KYIV, Ukraine(National times)- Russian forces bombarded the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with rockets overnight, wounding 13 people, including two children, officials said Tuesday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged European leaders to make the continent safe by building an ambitious air defense umbrella. With the war grinding on since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than 3\u00bd years ago, there has been no let-up in Russian strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine and its army\u2019s push on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. A peace settlement appears to be no closer despite months of U.S.-led peace efforts. U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s ultimatums and deadlines for Putin to engage with proposals to stop the fighting have passed without obvious consequences. Just over the past two weeks, Zelenskyy said on Telegram, Russia has launched more than 3,500 drones, more than 2,500 powerful glide bombs and almost 200 missiles at targets inside Ukraine. Russian glide bombs, usually dropped by jets at high altitude and far behind the front line, and drone swarms are a major challenge for Ukrainian defenses. Glide bombs aren\u2019t very accurate, but they leave big craters, and Ukraine has no effective countermeasure against them. Russian drones also recently landed on Polish soil, prompting NATO to beef up the alliance\u2019s European air defenses as tensions with Moscow mounted. \u201cNow is the time to implement the joint protection of our European skies with a multilayered air defense system. All the technologies for this are available,\u201d Zelenskyy said on Telegram. \u201cWe need investments and desire, we need strong actions and decisions from all our partners.\u201d In Zaporizhzhia, the Russian barrage struck more than 20 apartment buildings, starting fires, regional head Ivan Fedorov said on national television. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t yet recovered from enemy strikes on Aug. 30. We are currently repairing those buildings, those windows, but now the enemy has added more work for our municipal workers,\u201d Fedorov said. In response, Ukraine has developed its own long-range drones that have hit deep inside Russia, damaging installations vital for Russia\u2019s war effort. Recent strikes have included oil refineries, depots and terminals. Russia remains the world\u2019s second-largest oil exporter, but a seasonal rise in demand and sustained Ukrainian drone strikes have caused gasoline shortages in recent weeks. Ukraine\u2019s General Staff said Tuesday that the armed forces struck an oil refinery in the Saratov region of western Russia during the night. Explosions and a fire were reported at the facility, the General Staff said on its Facebook page.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV, Ukraine(National times)- Russian forces bombarded the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with rockets overnight, wounding 13 people, including two children, officials said Tuesday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged European leaders to make the continent safe by building an ambitious air defense umbrella. With the war grinding on since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of its neighbor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n