White House official says Russia's large-scale missile strikes attempt to deplete Ukraine's air defences

The White House has commented on the latest large-scale Russian missile attacks on a number of Ukrainian cities. Source: John Kirby, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, during a briefing, as reported by European Pravda Details: The official said the large-scale attacks are Russia's attempt "to further victimise the Ukrainian population, to try to break their will".

Kirby added that the Russian strikes also try to deplete Ukraine's air defences.

"What they are doing [is] trying to overwhelm Ukrainian air defence systems. And those air defence systems have been pretty effective at knocking a lot of this stuff out of the sky," Kirby stressed. In this regard, the official stressed the importance of Congress approving additional funding for aid to Ukraine.

Background: On the morning of 23 January, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Pavlohrad, Shostka and other Ukrainian cities were attacked by Russian missiles. Ukrainian air defences destroyed 21 Russian missiles. Reports emerged that the Russian attack on Kyiv on the morning of 23 January damaged houses and a kindergarten in several districts of the city and that cars were on fire in the Sviatoshynskyi district.

Speaking at the opening of the 18th meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (also known as the Ramstein-format meeting) via videoconference, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reiterated his call for allied countries to "dig deep" to provide Ukraine with as many air defence and missile defence systems as possible.

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