Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine long-range impact command is now being created inside the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with the order set out in a decree he signed on Friday night. Zelenskyy said the new command is meant to concentrate all available resources on strikes against Russia.
Zelenskyy’s decree in Ukraine
"Today, I signed a decree establishing a special command within the armed forces – a command aimed at a long-range and, in effect, global impact on Russia in response to this war" Zelenskyy said in his Friday night address to the nation. He added: "This command must focus 100% of available resources on further reducing Russia’s capacity to wage war."
The move comes while Ukraine has kept up a long-range campaign against Russian energy and logistics targets. On the same day as Zelenskyy’s address, Ukraine struck the Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, the Ust-Luga oil refining complex in the Leningrad region, and an oil terminal and an oil depot in the Rostov region.
Russia shipping through the Sea of Azov
Robert Brovdi said Ukraine has damaged Russia’s shadow fleet, attacked 10 tankers in the Sea of Azov, and damaged almost 50 fuel vessels in the last five days. Russia temporarily stopped shipping through the Don-Azov Channel on Friday after Ukraine attacked Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov. Three grain export industry sources told that Russia’s border guards notified shipping companies at 6:10pm local time that requests for passage through the Kerch Strait would not be accepted.
Up to one-quarter of Russia’s wheat exports are estimated to pass through the Sea of Azov, so the shipping disruption reaches beyond fuel traffic alone. For traders and operators moving cargo through the Don-Azov Channel, the immediate issue is whether passage requests will keep being rejected and whether the route will reopen without interruption.
Kyiv wounded in missile strikes
Russian missile strikes on Kyiv wounded six people on Saturday, widening the same weekend’s pressure on both the front and the capital. Tymur Tkachenko said "The number of injured in the capital has risen to six" after Russia was "attacking the capital with missiles," and said three people were treated in hospital and three at the scene.
The contrast is sharp: Ukraine is escalating long-range strikes while Russian missile attacks on Kyiv also wounded six people the same weekend. That leaves Ukraine pressing deeper into Russia’s energy and shipping systems as Kyiv absorbs fresh missile damage at home.
Lindsey Graham met Zelenskyy in Kyiv and said, "The road to ending this war, the road to peace, passes through Beijing more than it does [through] Washington, Kyiv, or Moscow. China has an oversized influence. I’d like them to use their influence for the good of the world" while Zelenskyy said the two discussed Ukraine’s urgent air defence needs and the Russian sanctions bill. The new command’s first operational date and who will lead it have not been set out.
