Zelensky hopes for quick US action as more weapons depots are hit in Russia

A massive Ukrainian drone attack set multiple Russian arms depots ablaze, including one deep inside the country, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for quick action from the United States to send more weapons ahead of his visit to the White House with a multi-point “victory plan.” 

Ukraine launched over 100 drones at Russia and occupied Crimea overnight, Russian news reports and the Defense Ministry said Saturday. 

The strikes set an arms depot on fire that appeared to be in the same town as one struck by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday, injuring 13 people and also causing a huge blaze. Arms and ammunition depots were also hit in southwestern Russia, sparking speculation that missiles supplied to Moscow by North Korea may have been destroyed. 

The “victory plan” that Zelensky will present to President Joe Biden will include long-range striking capabilities and other weapons long sought by Kyiv, and will serve as the basis for any future negotiation with Russia, Zelensky told reporters ahead of next week's trip. 

Zelensky has regularly alluded to the plan’s preparation but has not publicly outlined its contents, saying only that it contains terms acceptable for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia after 2 1/2-year war following Moscow's full-scale invasion.

Zelensky said he will present the plan to Biden and Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Zelensky said he also plans to meet with Harris' opponent in the November election, former President Donald Trump.

He said US reluctance so far in allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia stems from fears of escalation from Moscow, a major global nuclear power. Ukraine has had to use its own capabilities to conduct strikes inside Russian territory. 

Following a massive Ukrainian drone strike, Russian authorities on Saturday temporarily closed a 100-kilometre (62-mile) stretch of a highway and evacuated passengers from a rail station after the fire caused a series of explosions near the town of Toropets, in Russia’s Tver region, about 380 kilometres (240 miles) northwest of Moscow and 500 kilometres (300 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The highway was reopened hours later.

Posts on local Telegram channels said a missile depot was struck near Toropets, the site of the Wednesday attack that struck a large arms storehouse, causing a huge blaze and prompting evacuations. It was not immediately clear whether the same depot was struck again. 

Unverified images circulating on Telegram on Saturday showed a large ball of flame rising into the night sky and dozens of smoke trails from detonations. 

Tver’s regional government said that emergency services responded to the aftermath of what it claimed was falling shrapnel from drones downed by Russian air defence. 

An ammunition depot and missile arsenal in southwestern Russia also caught fire in a separate attack Saturday in the Krasnodar region, triggering evacuations after the blaze caused a series of blasts. Videos on social media showed bright orange clouds rising over the horizon, as dull thuds of detonations sounded almost continuously. 

Venyamin Kondratyev, Krasnodar's governor, said Saturday morning that shrapnel from downed drones sparked “the detonation of explosive objects” near the town of Tikhoretsk. Kondratyev later said that 1,200 people were evacuated from the area and one road was partially closed. 

Russian state media described clouds of smoke rising from two sites near Tikhoretsk. 

Unverified claims circulated on Russian Telegram channels and in Ukrainian media that one of the targets may have housed missiles supplied by North Korea. Ukrainian security officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and there were no public statements from Kyiv on any of Saturday's reported attacks. 

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its forces overnight shot down 101 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and occupied Crimea. There were no immediate reports of casualties in either Russian region. 

A separate Ukrainian drone strike on Saturday wounded a tractor driver in Russia’s southern Belgorod region, its Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported. 

In Ukraine, a 12-year-old boy and two elderly women were killed as Russian missiles overnight struck Kryvyi Rih, Zelensky’s hometown in central Ukraine, local Gov. Serhii Lysak reported Saturday.

Lysak said the missiles hit “in the middle of the night, when the city slept", injuring three more people, destroying two buildings and damaging another 20. 

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, 15 people including young teens were injured by Russian airstrikes on Friday evening, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said, more than twice as many as initially reported. Shortly after the strike, Terekhov said that seven civilians, including 10- and 17-year-old girls and another 12-year-old, were hurt after Russian Su-34 fighters dropped guided precision bombs on three Kharkiv districts.

Russian drone and artillery strikes Saturday also wounded two men in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the local governor’s office reported. 

(FRANCE 24 with AP)