipment this year, and German aid worth 4 billion euros (US$4.38 billion) next year, vowing that “we will not let up in our support for Ukraine.”
Scholz said he and the Ukrainian leader agreed on the need for a peace conference that includes Russia, but that a peace “can only be brought about on the basis of international law.”
“We will not accept a peace dictated by Russia,” he said.
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