Ukraine: American and German air defense systems are 'very effective'

(Patria) - Ukraine is recording "significant results" from American and German air defense systems, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, despite waves of Russian air strikes which Kyiv says targeted civilians and residential buildings, Reuters reports.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said that advanced air defense systems, including the US-made Patriot and the German IRIS-T, have proven "very effective" and have "already yielded significant results".

He said that Ukraine repelled a significant portion of Russian attacks over the past week, which included 65 missiles of various types and 178 attack drones, including 87 Shaheds. The Ukrainian military later announced that Russia had launched 30 missiles and 48 air strikes.

"Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded among the civilian population. Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure have been destroyed," the military said in a statement.

The attacks followed what Zelenskyy said was a bombing raid late Saturday on a blood transfusion center in the city of Kupiansk, about 16 km from the front in the eastern Kharkiv region. He described the attack as a war crime. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians or military hospitals in its invasion of Ukraine.