Ashish Ranjan
Russia hits Ukraine with missiles: As Vladimir Putin bid farewell to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, Russia hits Ukraine with missiles, drones overnight as a show of force. According to a report, one person was slain and at least 33 others were injured when two Russian missiles struck two tall residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, captured on video.
As one of the buildings exploded, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted, “Right now, residential areas where ordinary people and children live are under attack.”
“This cannot become another ordinary day in Ukraine or anywhere else in the globe. “The world needs greater unity and resolve to defeat Russian terrorism and save lives more quickly,” he wrote.A nearby playground and parking lot were littered with broken glass, detritus, and wrecked vehicles. Reuters reported that emergency personnel carried out the injured and escorted those who could walk.
After a drone struck two college dormitories in Rzhyshchiv, a riverside town south of the capital Kyiv, at least four people were murdered, 20 were injured, and four are still missing.During the night, drones swarmed the Ukrainian capital and large portions of the north. According to the Ukrainian military, 16 of 21 Iranian suicide drones were brought down.
All of this occurred as Putin was tendering farewell to his “dear friend” Xi Jinping, who was in Moscow on a state visit.Zelenskyy wrote, ostensibly in reference to Xi Jinping’s visit to the Russian capital, “Every time someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow, another order for such criminal strikes is issued.”
Vladimir Putin’s hosting of Xi Jinping in Moscow this week was his most significant diplomatic move since he launched the conflict more than a year ago. The two men referred to one another as “dear friend,” vowed economic cooperation, condemned the West, and described the state of their relationship as the best it had ever been. The conflict in Ukraine was not mentioned in Xi Jinping’s statement.
HOW LONG WILL THE WAR LAST?
Ukraine has maintained that peace is impossible without Russia’s withdrawal from occupied territory. Moscow asserts that Kyiv must acknowledge territorial “reality,” referring to Russia’s claim that it has annexed nearly one-fifth of Ukraine.
After Ukraine recaptured territory, including Kherson, in the latter part of 2022, Russia launched a massive winter offensive utilising hundreds of thousands of newly activated reservists and mercenaries recruited from prison.Despite the most intense fighting of the conflict, the front line has hardly shifted in the past four months.
Russia’s only notable gains have been near Bakhmut, but Kyiv has decided not to withdraw there in recent weeks, claiming that its defenders are inflicting sufficient losses on the Russian assailants to justify holding out.
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Once additional Western weapons, such as battle tanks, arrive in Kiev, the Ukrainian military command is likely to commence a spring counteroffensive. In essence, there is no apparent conclusion.
