Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his first comments since the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region that it was an "absolutely correct" step necessary to save lives.
Russian forces were destroying the positions of Ukrainian fighters in and around Vuhledar, Zelenskiy said on October 3 at a press conference with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Kyiv. The withdrawal was necessary because lives "are much more important than any buildings."
The Ukrainian military confirmed on October 2 that it was pulling out of Vuhledar after Russian forces used repeated attacks on the flanks of the city to exhaust the Ukrainian defenders while threatening to surround the hilltop town.
Rutte's unscheduled visit came just two days after he took office, and he used it to repeat NATO's vow to maintain Western support for Ukraine as it fights to repel Russia's full-scale invasion.
SEE ALSO: The Fall Of Vuhledar: What It Means For Ukraine’s Beleaguered MilitaryRutte said he chose Kyiv as his first trip "to make crystal clear to you, to the people of Ukraine and to everyone watching, that NATO stands with Ukraine."
"It is my priority and my privilege to take this support forward...working with you to ensure that Ukraine prevails."
Zelenskiy told the news conference that there have been delays in shipments of Western military equipment and he criticized restrictions that limit Kyiv's ability to hit back.
"We need sufficient quantity and quality of weapons, including long-range weapons, that, in my opinion, our partners are already dragging out," Zelenskiy said.
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The Ukrainian leader also called on NATO members to take a more active role in helping his country to fend off Russian aerial attacks.
"We will continue to convince our partners of the need to shoot down Russian missiles and drones," Zelenskiy said. "We realise that this is a difficult decision.... They are not ready yet," he said.
Kyiv has been desperately urging its Western allies to supply more modern weapons and air-defense systems that would help it on the one hand to protect its skies and on the other hand allow it to strike military targets deeper inside Russia to prevent Moscow's forces from launching attacks on Ukraine from a safe distance.
Russian drones and missiles rained down on Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions in the early hours of October 3, and Russian drones again struck the critically important Ukrainian port of Izmayil just across the Danube, prompting Bucharest to scramble F-16 fighter jets to monitor the situation.
Ukraine and Romainia announced earlier that a Patriot missile-defense system donated by Romania has arrived in Ukraine.
"We confirm that the Patriot system has arrived in Ukraine," Constantin Spinu, a spokesman for Romania's Defense Ministry, told RFE/RL on October 3, after the government in Bucharest last month passed a bill needed for the transfer of the system to Kyiv.
Under the bill, Romania grants Ukraine the right to make free use of the system.
Russian shelling of the Chernihiv region on October 3 killed three people, Ukraine's National Police reported, saying children were among the victims.
"The enemy attacked with drones a gas truck that delivered domestic gas to people. The truck exploded and residential buildings caught fire," the report said.
Russian troops also shelled several settlements in the Kharkiv region, the regional prosecutor's office said. A drone was used against the city of Kupyansk, injuring two people -- a 44-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl. They were admitted to a hospital for treatment, the prosecutor's office said.
Early on October 3, Ukrainian air defenses shot down 78 Russian drones over 15 regions -- Kyiv, Cherkasy, Vinnytsya, Khmelnytskiy, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Chernihiv, Kherson, Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Rivne, and Ivano-Frankivsk -- the air force reported.
The head of the Ukrainian capital's military administration said on Telegram that 15 drones were downed over Kyiv. Drone debris fell on Kyiv's Desnyanskiy district without causing injuries or damage during the attack, which lasted for more than five hours, Serhiy Popko said.