Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has returned from a visit to areas close to the front.

Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal is urging support to rebuild damaged power plants after the recent Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, Russia seems to be trying to get new drones from Iran.

And Poland now wants to accept the Patriot air defense systems offered by Germany to defend its airspace.

Work is being done on stationing the Patriots on Polish territory and subordinating them to the Polish command system, Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter.

However, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht had insisted that the German air defense systems should be treated as part of the integrated NATO air defense system.

There was initially no question of placing them under a Polish command.

Two weeks ago, Lambrecht proposed moving the Patriots.

Blaszczak initially accepted the offer.

A day later, however, he surprisingly suggested that German anti-aircraft defenses should be stationed on Ukrainian territory instead of in Poland.

This caused resentment in Berlin.

Russia is to be supplied from Iran

According to diplomats, Russia has once again ordered hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles from Iran.

"We know that Iran is planning to significantly increase its deliveries of unmanned missiles and missiles to Russia," sources at the United Nations in New York told the German Press Agency.

Moscow wants to counteract the acute shortage of military supplies.

There are several hundred projectiles and hundreds of drones.

"I don't think they've shipped yet, but they're definitely on the order books," a source in New York said.

According to consistent reports, Iran had already sent drones to Russia in August, which can be used to attack military objects such as radar systems and artillery.

A few weeks later, Russian forces repeatedly attacked targets in Ukraine with Iranian kamikaze drones, which crashed into their target at high speed and caused extensive damage.

Zelenskyj's visit near the front

During a visit to Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy thanked his soldiers for defending their country under the most difficult conditions.

During the stay, Zelenskyy said in a video that he published on Telegram after his return to Kyiv that he also gave awards to those soldiers who were deployed in the "most dangerous and most responsible" places.

He was also in the Kharkiv region and met doctors there treating wounded fighters.

In view of the devastating consequences of the Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, Kyiv has called for further help from Western countries.

"Russia is trying to leave more than 30 million Ukrainians without heating, light and water," Prime Minister Schmyhal told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

"The Russians are losing on the battlefield and are therefore desperately trying to plunge Ukraine into darkness." Shmyhal asked for more air defense and anti-missile defense systems, as well as help to restore damaged power plants.

Since October, Russia's rocket attacks have massively damaged Ukraine's energy supply.

At times, millions of people only have limited access to electricity.

The supply of water and heat is also difficult in many places.

After the serious attacks, the EU border protection agency Frontex has so far not registered any significant change in border traffic.

Last week, 229,542 people entered an EU country from Ukraine, Frontex announced on Tuesday via Twitter.

In the same period, 208,988 people crossed the border of an EU country towards Ukraine.

Comparative figures from the previous weeks were initially not immediately available.