KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive Ukrainian drone attack set a Russian arms depot ablaze deep inside the country, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ahead of his visit to the White House that Kyiv’s multi-point “victory plan” demands quick action from the United States.
Ukraine launched over 100 drones at Russia and occupied Crimea overnight, Russian news reports and the Defense Ministry said Saturday. The depot appeared to be just kilometers (miles) from another that was struck by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday, injuring 13 people and also causing a huge fire.
The “victory plan” that Zelenskyy will present to President Joe Biden will include long-range striking capabilities and other weapons long sought by Kyiv, and will serve as the basis for any future negotiation with Russia, Zelenskyy told reporters ahead of next week's trip.
Zelenskyy reveals scant details
Zelenskyy has regularly alluded to the plan’s preparation but has not publicly outlined its contents, saying only that it contains terms acceptable for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia after 2 1/2-year war following Moscow's full-scale invasion.
“This will be the start and foundation for talking in any format with Russia. In any format, with any of its representatives, because there will be a plan and something to show," Zelenskyy said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.
Zelenskyy said he will present the plan to Biden and Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Zelenskyy said he also plans to meet with Harris' opponent in the November election, former President Donald Trump.
He said U.S. reluctance so far in allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia stems from fears of escalation from Moscow, a major global nuclear power. Ukraine has had to use its own capabilities to conduct strikes inside Russian territory.
“I think that Biden is really getting information from his entourage today that there may be an escalation. But, and this is important, not everyone around him thinks so. And this is already an achievement that not all of his entourage thinks so,” Zelenskyy said.
But the longer Western partners wait to allow the use of long-range missiles, the more tactically obsolete their value will become, Zelenskyy said.
A boy is killed and Russian depots set on fire
A 12-year-old boy and two elderly women were killed as Russian missiles overnight struck Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown in central Ukraine, local Gov. Serhii Lysak reported Saturday.
Lysak said the missiles hit “in the middle of the night, when the city slept,” injuring three more people, destroying two buildings and damaging another 20.
Russian authorities on Saturday temporarily closed a 100-kilometer (62-mile) stretch of a highway and evacuated passengers from a nearby rail station after the fire caused a series of explosions. Posts on local Telegram channels on the messaging app said a missile depot was struck near the town of Toropets, in Russia’s Tver region about 380 kilometers (240 miles) northwest of Moscow and about 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The highway was reopened some hours later.
Unverified images circulating on Telegram showed a large ball of flame rising into the night sky and dozens of smoke trails from detonations.
An ammunition depot and missile arsenal in southwestern Russia also caught fire in a separate attack Saturday in the Krasnodar region, triggering evacuations after the blaze caused a series of blasts. Videos on social media showed bright orange clouds rising over the horizon, as dull thuds of detonations sounded almost continuously.
Russia’s Defense Ministry early on Saturday claimed that its forces overnight shot down 101 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and occupied Crimea. There were no immediate reports of casualties in either Russian region.
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