He also urged NATO members to allow the use of Western weapons against military targets in Russian territory.
“Russia is trying to destroy everything it cannot capture, continuing to kill and terrorize peaceful civilians and innocent people,” said Umerov.
“To stop this, I called for permission to use Western weapons at longer distances.”
He added that Russian missile strikes on power plants in western Ukraine pose a risk to the country’s neighbors.
“Therefore, I appealed to neighboring NATO member countries, who cannot provide us with their air defense systems, to close the sky over our western regions, from their territory,” the minister said.
Earlier, German newspaper Bild reported that NATO is discussing the possibility of intercepting Russian missiles and drones over western Ukraine. Poland is leading the initiative for this "expanded air defense," but no final decision has been made yet.