Russia has dropped nearly 10,000 guided bombs in Ukraine since the start of the year, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on May 25.
Umerov called for more air defense and said that Kyiv is discussing this with allies “every day and at every opportunity.”
He expressed condolences to the families of the dead and wounded following Russia’s attack with two guided bombs on a hypermarket in Kharkiv on May 25, which killed at least 16 and injured over 40 people.
“This is a deliberate killing of the civilian population,” Umerov wrote on Facebook, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “another act of genocide.”
Russia typically uses laser-guided or satellite-guided KAB bombs, with payloads ranging from 250 to 1,500 kilograms, against Ukrainian military and civilian targets.
Soviet-era dumb bombs are fitted with cheap gliding kits, allowing them to fly much further and more accurately.
Kharkiv and the surrounding oblast have suffered particularly heavy attacks from guided bombs in recent months. At least 15 people were injured on Orthodox Easter Sunday after a bomb hit a residential area in downtown Kharkiv.
The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell said the May 25 attack on Kharkiv emphasizes Ukraine's urgent need for additional air defense systems and called on European countries to provide assistance.
Borrell's plea echoes that of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who asked allies to send Patriot air defense systems following news of Russia's attack.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also reiterated the importance of air defense weapons in the aftermath of the hypermarket bombing.
Dinara Khalilova
