Russia carried out widespread drone and missile strikes against Ukraine on Monday, killing at least three people and knocking out power to parts of several cities, Ukrainian officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia used more than 100 missiles and about 100 drones during the attacks that targeted “essential civilian infrastructure”.
On the Telegram social network, Mr. Zelenskyy wrote that it is not right for Ukrainian forces to be limited in their ability to carry out long-range attacks at a time when Russia does not face such limitations.
Ukrainian officials have long sought greater freedom to use the weapons they receive from allied countries.
Ukraine intends to hit with them military targets inside Russia, which are used for missile and drone attacks against Kiev.
“America, Britain, France and our other partners have the power to help us stop this terror,” wrote Mr. Zelenskyy. “The time for decisive action is now,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it had shot down Ukrainian drones over the Bryansk and Yaroslavl regions early Monday morning.
Yaroslavl Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said one of the drones had crashed before hitting an oil refinery.
Russia's Saratov region was the main target of Ukrainian drone strikes overnight, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, adding that Moscow had managed to destroy nine of them.
Officials in Saratov announced that drone debris had damaged a residential complex and injured one person.
The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod announced that two people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack.
Moscow also announced that its air defenses had shot down Ukrainian drones over Kursk, Tula, Oryol and Ryazan regions.
