San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Officials say Russia now using deadlier weapons in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian and British officials warned Saturday that Russian forces are relying on weapons able to cause mass casualties as they try to make headway in capturing eastern Ukraine and fierce, prolonged fighting depletes resources on both sides.
Russian bombers have likely been launching heavy 1960s-era anti-ship missiles in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said. The Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead. When used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, they “are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause severe collateral damage and casualties,” the ministry said.
Both sides have expended large amounts of weaponry in what has become a grinding war of attrition for the eastern region of coal mines and factories known as the Donbas, placing huge strains on their resources and stockpiles.
Russia is likely using the 6.1ton anti-ship missiles because it is running short of more precise modern missiles, the British ministry said. It gave no details of where exactly such missiles are thought to have been deployed.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian governor accused Russia of using incendiary weapons in a village in the eastern province of Luhansk, southwest of the fiercely contested cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
While the use of flamethrowers on the battlefield is legal, provincial Gov. Serhii Haidai alleged the overnight attacks in Vrubivka caused widespread damage to civilian facilities and an unknown number of victims.
“At night, the enemy used a flamethrower rocket system — many houses burnt down,” Haidai wrote on Telegram on Saturday. His claim could not be immediately verified.
During a visit to Kyiv by the European Union’s top official,
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy called for a new round of “even stronger” EU sanctions against Russia.
He spoke during a brief media appearance with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the heavily guarded presidential office compound in Ukraine’s capital. Von der Leyen was on her second visit to Ukraine since the invasion in February.
The pair discussed Ukraine’s aspirations for EU membership. Zelenskyy, speaking through a translator, said Ukraine “will do everything” to integrate with the bloc.
“Russia wants to divide Europe, wants to weaken Europe,” he said.
Von der Leyen said the EU’s executive arm was “working day and night” on an assessment of Ukraine’s eligibility as an EU candidate. The goal is to have the review ready to share with the bloc’s 27 existing members by the end of next week. In other developments:
• Russian forces occupying parts of southern Ukraine began handing out Russian passports to local residents Saturday.
• Nearly 800 children have been killed or wounded in Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday.
According to a statement by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, at least 287 children died as a result of military activity, while at least 492 more have been hurt. The statement stressed the figures were not final and said they were based on investigations by juvenile prosecutors.
• Officials in the city of Odesa said Saturday that a man was killed by an explosion while visiting a beach on the Black Sea, where mines are a growing concern.