KYIV: Ukraine’s top military commander vowed to increase the “scale and depth” of strikes on Russia in remarks made public Sunday, saying Kyiv would not sit idly by while Moscow prolonged its three-year invasion.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled in recent weeks.
The last direct meeting between the two sides was almost three weeks ago and no follow-up talks have been scheduled.
Russian attacks on Ukraine have killed dozens of people during the interim, including in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, according to officials.
“We will not just sit in defense. Because this brings nothing and eventually leads to the fact that we still retreat, lose people and territories,” Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky told reporters including AFP.
Syrsky said Ukraine would continue its strikes on Russian military targets, which he said had proved “effective.”
“Of course, we will continue. We will increase the scale and depth,” he said.
Ukraine has launched retaliatory strikes on Russia throughout the war, targeting energy and military infrastructure sometimes hundreds of kilometers from the front line.
Kyiv says the strikes are a fair response to deadly Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians.


In wide-ranging remarks, Syrsky also conceded that Russia had some advantages in drone warfare, particularly in making fiber-optic drones that are tethered and difficult to jam.
“Here, unfortunately, they have an advantage in both the number and range of their use,” he said.
He also claimed that Ukraine still held 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of territory in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv launched an audacious cross-border incursion last August.
“These are our pre-emptive actions in response to a possible enemy offensive,” he said.
Russia said in April that it had gained full control of the Kursk region and denies that Kyiv has a presence there.
Moscow occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 — in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging a peace deal to prolong its full-scale offensive on the country and to seize more territory.
The Russian army said Sunday that it had captured the village of Petrivske in Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region.
Russian forces also fired at least 47 drones and three missiles at Ukraine between late Saturday and early Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said.
At least two people were killed in the attacks on Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, including a 17-year-old boy, the region’s governor said.

ZAGREB: Firefighters in southern Croatia were on high alert Sunday in fear that expected strong winds could rekindle blazes in the Balkan nation.
Crews, with the help of water bombers, managed to get control Saturday over wildfires on the southern Adriatic coast, after a series of blazes started in recent days.
The fires, near Croatia’s second largest city Split, that started Saturday morning close to the coastal village of Pisak was put under control but were still smoldering.
They have burnt 300 hectares (740 acres) and dozen of houses, authorities said.
According to the Split-Dalmatia county firefighting commander, Ivan Kovacevic during the night several small fires were put down by the firefighters.
“The damage is huge, but it could have been bigger having given the number of structures that were threatened,” Kovacevic said.
No death have been report, while one firefighter and some civilians have suffered minor injuries.
According to Civil protection headquarters at least 94 people, mostly tourists were evacuated in Omis, but late Saturday they returned to their accommodation.
Deputy prefect of Split-Dalmatia county, Stipe Cogelja said the village of Marusic on the Adriatic coast suffered the most damages, adding it was “pure luck” that no one had died.
Police said they are “intensively investigating” the possibility of arson in the fires and called on the citizens to help by immediately reporting any suspicious behavior.