Ajit Karn
Kyiv: Thursday night, while people were sleeping, Russia launched a massive wave of missile attacks across Ukraine, killing at least six civilians, knocking out power, and forcing a nuclear power facility off the grid.
The first significant missile barrage since mid-February disrupted the longest period of relative calm since Moscow launched an offensive against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure five months ago. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, infrastructure and residential structures in ten regions were affected.
According to emergency services, at least five people were killed when a missile destroyed a village home in the western Lviv region. Drone footage from the area, which was approximately 700 kilometres (440 miles) from any military battlefield, revealed a destroyed home surrounded by severely damaged structures.
According to reports, another civilian was killed by missiles in the central Dnipro region. Separate reports indicate that three civilians were killed by artillery in Kherson.
Residents of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were awoken by explosions. A seven-hour nighttime air strike alert was the longest since the Russian air campaign began in October.
“I heard an extremely loud explosion. The moment we awoke, we noticed a car on fire. Then the fire spread to the remaining vehicles. The glass on the balconies and windows shattered “58-year-old Liudmyla said while holding a child in her arms.
“It is very terrifying. Very terrifying. The child leapt out of bed out of fear “She stated, “How is this possible? How could this be? They are not humans, and I have no idea what to call them. They are terrifying the children, which will disrupt their mental state.”
Moscow claims that its campaign of attacking Ukraine’s infrastructure far from the front line is intended to diminish the country’s fighting capacity. According to Kyiv, the airstrikes have no military purpose and are intended to injure and intimidate civilians, which is a war crime.
According to Ukrainian officials, Moscow launched an unprecedented six hypersonic kinzhal missiles, which Ukraine has no means to intercept. It is believed that Russia possesses no more than a few dozen of these missiles, which President Vladimir Putin frequently touts in speeches as a weapon to which NATO has no response.
Ukraine stated that the missiles severed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility, the largest in Europe, from the Ukrainian power grid.
The plant, which Russia has controlled since its capture early in the conflict, is close to the front line, and both sides have previously warned of the potential for a disaster there as a result of fighting. Moscow stated that the facility was protected by diesel reserve power.
Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the CEO of Russian state energy firm Rosenergoatom, stated on state TV channel Rossiya 24: “Everything is absolutely normal: the specialists at the plant are working quite professionally, and the automation has begun.”
“There is no nuclear incident threat or danger. There is an abundance of fuel, and the plant will be supplied with it if necessary.”
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Kyiv, the Black Sea port of Odesa, and the second-largest city Kharkiv were all struck by missiles that targeted a wide arc of targets from Zhytomyr, Vynnytsia, and Rivne in the west to Dnipro and Poltava in the centre, according to Ukrainian officials.
“Unfortunately, a Kinzhal-type missile struck an infrastructure object,” said Serhiy Popko, the head of the military administration for the Kyiv region.
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kiev, reported detonation in the city’s southwestern region. He stated on Telegram that 40% of Kyiv residents were without heat due to power outages.
Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the Odesa region, stated on Telegram that a mass missile strike had knocked out the city’s power supply. Residential areas were also affected.
The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Synehubov, stated that the city and region had been struck by fifteen strikes, including infrastructure.
UKRAINE FIGHTS ON AT BAKHMUT
The week has witnessed an apparent shift on the battlefield as Ukraine has decided to remain and fight in Bakhmut, a small city that has bore the brunt of a Russian winter offensive in the war’s bloodiest fighting.
Moscow says it is strategically important as a step to securing the surrounding Donbas region, a major war aim. According to the West, the ruined city is of little value, and Russian generals are sacrificing their lives to give Putin his first victory since dispatching hundreds of thousands of reservists into battle late last year.
Ukraine had appeared likely to withdraw from Bakhmut, but has now signalled a renewed resolve to fight, with commanders claiming that they are inflicting sufficient harm on Russia’s assault force to justify a continuation of the conflict.
“The importance of keeping Bakhmut is constantly growing,” General Oleksandr Sirskiy, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said in remarks released by the military on Thursday.
“Each day spent defending the city gives us more time to organise reserves and plan for future offensive operations,” he explained. “The enemy loses the most prepared and combat-capable part of his army.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the commander of Russia’s Wagner private army, which has led the combat in Bakhmut, reported on Wednesday that his forces controlled the entire city east of the Bakhmut river.
Two-thirds of the city is situated on the west bank. Russian forces have been advancing north and south of the city, to cut off the Ukrainian garrison but have not yet succeeded in closing the circle.
Moscow, which claims to have annexed a fifth of Ukraine, says it launched its “special military operation” a year ago to combat a security threat from its neighbour’s ties to the West. Kyiv and the West call it an unprovoked war of aggression to subdue and conquer an independent state.
“The occupiers can only terrorise civilians. That’s all they can do. But it won’t help them. They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement.
