“MORE PRESSURE” ON RUSSIA
“There must also be clear pressure and strong action from the world on Russia – more pressure, more sanctions from the United States – to stop Russian strikes,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia launched 117 drones over Ukraine overnight, of which 56 were downed and 48 were lost from radar without causing damage, the air force said.
The attack damaged buildings in the central city of Kryvyi Rig – Zelenskyy ‘s hometown – and in the border region of Sumy, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia meanwhile accused Ukraine of attacking its energy infrastructure overnight, which Kyiv denied.
Russia is “spreading false and baseless accusations in order to prolong the war”, the Ukrainian General Staff said.
President Vladimir Putin had ordered a 30-day truce on such targets last week but Kyiv says Russian strikes on energy sites have continued unabated.
Ukraine fired drones at a “gas storage facility” in the annexed Crimean peninsula as well as a power installation in the Bryansk region, the Russian defence ministry said.
“The Kyiv regime, while continuing to damage Russia’s civilian energy infrastructure, is actually doing everything it can to disrupt the Russian-American agreements,” it wrote.
Moscow says the 30-day truce has been in effect since March 18, but the monitoring of it is unclear and both the United States and Russia have issued contradictory statements.
