Zelensky begs for help as ‘horrifying’ Russian strike kills 51

Hroza, which had a population of about 500 before the war, is in the north-eastern Kharkiv region and was seized by Russia early in the war before being recaptured by Ukraine in September 2022. It’s only 30 kilometres west of Kupiansk, a key focus of the Russian military effort. Mr Zelensky visited the area on Tuesday to meet with troops and inspect equipment supplied by the West.

Dmytro Nechvolot said he was looking for his 60-year-old father, who attended the wake for a soldier from Hroza who died last year but who was reburied after being identified by DNA. He kept walking up to his father’s red car, which was still parked nearby, as he waited for confirmation that his father had been killed.

“I have lost a man I looked up to, a beloved father, and an unforgettable grandfather,” he said.

‘Russian terror must be stopped’

On Thursday, Mr Zelensky was at a summit of the European Political Community in Granada, Spain, where he asked for more Western support, saying that “Russian terror must be stopped”.

“Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression the new norm for the whole world,” he said in a statement posted on his Telegram channel. “Now we are talking with European leaders, in particular, about strengthening our air defence, strengthening our soldiers, giving our country protection from terror. And we will respond to the terrorists.

“The key for us, especially before winter, is to strengthen air defence, and there is already a basis for new agreements with partners,” he told the group, which was formed in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Heeding Mr Zelensky’s cry, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will supply Ukraine with another Patriot missile air defence system as he expects Russia will again target crucial infrastructure and cities across Ukraine in the winter months.

“This is what is now needed the most,” Mr Scholz said after meeting Mr Zelensky.

Last winter, Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy system and other vital infrastructure in a steady barrage of missile and drone attacks, triggering continuous power outages across the country. Ukraine’s power system has shown a high degree of resilience and flexibility, but there have been concerns that Russia will again ramp up its strikes on power facilities as winter draws nearer.

Mr Zelensky noted that the Granada summit will also focus on “joint work for global food security and protection of freedom of navigation” in the Black Sea, where the Russian military has targeted Ukrainian ports after Moscow’s withdrawal from a UN-sponsored grain deal designed to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports.

The UK Foreign Office cited intelligence suggesting that Russia may lay sea mines in the approach to Ukrainian ports to target civilian shipping and blame it on Ukraine.

“Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea,” it said, adding that the UK was working with Ukraine to help improve the safety of shipping.

Speaking in Granada, Mr Zelensky emphasised the need to preserve European unity in the face of Russian disinformation and to remain strong amid what he described as a “political storm” in the United States.

Asked if he was worried that support for Ukraine could falter in the US Congress, the Ukrainian president stressed that his visit to Washington last month made him confident of strong backing by both the Biden administration and Congress.

AP