DNIPRO, Ukraine – The death toll in a missile attack on a residential building over the weekend has risen to 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported. Rescuers continued to search the massive pile of debris outside the damaged building, and rescuers and rescue dogs searched the remains and debris outside for survivors.
Kyiv renewed its calls for more advanced western air defense systems after the attack, which Ukrainian officials said Russia carried out with a long-range Russian missile, saying the Ukrainian military was “unable to shoot down.” Ukraine’s armed forces said defensive weapons, such as the Patriot missile system that the Pentagon is preparing to deploy, may have been able to intercept such an attack.
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4. From our correspondents
The bloody Bakhmut siege poses risks for Ukraine: Ukrainian officials face a difficult decision as the battle for control of Bakhmut intensifies in the east – exhausting manpower and resources, just as Kyiv needs both Paul Sonne and Isabelle Khurshudyan for the counteroffensive it rumored plans to launch in the coming months to report.
Russian forces — composed mostly of mercenaries and released convicts from the Wagner Group — have been attempting to capture Bakhmut for months, though many military analysts attribute the town to relatively little strategic importance to the broader battlefield. However, the city has become a powerful political symbol on both sides, and US officials have said the area’s vast salt and gypsum mines are of interest to the Kremlin. While Russia has escalated its assault in the area in recent days, the savage fighting has underscored the high cost of the battle.
Now Ukrainian officials face a choice: continue to throw troops, weapons and ammunition into the battle for Bakhmut, or save those resources for the broader battle ahead at the risk of losing territory to the Russians.
“For us, Bakhmut is the same corner of our country as Soledar, Kherson, Melitopol, Kharkiv or Dnipro. It’s our home. We are fighting and will fight for every meter of our land,” said Yuriy Skala, the commander of an intelligence battalion fighting in Bakhmut. “But we will fight wisely: if circumstances call for tactical maneuvering, the top military leadership will surely draw the right conclusions and act.”
O’Grady and Galouchka reported from Dnipro. Timsit reported from London and Pannett from Sydney.