ISTANBUL 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Tuesday that his country needs to develop and reinforce its mobile firing groups amid increasing missile and drone strikes by Russia.

“There was also an important analysis of recent attacks against Ukraine – missiles, massive drone strikes. We analyzed the tactics of our air defense. There is a clear need to develop and reinforce our mobile firing groups, as well as to get all highly effective air defense systems,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation.

Speaking about details of a Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief meeting, Zelenskyy said they separately reviewed the work of the Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, the operation of which he defined as “highly effective.”

Zelenskyy expressed that he is grateful to Ukraine’s partners for assisting them with such systems, further saying that he has given Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, other relevant commanders and the Defense Ministry “necessary instructions.”

He said he heard reports from commanders on all of Ukraine’s fronts with Russia, indicating that special attention was paid to the situation in the Donetsk front, notably in the direction of Avdiivka, Marinka and Bakhmut.

Zelenskyy added that he held a separate meeting with Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin which he defined as “optimistic.”

“We're preparing, among other things, some serious long-range stuff to make sure the occupiers feel the might of Ukraine,” he added.​​​​​​​