Ukraine to defend ourselves by all means available - Zelensky

The president spoke in an evening address to the nation, seen by Ukrinform.

"Even before the start of this mission, we had intelligence about the preparation of another Russian massive strike. And it is very important for all our people – not to ignore air raid alerts," Zelensky stressed.

"As of tonight, there have been almost 500 Russian drones, attack drones. Every week they would increase the number of units per raid. Now they have also prepared Kalibrs for sea carriers," Zelensky noted.

"We understand who we are dealing with. We will defend ourselves by all means available to us, available to Ukraine, available to Ukrainians," Zelensky said.

As the President noted, "we did not want this war for a single second. We offered the Russians a ceasefire. Since March 11, the U.S. proposal for a complete, unconditional ceasefire has been on the table. It was the Russians who wanted to continue the war even in such conditions as the whole world is demanding that the killings stop."

"And pressure is really needed – pressure on Russia, which should bring them back to reality. The pressure of sanctions. The pressure of our forces. The pressure of diplomacy. Everything must work together," Zelensky emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on June 1, the SBU ran a unique special operation, “Spiderweb”, simultaneously attacking four Russian airfields - “Belaya”, “Diagilevo”, “Olenya” and “Ivanovo”.

As a result of the special raid, more than 40 enemy aircraft were hit, including such models as A-50, Tu-95, and Tu-22 M3.

The coordination headquarters for the operation was set up right next to one of the FSB regional offices.

According to Zelensky, those who had prepared the mission were safely extracted from Russian territory.

Photo: Telegram/Zelensky