Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine is working with other European countries “to strengthen Ukraine, develop new defense packages and implement new security solutions.”
Zelenskyy, in his daily address, said among the countries that Ukraine is working with on packages and solutions for its fight against Russia are Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Lithuania, and Canada.
“Remember, the war started by Russia is on the Ukrainian front, but its target is not only our state, not only our independence,” Zelenskyy said.
“Therefore,” he said, “it is crucial to maintain as much as possible consolidation of the free world and do everything possible and impossible for Ukraine to inflict defeats on Russia. Moscow understands no other language.”
At least 28 people died Saturday in an attack on a popular bakery in a city in occupied eastern Ukraine, Russia’s emergency ministry said, blaming Ukrainian shelling.
The Russian emergency ministry said on Telegram that the 28 bodies, including the body of a child, were recovered from the rubble in Lysychansk.
According to Russia-installed officials, U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems were used in the attack. The officials said that the average age of the victims was 35, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency.
Lysychansk had a population of about 110,000 before Russia’s invasion. It fell to Russia in the summer of 2022 and is 15 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Also Saturday, Ukraine’s air force said that it downed nine of 14 Russian drones targeting Ukraine’s central and southern regions.
The Iranian-made Shahed drones were mainly aimed at “energy infrastructure facilities” in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to air force officials.
The town most affected by the attack was Krivy Rig, Zelenskyy’s hometown. Zelenskyy said energy workers “are striving to restore electricity to all consumers as quickly as possible.”
No deaths or injuries were reported, but Agence France-Presse reported that 15,000 people were without electricity.