Russia continued its strategic bombardment of Ukraine on April 8, killing three in a strike in the southern region of Zaporizhzhya, one day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pleaded with Western countries to send additional air-defense systems.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress is set to reconvene on April 9 following a two-week recess with debate over a $60 billion Ukraine aid bill at the top of its agenda.
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Zelenskiy on April 7 warned that Ukraine’s military position was weakening amid a shortfall of ammunition and weapons, especially air defense, caused by the halt in U.S. military aid.
Russia has stepped up air and ground attacks against Ukraine since the start of the year in what may be an attempt to deplete Kyiv’s weapons stockpiles ahead of an offensive later this spring.
Zelenskiy, speaking on April 7 via video link to a collection of artists, humanitarians, actors, athletes, and other global luminaries, said it would be “difficult” for Ukraine to “stay” the course without substantially more military.
He told the group it was “necessary” for them to tell U.S. lawmakers that “at this point…if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose this war…if Ukraine loses the war, so will other nations.”
U.S. President Joe Biden’s Ukraine aid bill has been held up since October by a minority group of right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives even though the majority of lawmakers in Congress support the legislation.
Speaker Mike Johnson last week said he would bring a new Ukraine aid bill to the House floor for a vote when Congress reconvenes.
The Pentagon has said it could begin shipping the military aid to Ukraine as soon as the legislation becomes law. Further delays risk Ukraine being left short of military supplies when Russia launches its counteroffensive.
In a separate video message posted on X, formerly Twitter, later on April 7, Zelenskiy asked for more air defenses — namely Patriot missile systems — to defend against Russia’s intensive air campaign.
“Ukraine clearly lacks sufficient air-defense systems and this is evident to all of our partners,” Zelenskiy said. “There are air-defense systems around the world that can help. Only political will is required to transfer them to Ukraine.
“‘Patriots’ must now be in Ukraine, so there will be no need to use them on NATO’s entire eastern flank in the future,” he added.
Zelenskiy last week said that Ukraine would need 25 Patriot systems of six to eight batteries each to ensure the complete protection of Ukraine’s air space against Russian drone and missile strikes.
Ukraine possesses just a few Patriot defense systems but has used them effectively to take down Russian military jets targeting its cities.
In Zaporizhzhya, eight settlements were targeted in the April 8 wave of Russian missile strikes, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram. Three people were wounded in addition to the three killed, he said.
Two days earlier, on April 6, two Russian strikes on Kharkiv in Ukraine’s northeast killed eight civilians and injured at least 10.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba discussed the search for more Patriot systems in a phone call with his British counterpart, David Cameron, on April 8, the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv said in a statement.
“We are coordinating the next steps regarding the search and delivery of additional air-defense systems to Ukraine, primarily Patriot systems. I appreciate David’s active, results-oriented attitude,” Kuleba said in the statement, without elaborating.
In Chasiv Yar, one civilian died after sustaining injuries from a Russian strike, regional official Vadym Filashkin said on April 8.
The latest Russian attacks came after the head of UN’s atomic watchdog said the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant was struck by drones late on April 7 in what he said was a “no-go.”
WATCH: Russia is using modified Soviet-era winged bombs, according to Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in the eastern Donetsk region. Massive craters in and around Adviyivka show that FAB bombs were heavily deployed by Russia in seizing the town.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi issued a stark warning after an IAEA team of experts located at the plant “confirmed that at least three direct hits against ZNPP’s main reactor containment structures took place.”
“This cannot happen,” Grossi wrote on X. He did not say who launched the attack on the plant, which has been controlled by Russian forces since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“No one can conceivably benefit or get any military or political advantage from attacks against nuclear facilities,” Grossi wrote.
Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom accused Ukraine of being behind the strikes.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) denied any involvement in the attack, blaming it on Russia.
“The aggressor state is once again endangering the [Zaporizhzhya] nuclear facility, the civilian population, and Europe’s environment,” HUR spokesman Andriy Yusov said, adding that the incident was part of Russia’s “permanent criminal practice.”
In Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa, a logistics and transport facility was damaged, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.
Separately, the Ukrainian military said its air-defense systems shot down 17 out of the 24 drones that Russia launched early on April 8 at five Ukrainian regions: Odesa, Mykolayiv, Kirovohrad, Khmelnytskiy, and Zhytomyr.