U.S. intelligence alerts Ukraine to Russian ballistic missile launches — Zelenskyy

He said this at a press conference.

"Our partners provide us with launch data: that is, we understand the direction and know when ballistic missiles are launched. Our intelligence is working, and there is a lot of assistance... The reason everyone was really nervous when there was a risk of a prolonged freeze in the transfer of intelligence data from the American side is because the American side helps us so that we can tell our people—'ballistic missile,'" the president explained.

He emphasized that the Ukrainian side does not see the launch of enemy ballistic missiles on its own.

"That’s why tragedies like the one in Kryvyi Rih would have been much more frequent without this intelligence data; after all, many ballistic missiles are being shot down," Zelenskyy added.

At the same time, the Ukrainian leader stressed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are destroying many Russian air defense systems. He also continued, saying that in 1992, Ukraine had 225 air defense systems, by 2000 there were 168-169 left, and by 2019—about 60 systems.

"We need to understand what the density of Ukraine’s defense was in order to understand what kind of defense the Russians have. Our systems were sold not only somewhere in the Middle East—but to the Russians as well," Zelenskyy said.

• As of April 16, as a result of the Russian strike on Kryvyi Rih on April 4, the number of killed has risen to 21. A young man died in the hospital overnight.