Russian shelling and drone strikes have killed more Ukrainian civilians in several frontline regions, officials reported on August 1, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy again appealed to Kyiv's allies to allow his forces to use Western weapons systems to strike military targets deeper inside Russia.
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In the eastern region of Donetsk, one civilian was killed and 10 others were wounded by Russian artillery fire in Marynivka, regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on August 1, while local police said a tractor driver was killed in the same locality by a Russian drone.
In Hannivka, near the flashpoint city of Pokrovsk, a Russian aerial bomb wounded three people, including a 3-year-old girl and a 15-year old girl.
Russian forces have been pressing an offensive in the Pokrovsk direction for several weeks.
In the southern region of Kherson, 20 settlements were pounded by Russian artillery from across the Dnieper River, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported. One person was killed and 10 others were wounded during the artillery barrage, Prokudin said.
In the northeastern region of Kharkiv, Russian shelling from across the border killed a 38-year-old woman and wounded a 10-year-old boy, regional governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram.
In the southern city of Nikopol, Russian shelling killed a 72-year-old woman and her 40-year-old daughter, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, reported on August 1. Nikopol has been a frequent target for Russian forces since the start of Moscow’s unprovoked invasion.
Zelenskiy, in an interview with French media outlets, said it was paramount for Ukraine to be allowed by its allies to use Western-provided long-range missile systems to destroy military targets deeper inside Russian territory, thus preventing more Ukrainian civilian deaths.
"We hope [to get permission] with all our hearts. We do everything we can," Zelenskiy told the French outlets. "Unfortunately, our partners are afraid of this now, but they must understand that we live and we fight."
Furthermore, Zelenskiy listed the lack of permission to strike inside Russia as one of the main reasons why Russian forces have continued their incremental advance in eastern Ukraine. He also said that newly trained Ukrainian forces need more Western weapons to be ready to replace those who have been fighting for long periods of time.
The Ukrainian leader also pleaded for more advanced air-defense systems and for Western warplanes.
"We need additional resources for air defense, to prevent their aircraft from hitting our territory. It's hard to fight them in the air. That's a fact. Their fleet is larger than ours," Zelenskiy said, on the same day when officially unconfirmed media reports said that the first of several F-16 fighter jets had arrived in Ukraine, in what could be an important boost in the embattled country's capacity to repel Russian air strikes.