Nov 6 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that intelligence showed that Russian forces were planning new strikes against key targets and the Ukrainian military was braced for a tough mission.
“We have intelligence at this time that Russia is preparing new strikes on energy, on bridges across the Dnipro, on civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
“The air force and the armed forces of Ukraine as a whole are preparing for defence. It will not be easy.”
Zelenskiy repeated his calls for allies to supply Ukraine quickly with missiles for the US-made Patriot system to defend Ukrainian cities.
“Every day in the delivery schedule is critically important,” he said. “We very much ask our partners not to postpone deliveries.”
Kyiv, along with other Ukrainian cities, has been subjected to near-constant attacks for several weeks. Two major bridges in the capital were hit by Russian forces late last month.
The US State Department said last week it had approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine for an estimated $2.1 billion. The missiles are, however, not expected to be delivered until the early 2030s.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
