- Russia has intensified its strikes with missiles, drones, and glide bombs on Kharkiv in recent weeks.
- Ukraine says it lacks enough of the air defense systems necessary to keep the city protected.
- Zelenskyy has been sounding the alarm on the need for more Patriot systems as elements of Western aid fizzle out.
Russia has been pounding Ukraine's second largest city with strikes, intensifying its missile, drone, and glide bomb attacks on Kharkiv in recent weeks.
The situation is dire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, and highlights the desperate need for more air-defense systems to keep Ukraine protected. But with US assistance still tied up in Congress, it's unclear when much-needed relief could come.
And even if aid wasn't stalled, it's unclear whether the US would be able to fully meet the demand. Ukraine is asking for a lot more Patriots to defend its cities.
The attacks on Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine have ramped up over the past few weeks. Over the weekend, a drone attack killed at least seven people and injured almost a dozen more, the city's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said. Prior to that, an attack last Thursday killed four people.
Kharkiv is located just south of Belgorod, along the eastern border of Russia. To the southeast is the front line near Avdiivka, which Russia seized back in February.
On the heels of the attacks, Zelenskyy said the "situation in Kharkiv is very harsh," noting that "Russians began using guided aerial bombs against the city almost daily."
In a video posted on X on Sunday, he called for Ukraine to get the air defense systems it currently lacks. Just days before, the Ukrainian leader said Ukraine needed 25 Patriot air-defense systems to reinforce its cities, front lines, and energy and military infrastructure.
The Patriot system has become a hero of the war for Ukraine, despite somewhat mixed results in past conflicts. Before receiving them in April last year, Ukraine was relying primarily on less-capable, Soviet-era systems.
His comments about Ukraine's air defenses and how they are stretched thin suggested Ukraine is being forced to "make difficult decisions about prioritizing certain aspects of its defense over constraining Russian military capabilities or preparing for counteroffensive operations," according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington DC-based think tank that has closely tracked the war.
While Kharkiv has been a target of near-constant shelling since the war began, the rate of attacks — almost nightly now — and the assets used — missiles, one-way attack drones, and glide bombs — raise concerns that Russia could be prioritizing targeting the city ahead of further offensive action this year.
One of the most worrisome developments in the increase of attacks on Kharkiv is the use of glide bombs — large, heavy standoff weapons equipped with kits featuring flight surfaces that allow them to glide to their targets after being released from a distance beyond the range of certain air defenses.
Russia has been employing them since last year but has ramped up their use in recent months. In mid-February, mass glide bomb strikes overwhelmed Ukrainian fortified defenses and helped Russia take Avdiivka. And from March 18-24, just a six-day period, Russia dropped a staggering 700 glide bombs on Ukraine.
The only real counter to the glide bomb threat is shooting down the planes that drop them, but Ukraine doesn't have the capacity, experts have noted.
The growing number of these attacks, along with the reduced rate of missile engagements by Ukrainian air defenses, "are indicative of the scarcity of air defense weapons.," experts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank, wrote late last month.
"This shortage, they said, "is in part due to delays in European aid and the holdup of the latest US military aid package, which is worth around US $60 billion. Passed by the US Senate in February, it has failed to win support of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives."
Speaking about the Patriots on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that "there are air defense systems around the world that can help. Only political will is required to transfer them to Ukraine."
"'Patriots' must now be in Ukraine," he said, "so there will be no need to use them on NATO's entire eastern flank in the future."