Russia attacks regions throughout Ukraine with dozens of missiles and drones | International | The USA Print

Russia has launched this Thursday a massive attack – the most serious in several weeks – against a dozen regions of Ukraine, including Lviv (west), Odesa and Kherson (south), Kharkiv (north), Dnipropetrovsk (east) and Kiev (center). It has been a long and complicated night, wrapped in the uncertainty generated by listening to alarms throughout the country for hours. There are at least 6 dead between Lviv and Dnipro due to the early morning offensive, and another four in Kherson due to artillery fire, according to the authorities. In this new offensive, 81 missiles have been used, six of them are Kinzhal model hypersonic, and eight bomb drones, military sources report. Russia has recovered “its miserable tactics”, lamented the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, after acknowledging that critical infrastructure and residential areas have been affected and that emergency services are trying to restore the energy system. “The occupiers can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do,” the president warned.

“Honestly, I don’t remember an attack like this,” said the spokesman for the Air Force, Yuri Ignat, in statements to a television channel in which he highlighted the novelty of the use of Kinzhal missiles, for which his army does not have weapons with which to deal with them. The attack was in revenge for the raid that a group of anti-Putin Russian militants carried out on March 2 in Russia’s Briansk region, which borders Ukraine, according to a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, reports Javier G. Cuesta.

This Thursday is the second large-scale attack that takes place after the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was celebrated on February 24. The first attack was on the 27th, when 14 bomb drones flew over different regions of Ukraine. Up to 11 were shot down, according to military sources. Two rescuers working in one of the bombed sites in the Khmelnitsky region lost their lives. The offensive, however, was of less depth than that of this Thursday.

Ukraine’s air defense has managed to shoot down 34 cruise missiles and four of the launched drones, all Iranian-made Shahed model, frequently used by Moscow. Eight other Russian drones and missiles were also diverted from their target. It has been five months since the Kremlin launched its campaign to hit essential infrastructures for the survival of civilians who live far from the frontline areas.

Five dead in Lviv

The worst consequences, so far, are experienced in the Lviv region, bordering Poland. There have been at least five deaths after one of the projectiles hit a housing area in the Zolochiv district, located between the cities of Lviv and Ternopil, as reported by the governor, Maksim Kozitski, on his social networks. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region (center of the country) has reported the death in one of the bombings of a 34-year-old man. Four other people have been killed in the southern Kherson region, where Russian artillery fire arrives almost daily, according to authorities.

Russia has resumed “its miserable tactics” in “an attempt to intimidate the Ukrainians again”, denounced President Zelenski after regretting that the bombings have affected critical infrastructure in the country, as well as residential areas throughout “a difficult night”. The Russians “will not avoid their responsibility for everything they have done,” he added in a message broadcast on Telegram in which he thanked the anti-aircraft systems — “the guardians of our skies” — for their help in dealing with these attacks.

“No military objective, only Russian barbarism”, lamented the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, from his Twitter account. “The day will come when Putin and his associates are held accountable before a Special Court,” he added.

“Retaliation” from Moscow

The Russian Ministry of Defense has alleged that the bombardment of Ukraine was “in response to the terrorist actions organized by the Kiev regime in the Briansk region on March 2”, therefore “the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation They have launched a massive retaliatory attack,” said the agency’s spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, in the daily report released by Moscow.

The confused Briansk incursion resulted in at least two deaths, according to the governor of that Russian border region, although the group that entered Russian territory denies that they killed or kidnapped any civilians. This is the Russian Volunteer Corps (CVR), a group of Russian exiles who fight on the side of kyiv within its Foreign Legion.

In addition to the aforementioned Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kiev, Kharkov, Kherson and Odesa, the impacts have hit the Ukrainian regions of Mykolaiv, Yitómir, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhia, Kirovogrado and Vinnitsia on Thursday. The national railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, has warned of some delays due to the attacks, but is pleased that it has not had any cancellations.

Disconnection in Zaporizhia

The attack forced for a few hours to disconnect the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, located in the Zaporizhia region, which has been under Russian control for a year. The facilities depended on emergency generators on Thursday morning, according to the state company Energoatom, which reestablished the connection with the Ukrainian grid in the early afternoon. This is the first time this has happened since November 23, according to Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In Kiev, the capital, 40% of the population was without electricity supply early in the day due to emergency cuts carried out after the attack so that the network could hold, as reported by the mayor via Telegram. , Vitali Klitschko. At least two districts of the main city of the country have been reached. The authorities have not announced victims in this city, although three people have been treated after one of the impacts. There is damage to some residential buildings and some burned cars, according to the images of the news agencies.

Kharkov, the country’s second largest city, was without electricity or hot water early in the morning, according to the mayor, Igor Terejov, who has reported on national television damage to water heating plants and power stations. After noon, the authorities announced that 70% of the electricity supply had been restored.

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