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Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says new weapon system has vary of 700km and ‘the duty is to make this quantity larger’.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated his nation has developed a weapon that may hit a goal 700km (435 miles) away, in an obvious reference to an aerial assault this week on an airport in western Russia that destroyed a number of army plane.
The weapon was produced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries however he gave no additional particulars.
“The vary of our new Ukrainian weapons is now 700 kilometres. The duty is to make this quantity larger,” Zelenskyy wrote late on Thursday evening in a submit to the social media platform X, beforehand referred to as Twitter.
Zelenskyy’s declare of recent Ukrainian long-range weaponry got here forward of a Russian official reporting early on Friday morning that air defence items had “neutralised an unidentified object” in Russia’s western area of Pskov, the identical area the place a Ukrainian aerial assault reportedly broken 4 Il-76 army transport planes on Wednesday.
As we speak was stuffed with occasions.
With authorities officers and army, we targeted on the frontlines and our offensive operations. The vary of our new Ukrainian weapons is now 700 kilometers. The duty is to make this quantity larger.
One other vital piece of stories for the frontline… pic.twitter.com/MmfSQupY2L
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 31, 2023
Whereas Ukraine hardly ever feedback immediately on particular assaults inside Russia, Zelenskyy appeared to trace twice on Thursday that Ukrainian forces have been behind the Pskov assault.
“The outcomes of our weaponry – new Ukrainian weaponry – 700km away,” he additionally stated in his nightly video address. “And the duty is to do extra.”
The airport attacked in Russia’s Pskov area is situated roughly 700km north of the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine’s Western allies usually forbid Kyiv from utilizing weapons they provide to assault Russian territory, however they’ve additionally stated that Ukraine has a proper to assault Russian army targets with its personal weapons the place it sees match to take action.
On Wednesday, a four-hour wave of drones – that Moscow blamed on Ukraine – was despatched in opposition to targets in six Russian areas in what some imagine was the largest drone raid on Russia because it invaded Ukraine final yr.
Previously month, Ukraine has stepped up drone assaults on targets deep inside Russia – together with on the capital Moscow – and in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine in what seems to be the implementation of a current promise by Zelenskyy that Ukraine would take the struggle again to Russia.
Assaults deep into Russia and cross-border sabotage missions are a part of Kyiv’s efforts to maintain home strain on the Kremlin, militarily and politically, whereas Ukraine’s counteroffensive launched in June slowly wears down elements of the Russian entrance line, analysts say.
Ukraine is aiming to “erode Russian morale and improve strain on its commanders”, the Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research (IISS), a assume tank, stated in an evaluation this week.
The technique is “to convey Russian forces to a tipping level the place fight energy and morale could start to interrupt”, the IISS stated within the evaluation.
After months of slowly combating their manner by means of heavy minefields, Ukrainian forces have reportedly reached the principle Russian defensive traces in current days south of the village of Robotyne which they captured final week in Ukraine’s Western Zaporizhia area.
They’re now advancing between the close by villages of Novopokropivka and Verbove, searching for a manner across the anti-tank ditches and rows of concrete pyramids referred to as dragon’s tooth that kind Russia’s important fortifications seen from area, the Reuters information company reported.
A breakthrough would offer the primary check of Russia’s deeper defences, which Ukraine hopes will likely be extra weak and fewer closely mined than areas its troops have traversed to date of their offensive.
In a press release on Thursday, Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar reported unspecified successes close to Novopokropivka, with out giving particulars. She additionally stated Ukrainian forces have been advancing close to Bakhmut within the east, the one metropolis Russia captured in its personal offensive earlier this yr.
Heavy battles have been engulfing villages south of town, she stated.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s floor forces, additionally reported a “constructive dynamic” close to Bakhmut.