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‘There needs to be more: there is a concrete goal, and we will fulfil this task’
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that he has ordered his military to increase its long-range drone strikes against Russia to 1,000 per day, up from around 300 currently.
"There needs to be more: there is a concrete goal, and we will fulfil this task," he said in his evening address.
At least 27 people were killed after a Russian drone strike on a Kyiv-area warehouse sparked a detonation, officials said on Saturday, prompting calls by President Zelensky to punish those responsible.
Another 42 people were also injured and more than 380 evacuated from the strike area in the Bucha district, Tymur Tkachenko, governor of the Kyiv region, wrote on the Telegram app.
Tkachenko did not provide details about what was hit in the strike late on Friday. Zelensky said a strike on a warehouse had triggered a detonation and that nearby infrastructure suffered "significant damage", including residential buildings and a facility providing care for the elderly.
"Those who allowed this to happen must be held accountable for their decisions," Zelenskiy wrote on X, adding that criminal cases had already been opened on charges of official negligence.
"There are regulations in place – ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other residential areas. Appropriate conclusions will certainly be drawn."
Tkachenko, the governor, said the death toll could still rise.
The attack on Friday followed two days of frequent drone waves aimed at the city and the surrounding region, damaging warehouses and homes and disrupting daily life.
Zelensky also said on Friday that the United States had given Kyiv information about a number of meetings in Moscow over the last few days.
"Today we received information from the American side about the meetings in Moscow that took place these days. There were a number of meetings there," Zelenskiy said on Telegram, without going into detail on who was at the meetings.
"I thank them for the information and for the necessary tone of the conversation with Russia," Zelenskiy added, again without elaborating.
The Wall Street Journal reported that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had travelled to Moscow to warn Russia off any attack on a NATO member.
The Kremlin dismissed the report, while U.S. President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin would not attack a NATO country, playing down media reports on Ratcliffe's trip.
Also Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday that Warsaw was in constant contact with the CIA leadership and was not surprised by Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow.
He said that there have been signals in the public domain that Russia is preparing to escalate tensions, both in the war with Ukraine and across the region, and that this autumn and winter are set to be pivotal for Russia.
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