Zelenskyy Signals More Deep Strikes

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Aug. 10 that Ukraine would carry out additional deep strikes against targets in Russia, arguing that the attacks were intended to demonstrate the need for peace. He made the remarks following a meeting with senior military and security officials.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had struck an oil-refining facility in Tobolsk, Siberia, more than 2,500 kilometers from Ukraine. The claim was presented as a significant achievement, though the address did not provide details about the extent of the damage or independent verification of the strike.

The president also warned that Russia was preparing to deploy additional North Korean forces and had received ballistic missiles from Pyongyang. He said military cooperation between the two countries could improve North Korea’s weapons and battlefield capabilities, posing broader risks to countries in East Asia.

Zelenskyy said he had spoken with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and that Ukrainian officials would pursue further contacts in the Middle East and Gulf region. He also reported that electricity had been restored to most consumers in Odesa after strikes on energy infrastructure, while nearly 70,000 families remained without power. Russian attacks on critical infrastructure were also reported in the Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions, he said.