A barrage of missiles and exploding drones were on Thursday fired by Russia across Ukraine as people were sleeping, killing at least nine civilians and leaving hundreds of thousands without heat or electricity.
The missiles hit critical infrastructure and residential buildings. The missile attack also put Europe’s biggest nuclear plant at risk by knocking it off the power grid for nearly half of the day before it was restarted.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the strikes were carried out in retaliation for a recent attack on the Bryansk region of western Russia by “Ukrainian saboteurs”. However, the Russian claim was denied by Ukraine, warning that Moscow could justify assaults using the allegations.
Describing the strikes that hit infrastructure and residential buildings, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “Civilians can be terrorized by the occupiers, but it would not help them. Russians cannot avoid responsibility for everything they have done.”
Moscow says such missile attacks are carried out to blunt the ability of Ukraine to fight, while Kyiv says that the air strikes aim at harming infrastructural establishments and intimidating civilians, which is a “war crime”.
The Kremlin’s forces started targeting Ukraine’s power supply last October in an apparent attempt to demoralize the civilian population and compel Kyiv to negotiate peace on Moscow’s terms.
In an apparent attempt to demoralize the civilians, Russian forces started targeting Ukraine’s power supply last October. Later, the frequency of attacks went down. War experts and analysts speculated that Russia may be facing low ammunition. The last major bombardment by Russia was carried out on February 16.
As per report, Moscow used hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, which are the most sophisticated weapons in the Russian arsenal, in Thursday’s attack. “We faced so many missiles and were unable to shoot them down,” said Ukrainian officials
The week has witnessed an apparent shift in the battlefield that Ukraine has decided to continue fighting in Bakhmut, a city which faces fierce Russian winter offensive in the bloodiest fighting of the war. On the other hand, Moscow says that Bakhmut is strategically quite significant as it could help them secure the surrounding Donbas, which is major war aim.
Earlier it appeared that Ukraine could withdraw from Bakhmut, but commanders are of the view that they are inflicting enough damage on Russia’s force to justify staying and fighting on.
With inputs from AP/Reuters