Ukraine has received more American-made Patriot air defence systems to help it counter Russia’s daily barrages, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, as Russian drones killed a man and injured five of his family members, including two children, in the latest nighttime attack.
Russia’s relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has killed thousands of civilians. It has also targeted the energy supply to deny civilians heat and running water in winter, as well as to disrupt industrial production of Ukraine’s newly developed drones and missiles.
The sophisticated Patriot systems are the most effective weapon against Russian missiles. Zelenskyy has pleaded with Western partners to provide more of them, but production limitations and the need to maintain stockpiles have slowed their delivery.
“More Patriots are now in Ukraine and being put into operation,” Zelenskyy said on social media late Sunday. “Of course, more systems are needed to protect key infrastructure sites and our cities across the entire territory of our state.”
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He thanked Germany and its chancellor, Friedrich Merz, for the Patriots. Germany said three months ago it would deliver two more Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine after securing assurances that the U.S. will prioritize the delivery of new Patriots to Germany to backfill its own stocks. Patriot systems are only made in the U.S.
NATO is co-ordinating regular deliveries of large weapons packages to Ukraine. European allies and Canada are buying much of the equipment from the United States, which has greater stocks of ready military materiel, as well as more effective weapons.
Tomahawks not coming anytime soon
President Donald Trump’s administration is not giving any arms to Ukraine, unlike the previous Biden administration.
Trump said on Sunday that, for now, he is not considering a deal that would allow Ukraine to obtain long-range Tomahawk missiles for use against Russia.
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Trump has been cool to a plan for the U.S. to sell Tomahawks to NATO nations that would then transfer them to Ukraine, saying he does not want to escalate the war.
His latest comments to reporters aboard Air Force One indicate he remains reluctant.
“No, not really,” Trump told reporters as he flew to Washington from Palm Beach, Fla., when asked whether he was considering a deal to sell the missiles. He added, however, that he could change his mind.
Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte discussed the Tomahawk idea when they met at the White House on Oct. 22.
Rutte said on Friday that the issue was under review and that it was up to the United States to decide.
Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 kilometres, long enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow.
Zelenskyy has requested the missiles, but the Kremlin has warned against any provision of Tomahawks to Ukraine.
Sustained attacks on energy facilities
Russia launched 12 missiles of various types and 138 strike and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight from Sunday to Monday, Ukraine’s air force said. On some nights, it has fired many hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukraine.
In Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, Russian drones hit a house where they killed a man and injured five members of his family, authorities said. Two women were also injured in a separate Sumy attack.
“The Russians cynically targeted people — deliberately, at night, while they were sleeping,” regional head Oleh Hryhorov wrote on Telegram in response to the attacks.
Russian missiles started a fire at a business in the central Dnipro region, injuring one man, regional head Vladyslav Haivanenko said. Russian drones have also struck energy infrastructure in the southern Mykolaiv region.
At the same time, Ukraine has been trying to constrain Russia’s oil industry, a mainstay of its economy.
Ukrainian forces struck Russia’s Saratov oil refinery overnight and started a fire, according to Ukraine’s general staff. It was Ukraine’s fourth attack on the Saratov installation in almost seven weeks.
The refinery, located some 500 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, can process several million metric tons of oil a year.
Zelenskyy claimed last week that long-range strikes on Russian refineries have reduced Moscow’s oil refining capacity by 20 per cent.
