Russian Missiles Rain On Ukraine After Western Jets Request (Worthy News Radio)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Kyiv says Russia launched over 50 missiles at Ukraine Friday, a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded in Europe for more military support, including fighter jets. Despite one of Russia’s worst air attacks, Zelensky claims he hasn’t given up hope on winning the war and seeks European Union membership.
As air raids wailed across the nation, Russia unleashed strategic bombers, killer drones, and rockets in a barrage of attacks on Ukrainian targets early Friday.
Ukraine’s military said Russia focused its bombardments on Ukraine’s industrial east, especially the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.
But the barrage also hit the capital, Kyiv, and struck critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in the northeast, reportedly injuring several people.
It came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for more weapons, including fighter jets, while addressing European Union leaders and its parliament following similar requests in Britain and Paris earlier in the week.
Heard through an interpreter, Zelensky told reporters in Brussels, Belgium, that he hasn’t given up on Ukraine’s European ambitions. “We can’t force people to war; we are not Russia,” he said. “That is the paradox; we are fighting for European values,” Zelensky claimed. “We want to be a member of the European Union. So even when we fight, we have to fight with dignity and with those values,” he noted about what may prove to be Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two.
‘WINGS FOR FREEDOM’
However, he argued that Ukraine needed combat aircraft to reach its goals. He had a similar message this week in London, where he gave the speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, a helmet of one of an exceptional Ukrainian pilot. “This helmet is of a real Ukrainian pilot. He is one of our most successful pilots. He is one of our kings,” Zelensky said, reverberating through Westminster Hall in London.
“And the writing in the helmet says: ‘We have freedom, give us wings to protect it.’ So I trust this symbol will help us for our next coalition,” a coalition of the planes,” Zelensky added.
“And I appeal to you and the world with these simple and most
important words: “Combat aircraft for Ukraine, wings for freedom,” he stressed in a speech to British legislators often interrupted by applause.
Yet there are European divisions about the delivery of fighter jets amid fears it could escalate the armed conflict beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Already nearby states are impacted, with Moldova summoning the Russian ambassador on Friday, saying a Russian missile crossed its air space.
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