Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian commanders pulled all air defense systems not used at the front line to Moscow, completely exposing Russia's external borders. He made the statements during an interview with TSN.
Zelenskyy said Moscow is defended by three rings of air defense alongside aviation to protect electricity and energy facilities. He said Russia gathered systems from across its territory anticipating mirror or asymmetric Ukrainian strikes, while also trying to protect port infrastructure. He added that air defense systems eventually deplete and Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to overcome them.
The president stated that Ukrainian long-range strikes inflicted losses of one trillion rubles on Russia. He said Ukraine had a plan spanning a month to 40 days for operations, expressing satisfaction with logistics responses and stating the first stage was successfully implemented.
Mobilization and Black Sea shipping
UNIAN reported that according to Zelenskyy, Russian President Vladimir Putin is not ready to end the war on fair terms and seeks symbolic successes to justify losses to Russians. Zelenskyy said the Kremlin is preparing a hidden mobilization of hundreds of thousands of people through shadow contracts and border closures.
UNIAN also reported that Turkey began restricting commercial vessel movement in the Black Sea without official explanation, including ships heading to Novorossiysk and Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, the restriction relates to increasing attacks on Russian, Ukrainian, and Turkish vessels, creating risks for global trade and food security.
