Nfter the recent Russian rocket attacks on homes in the city of Uman, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for more weapons to protect the country. “Anti-aircraft defense, a modern air force, without which effective airspace defense is impossible, artillery, armored vehicles. Everything that is necessary to offer security to our cities, our villages, both in the rear and at the front,” said the 45-year-old on Friday in his daily video address.
In his speech, Zelenskyy recalled that at least 23 people, including 4 children, died as a result of the Russian rocket attack in the city of Uman. A mother and her three-year-old daughter were also killed by Russian fire in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
A Russian missile hit a high-rise building in Uman on Friday morning. 109 people were registered in the destroyed part of the house, it said. 27 apartments were completely destroyed. Dozens of cars on the road were damaged by debris. The search for people continued in the rubble.
According to Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense prevented a far higher number of civilian casualties by intercepting 21 out of 23 missiles. “Only absolute evil can unleash such terror against Ukraine,” the president said. He was glad that there was agreement on punishing those responsible in Europe. The European Union had condemned Russia’s recent rocket attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine as a war crime.
Criticism of EU neighbors’ import restrictions on agricultural products
However, Selenskyj also criticized the EU neighbors. The blockade of Ukrainian agricultural products by neighboring European countries sends a dangerous signal of crumbling solidarity. “Now that Russia, violating free trade, is trying to block the supply of agricultural products to the world market, it’s definitely not the time for anyone to follow the evil state and do something similar,” Zelenskyy said. Instead, a constructive solution in the interests of all must be found. He also discussed this with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
EU Commission: Dispute over Ukrainian agricultural imports settled
Meanwhile, the EU Commission announced an agreement with several Eastern European countries in the dispute over agricultural imports from Ukraine. Concerns from farmers in several neighboring EU countries and Ukraine were taken into account, Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis wrote on Twitter on Friday. Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary will therefore lift their countermeasures. In return, there will be “extraordinary protective measures” for wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds. He did not give details.
