Ukraine could run out of air defense missiles against Russia's bombing barrage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Saturday in an interview on Ukrainian television.
"If they keep hitting (Ukraine) every day the way they have for the last month, we might run out of missiles, and the partners know it," Zelenskyy said.
The president has been appealing to allies for weeks as Russia launched constant strikes on Ukraine's energy system, towns and cities.
Zelenskyy said that so far, Ukraine had adequate air defense stockpiles but that it was having to choose which assets to protect.
He said Ukraine needs 25 more U.S. Patriot air defense systems, which are crucial against Russia's ballistic and hypersonic missiles because they can hit targets in minutes.
Zelenskyy said U.S. assistance is vital to Ukraine's defense and expressed optimism that the U.S. Congress would approve a comprehensive aid package for Ukraine.
He also said that Ukraine would agree to a U.S. aid package in the form of a loan.
"We will agree to any options," he said, adding that the key thing was that aid arrived "the sooner, the better."
Germany - Ukraine support
On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Western allies to keep arming Ukraine in it is resistance against Russia, noting that Germany would continue in its efforts to back Kyiv.
Scholz said the best way to prevent any escalation, including a potential conflict between Russia and NATO, was what he called effective deterrence.
"The war in Ukraine ends the moment that (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin decides to withdraw his troops. However, he will only take that decision if he realizes that he cannot win the war on the battlefield," the German Chancellor said during a meeting of European social democrats in Bucharest.
"We are investing more in our own security and defense jointly as Europeans so that no one dares to attack us,"' he said. "This also means putting narrow self-interest aside and building a strong and truly European defense industry."
To date, Germany has funneled more than $30.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine.
On the ground
Ukrainian officials say Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 32 Iranian-made Shahed drones and six missiles overnight and continued with more strikes Saturday afternoon. Eight people were killed and at least 12 more were wounded.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's national police said the attack was launched by drones, while regional officials said Russian forces used missiles and bombs.
"The attack hit residential areas — at least nine high-rise buildings, three dormitories, a number of administrative buildings, a shop, a petrol station, a service station and cars were damaged," Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukrainian forces are still holding their ground in the strategic town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, despite attempts by Russian troops to break through their defenses, Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Saturday.
Russia's RIA news agency cited military sources as saying that Russian forces had entered the suburbs of the key front-line town in the eastern Donetsk region. Moscow sees Chasiv Yar as an important strategic gateway to other Ukrainian towns in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers also said Friday that Russian troops had entered the suburbs around the town.
However, the Ukrainian military dismissed the reports as false.
"Chasiv Yar remains under our control, and all enemy attempts to break through to the settlement have failed," Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app Saturday.
Chasiv Yar sits on a hill west of the ruined Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut.
If Russian troops do take the besieged town of 770, they would gain a foothold on the area and be able to access other nearby towns, a grim setback for Ukraine.
The town is under "constant fire" by advancing Russian troops, Chasiv Yar's head of the military administration, Sergiy Chaus, told AFP Friday.
"If before there were moments when you could hear silence in the town, now there is no silence. ... There is constant fire," he said.
Russian forces are inching closer after capturing the strategic town of Avdiivka in February. Kyiv's soldiers are trying to dig in while facing long-term shortages of artillery shells as U.S. aid lingers in Congress.
However, in an interview with VOA, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Makarova, said her country is conducting successful strikes against the Russian military but it is not yet at the point where it can claim victory.
"From President Zelenskyy to defenders on the front line, to everyone, including myself here in Washington, we have only one message: We need to win. And for that, we need more weapons, more ammunition, more support for Ukraine, and more sanctions, isolation, and bringing Russia to justice," she said.
"Right now, we're at a pivotal moment in this fight. During the past two years, we have been able to liberate 50% of the territories. Last year, we literally liberated the Black Sea," she said, adding, "we must do more."
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
