Ukraine's Kharkiv and Donetsk regions continued to be hit by deadly strikes from Russia, even as Kyiv’s defense chief traveled to the Pentagon to maintain pressure on Washington to loosen restrictions on the use of U.S.-made long-range weapons and allow strikes deeper into Russia to stop Moscow from “killing our citizens.”
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Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, said on August 31 that a Russian guided bomb attack on a residential building killed two people and injured 10 others -- including children -- in the village of Cherkaska Lozova.
"Two women were killed. One was removed from the rubble, the other died in an ambulance," he said.
A day earlier, Synyehubov reported that at least seven people were killed and nearly 100 injured -- including at least 22 children -- when a Russian strike on Kharkiv hit a high-rise residential building and playground.
In the Donetsk region, five people were killed by Russian shelling on August 31 in Chasiv Yar, according to Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Donetsk regional government.
“Chasiv Yar -- is a city in which normal life has been impossible for more than two years. Don't turn yourself into a Russian target! Evacuate!” he wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on August 31 that its forces had captured the settlement of Verezamske, in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, part of incremental gains claimed by Moscow’s forces at a time when Ukrainian troops are operating in Russia's Kursk region following their surprise cross-border attack on August 6.
The reports could not immediately be confirmed.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, visiting the Pentagon, told CNN that the U.S. administration is still considering Kyiv’s request to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons to hit deeper inside Russia, saying he has presented a list of proposed targets to senior U.S. officials.
“We have explained what kind of capabilities we need to protect our citizens against the Russian terror that Russians are causing us, so I hope we were heard,” Umerov said in the August 30 interview.
Ukrainan Defense Minister Rustem Umerov (file photo)
Umerov, who met on August 30 with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, told CNN that “we are showing that the airfields that they are using to hit our cities are within the range of deep strikes.”
“They’re killing our citizens. That’s why we want to deter them, we want to stop them, we don’t want [to] allow their aviation to come closer to our borders to bomb the cities,” he said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has pressed the United States and other allies to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), saying the use of such weapons would allow Kyiv to strike sites inside Russia used by the Kremlin to launch attacks against civilian areas in Ukraine.
On August 26, he called on Ukraine's global allies to take "decisive action" after Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv and other cities across the country that damaged vital utilities.
The United States and other allies of Ukraine have placed restrictions on the use of the weapons over concerns that it could escalate the war.
Washington has signaled it has given its approval to Kyiv to strike over the border in response to Russian attacks into Ukraine but has resisted further loosening of restrictions.
“You’ve heard us say that the Ukrainians can use U.S. security assistance to defend themselves from cross-border attacks, in other words counterfire,” Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said this week.
“But as it relates to long-range strike, deep strikes into Russia, our policy has not changed,” he added.
SEE ALSO: Zelenskiy Dismisses Ukraine's Air Force Chief After Crash Of F-16Umerov also said the recent dismissal of Air Force chief Mykola Oleshchuk was “not related” to the crash of an F-16 fighter jet and was more related to a “rotation” of leadership.
“I would probably say that this is a rotation. These are two separate questions...at this stage, I would not link them," Umerov said.
"We are analyzing what happened [in regard to the crash]. We have also opened this case to our partners so that they can also analyze it and investigate it with us," he added.
Zelensky dismissed Oleshchuk from his post as commander of the Air Force on August 30, a move that came after Ukraine lost the first F-16 fighter jet provided by Western partners. The pilot was killed in the crash.