Ukraine said its counteroffensive was now focused on weakening Russia’s forces rather than retaking territory and that Western training of its pilots on F-16 fighter jets had been delayed, as shelling of the Kharkiv region injured 31 people, including nine children.
Meanwhile, Russia said it had repelled Ukrainian attacks along the front line and thwarted a drone attack on Moscow which forced Vnukovo airport to suspend flights for several hours on Tuesday.
“At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s defence forces are fulfilling the number one task – the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defence forces of the Russian army,” said Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council.
“The last few days have been particularly fruitful. Now the war of destruction is equal to the war of kilometres. More destroyed means more liberated. The more effective the former, the more the latter. We are acting calmly, wisely, step by step.”
Ukraine says it has retaken several villages and more than 150 sq km of territory in southeastern Ukraine since starting its counteroffensive last month, and insists it is not concerned about the pace of the operation.
At the same time, Kyiv says the failure of some allies to deliver arms promptly has allowed Russia to strengthen its defensive positions, and notes that counterattacking has been made much harder by the West’s refusal to provide modern jets such as the F-16.
Several states have now pledged to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s and work towards supplying the jets to Kyiv, but no specific timeline has been put on their delivery. In the meantime, Russia has a major advantage in fighter jets, bombers and attack helicopters.
“If earlier I was sure that literally in the first months of next year Ukraine would receive aircraft, then that was based on training starting in June, as we were promised. In June, training did not start, which means the schedule is starting to slip,” said Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba.
“We are talking about training pilots, training engineers, preparing infrastructure, making legal decisions that are necessary for the transfer of aircraft. Very serious work, which should have started ‘yesterday’,” he added.
“There was a promise to start training in June from one of the countries. Now they say they are continuing to prepare for the start of the training, they made a mistake in the calculations, they need more time. But we do not have time, so we are speeding everything up as much as possible.”
Oleh Synehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said 31 people, including nine children, were injured on Tuesday in Russian shelling of the town of Pervomaiskyi that damaged residential buildings and destroyed several cars.
Russia’s military said four attack drones fired by Ukraine were shot down near Moscow and one was disabled by electronic jamming. Vnukovo airport halted the departure and arrival of passenger planes for almost three hours as a result.
“The Kyiv regime’s attempt to attack an area where civilian infrastructure is located, including the airport, which incidentally also receives foreign flights, is yet another act of terrorism,” said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Russian president Vladimir Putin told the leaders of China, India and other members of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) that his people were “consolidated as never before” after a brief revolt by the Wagner mercenary group last month.
“Russian political circles and the whole of society clearly demonstrated their unity and elevated sense of responsibility for the fate of the fatherland when they responded as a united front against an attempted armed mutiny,” he added, while thanking unnamed SCO leaders who he said had offered their “support” during the revolt.
