At least 11 people died in a barrage of Russian attacks across Ukraine on Thursday, as Kyiv called for further aid after securing promises from the United States and Germany for the delivery of modern battle tanks.

The State Emergency Service also said 11 people were injured in the bombardments that Ukraine‘s military said involved more than 50 missiles and nearly two dozen kamikaze drones.

Of them, 85% were intercepted, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram.

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said several infrastructure sites were hit, leading to power cuts in the Odessa, Kiev and Vinnytsia regions.

Among the victims was a 55-year-old man killed in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Two others were injured in the capital.

More than 15 Russian missiles are reported to have been intercepted in the Kyiv region alone.

Russia periodically launches a rash of air attacks on Ukraine as grinding ground battles continue on the front lines in the south and east of the country.

Later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a renewed call for further weapons, beyond the battle tanks that his allies are now set to provide.

“Russian aggression can be stopped only with adequate weapons. The terrorist state will not understand anything else,” he said during his evening video address, pointing to the attacks just hours earlier.

“Every Russian missile against our cities, every Iranian drone used by terrorists is an argument why we need more weapons,” he said.

The latest wave came a day after two of Kiev’s most vital arms suppliers – the US and Germany – said they would send heavy tanks to help Ukrainian forces retake areas conquered by Russia early in the 11-month-old invasion.

Other nations have also pledged tanks, from Canada to Spain. Canada said on Thursday it would export four German-made Leopard tanks to the war-torn country.

The Kremlin said the West is increasingly making itself a party to the war.

“Everything the alliance and the capitals [of Europe and the United States] do is perceived in Moscow as direct involvement in the conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

Moscow has repeatedly accused the US and the European Union of waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Nevertheless, Russia would not declare war against them, Peskov said.

Russia continues to call the invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation,” and its status will not change, he said.

Later, Warsaw said NATO should be bolder and if the western defence alliance decided to send fighter jets to Ukraine, Poland would back that.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told French broadcaster LCI that supporters of Ukraine should not fear sending Kiev missile and air defence batteries to deploy on its entire territory and not just in the west, in Kiev and on the front lines.

The Polish official did not propose sending the aircraft, saying that would have to be a NATO decision, but his country would back such a move.

Source: dpa/MIA