Russian strikes hit Ukrainian cities at tense time for Kyiv
Missiles streaked into Kyiv early Wednesday in a Russian attack that killed at least five people, according to local officials, jolted residents awake with air alarms and explosions, and ignited a fire that sent plumes of smoke billowing over the Ukrainian capital.
The barrage, which directed missiles and drones at cities across the country, coincided with a moment of heightened uncertainty for Ukraine. Russian forces are pressing assaults in towns and villages along the front, U.S. aid is in doubt, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine is preparing for what he has hinted will be a major shake-up in his government and the army's leadership.
Zelenskyy is considering replacing Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the country's top military commander, but has not announced any decision on the matter. Zaluzhny remains in his job and said Wednesday morning that Ukrainian air defense teams had destroyed 44 of the 64 cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones that Russia had fired in the assault.
Since the end of last year, Russia has stepped up its large-scale aerial bombardments in a bid to exploit dwindling supplies of critical Western air defense munitions and inflict maximum damage.
“Ukraine needs help,” Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president's office, said in a statement. “Only the joint efforts of the democracies will stop the criminal Putin.”
A broad measure that would allow U.S. arms to flow to Ukraine once again is expected to fail in a Senate vote Wednesday amid growing Republican opposition and deep division on Capitol Hill.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion in early 2022, the United States has provided about half of the foreign military assistance to Ukraine's arsenal. European nations lack U.S.level stockpiles of weapons and ammunition, and would be unlikely to fill the gap, military analysts say.
The dwindling level of aid is affecting Ukraine on the battlefield. Its soldiers are struggling to stem relentless Russian assaults in eastern Ukraine, and the attacks by Russia, which has an advantage in artillery and personnel, are whittling away at Ukraine's defenses.
“Ukraine could effectively hold for some part of this year” without more U.S. military aid, Michael Kofman, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said in a telephone interview. “But over time there would be no prospect to rebuild the military, and they will start to lose slowly.”
The absence of further U.S. help, he said, would “point to a dour, negative trajectory in the latter half of this year.”
Western support for Ukraine has not kept pace with Moscow's military stockpiles as Russia has scaled up its production of drones and is bolstered by supplies from Iran and North Korea. So Ukraine is once again seeking ways to adapt and improvise.