Zelensky calls for better air defenses after Russian attacks that have left 24 dead

KIEV, 29 Apr. (DPA/EP) -

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged allies to provide his country with better air defenses, including fighter jets, after a Russian missile barrage hit residential areas.

"Air defense, a modern air force, without which effective air defense, artillery, armored vehicles is impossible. Everything that is necessary to provide security for our cities, our towns, both in the interior and on the front lines," Zelensky explained in a video message on Friday night.

He has denounced the attacks that have left at least 24 people dead -- 22 of them due to the impact of a missile on a residential building in the city of Uman, in the Cherkasy region -- and dozens injured, in addition to destroying houses and vital infrastructures.

"Russian evil can be stopped with weapons, our defenders are doing it. And it can be stopped with sanctions, global sanctions must be improved," Zelensky wrote on his Twitter account a few hours earlier.

The Ukrainian president has long called for significantly more weapons, a tightening of international punitive measures against Russia and better control of the implementation of export restrictions imposed so far.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Resnikov has reported that preparations for Ukraine's long-announced spring offensive are "nearing completion."

According to Resnikov, only a few elements are missing to launch the offensive. "The technology itself has been announced, prepared and partly delivered," the minister said. However, for some military, the training of Ukrainian soldiers has not yet been completed.