KYIV
\nUkraine\u2019s top military commander vowed to increase the \u201cscale and depth\u201d of strikes on Russia in remarks made public Sunday, saying Kyiv would not sit idly by while Moscow prolonged its three-year invasion.
\nDiplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled in recent weeks.
\nThe last direct meeting between the two sides was almost three weeks ago and no follow-up talks have been scheduled.
\nRussian attacks on Ukraine have killed dozens of people during the interim, including in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, according to officials.
\n\u201cWe will not just sit in defense. Because this brings nothing and eventually leads to the fact that we still retreat, lose people and territories,\u201d Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky told reporters including AFP.
\nSyrsky said Ukraine would continue its strikes on Russian military targets, which he said had proved \u201ceffective.\u201d
\n\u201cOf course, we will continue. We will increase the scale and depth,\u201d he said.
\nUkraine has launched retaliatory strikes on Russia throughout the war, targeting energy and military infrastructure sometimes hundreds of kilometers from the front line.
\nKyiv says the strikes are a fair response to deadly Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians.
\nIn 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.
\n\u201cHere, unfortunately, they have an advantage in both the number and range of their use,\u201d he said.
\nHe also claimed that Ukraine still held 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of territory in Russia\u2019s Kursk region, where Kyiv launched an audacious cross-border incursion last August.
\n\u201cThese are our pre-emptive actions in response to a possible enemy offensive,\u201d he said.
\nRussia said in April that it had gained full control of the Kursk region and denies that Kyiv has a presence there.
\nMoscow occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 \u2014 in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.
\nKyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging a peace deal to prolong its full-scale offensive on the country and to seize more territory.
\nThe Russian army said Sunday that it had captured the village of Petrivske in Ukraine\u2019s northeast Kharkiv region.
\nRussian forces also fired at least 47 drones and three missiles at Ukraine between late Saturday and early Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said.
\nAt least two people were killed in the attacks on Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donetsk region, including a 17-year-old boy, the region\u2019s governor said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV Ukraine\u2019s top military commander vowed to increase the \u201cscale and depth\u201d 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485898,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-485881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n