UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Jul 23 — Kharkiv needs “the most modern system of air defense”  to protect the skies above the city, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in an interview to RBC-Ukraine.

Russia attacks the Kharkiv region and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city that’s 19 miles from the border, often, targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. The attacks have intensified since Russia started its new offensive north of the region in May 2024.

According to the mayor, several Patriot systems will not be able to fully protect Kharkiv, as the Russians mostly attack the city with glide bombs (FABs and KABs), often modified to fly from beyond the border. One of the most efficient way to prevent these attack is to shoot down the aircraft that launches these bombs.

These Russian bomb attacks caused severe damage to the energy and heat supply and destroyed all the thermal power plants in the city, which supplied Kharkiv with electricity.

“Today, we do not have a single kilowatt of our own generation. Our transformer substation was also destroyed,” the mayor emphasized.

Due to the destruction of the thermal power plants, Kharkiv plans to decentralize the energy, water, and heat supply system. 

Terekhov announced the installation of low-power cogeneration units and gas generators to provide water supply in Kharkiv. The city has already received some of this equipment.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in his evening speech on July 21 that the German Patriot air defense system has arrived in Ukraine.

He also said that one of the priorities for the country’s leadership is strengthening air defense for the Kharkiv region, necessary to protect the area from glide bombs Russia has developed. 

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