Zelensky demands answers from China and Hungary after deadly Russian attack

Correspondent and journalist María Senovilla, a contributor to Atalayar, analysed the new Russian bombing in Kiev, which has left 21 dead, including four children, on Onda Madrid's programme ‘De cara al mundo’.

She also insisted on the diplomatic option to end the conflict, while the President of the European Commission assured the EU's support for Ukraine.

A difficult night. Another show of force by Putin with an attack on Kiev that left at least 21 dead. You were there, how did you experience it live?

A very difficult night. That early morning from Wednesday to Thursday. Here, fortunately, we have not stopped talking about what is happening in Ukraine, and we have reported on bombings that, like the latest one, are directed against civilian targets, against cities that are far from the front line and cause death and destruction. 

But the truth is that this week's attack was one of the worst I have ever experienced. In terms of the means employed by Russia, there were almost 600 drones and 31 missiles, of which 11 were hypersonic and 20 were cruise missiles. Imagine the damage that arsenal sent against Kiev could have caused. 

In addition, there was the way it was directed. It affected a dozen districts of the capital. Both the drones and the missiles came from different directions to make the work of the air defence impossible, to make it difficult to stop them, and among those 600 drones there were many decoy drones, which are those that are launched without explosive payloads, simply so that the air defence does not know which ones to neutralise and sends out such numerous swarms of drones that it is impossible to stop them.

In other words, it was a very malicious attack because of the way it was launched and everything that was used. And there is also a certain symbolism to it, because throughout August we have been reporting on diplomatic attempts and international meetings aimed at taking a step towards peace, while Putin was signalling that he was not interested in stopping the war at this point, given the advances and offensives being launched on the front line.

This attack on the Ukrainian capital, an attack in which most of the strikes have been on residential blocks, office blocks and urban infrastructure, is a further demonstration that he is not interested in stopping the war that he himself provoked by launching that invasion three and a half years ago.

There are many meanings and interpretations of why this attack took place. One of them may be that the Ukrainian attacks are hurting Russia and this is a warning. 

Indeed, Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil have multiplied in recent months. These attacks are mostly carried out with long-range drones, with the exception of the attack we also reported here, Operation Spider's Web, when Ukraine managed to bring in a truck loaded with short-range FPV drones, park it next to an airfield and destroy part of the Russian Army's fighter-bomber fleet, which is then used to carry out bombings such as the one that took place this week against Kyiv. 

The rest of the targets, which we usually list when they occur, are Russian refineries, military airfields and military command centres. And it is true that in recent months there seems to have been an increase in the number of targets and the number of Ukrainian attacks against Russia.

But this is normal at a time like this, when the United States has practically been removed from the equation of military aid to Ukraine, Europe is doing what it can, and it is clear that what the government has seen, what Ukrainian intelligence and its military forces have seen, is that they have to use the resources they have themselves to try to resist on Russian soil. Because launching attacks against strategic Russian military targets is another way of resisting, of trying to make it impossible for Russia to continue attacking Ukrainian cities with its air force, which are also increasingly distant from the front line, a trend that we will continue to see.

Now that Ukraine has managed to develop its own production of these long-range drones, which fly at least 400 kilometres and are quite effective in launching the type of attacks they are launching against strategic Russian military targets, it is very likely that they will not stop a strategy that is working for them.

The actual damage that these drone attacks are doing to the Russian fighter-bomber fleet, the Russian armed forces, and logistical systems such as refineries where these vehicles refuel, will be very difficult to calculate because Russia does not provide information and there is no transparency when it comes to seeing the extent of the damage and what it means. But if Ukrainian intelligence has decided to go down this route, it must be because they have reports that it could be useful and could help to slow Russia down.

This week, I received a video showing queues at several Russian petrol stations due to the lack of petrol supplies caused by the attacks on refineries in Ukraine. The European Union's reaction, after its headquarters was hit by a missile, fortunately without any personal injuries, has been to renew its support for Ukraine and consider tougher sanctions against Russia.

They said it was not accidental, that it was a totally deliberate action against the European Union offices, against the European delegation and Europe's representation in the country. 

It was not as serious as attacking an embassy, but they have put it on almost the same level. And this is important because we are at a time, as we said, when significant international diplomatic efforts are being made, and it is right that the European Union, as a bloc, should support Kiev, support the Ukrainian government and once again publicly reiterate that unconditional support, which Ukraine has certainly not lost in the last three and a half years. But these kinds of public statements are always a boost. 

I was struck by the fact that, among the complaints, criticisms and demands made by the Ukrainian president regarding Mirzalensky, he called on China to take a stand and react. China is the silent one that is there, and when conflicts can affect it, for example, especially its exports or the rise in oil prices, it moves. But if not, or like Hungary, as Zelensky has said, those countries that remain silent in the face of Putin's attacks, here I believe that Zelensky does not do anything without a reason. 

No, no, Zelensky does not do anything without a reason. They are two very different examples. In the case of China, there has been more talk about China here lately, especially on the combat front, because although it is a country that took a back seat when the large-scale invasion began, it is true that in recent months everyone agrees that it is supplying a huge amount of components that are then used to build all kinds of drones, from Shahed suicide drones, which are no longer sent by Iran but are now manufactured within the Russian Federation, to short-range drones used on the front lines.
All these drones need a series of essential components that are manufactured by China. So, while Ukraine is now desperate to buy them from third countries, where it is becoming increasingly difficult, Russia has a direct channel, a commercial channel, through which it can receive all these types of supplies, and in huge quantities, because what we have seen on the front line, and that is why there is now more talk about China and that supply of components, is that the number of drones Russia has already exceeds 10 to 1, even 15 to 1, in many parts of the front line, and as soon as their drones are shot down, they automatically have a new shipment. In other words, Russia's current stockpile of drones is much higher than, for example, what it had last year. 

So it is clear that China has a role to play here and that it is the supply of drones that is enabling Russia to build up its arsenal. On the other hand, we have the case of Hungary, which is quite different. It is a country within the European Union whose government has proven to be pro-Russian and has shown that it tries to put a spoke in the wheel every time the European Union makes decisions regarding Ukraine. 

So, Zelensky does not act without reason, and it is very good to bring up these two names. In the case of China, I think that no matter how much he says, it will have no impact, but it is true that the European Union has already called Hungary's attention on several occasions. Above all, remember that it was given 10 billion to renovate and modernise communications and roads, I don't remember exactly right now. And that money was given by the European Union on condition that it would stop putting obstacles in the way when decisions were being made to send military aid to Ukraine. And it seems that it will be necessary to call its attention again at that moment when it was told that it either had to return the 10 billion or stop opposing every time unanimous decisions were made to help Ukraine.

And on this occasion, if there was no money involved, I imagine they will have to call his attention in another way. But this was the enemy at home. 

We end, Maria, on the Donbass fronts. Little by little, Russian troops continue their advance on the different fronts. 

They continue their advance in one area, but there has also been a Ukrainian advance in the last week that has pushed back some of the Russian troops who launched the offensive we reported on here through Mirnogrado and Pokrovsk, with which they managed to infiltrate almost 18 kilometres in one go with small sabotage groups.

And since they were the ones who had managed to advance without the Ukrainian army noticing, the Ukrainian Armed Forces quickly launched a counter-offensive. They put the Azov Corps, five brigades that are now forming the first Azov Corps of the National Guard, to work on that front.

And the truth is that the results are already visible on the movement maps after just two weeks. As I said, they have pushed Russia back from Mirnograd to the east. And it seems that right now, Ukraine has the upper hand on that front.

If we move a little further east, to the Konstantinovka front, unfortunately there, the Russian advance continues very slowly, but without stopping. And the towns of Konstantinovka, Druzhkivka and Kramatorsk are being bombed more and more every day in the Donbass.