KIEV Russia has launched its largest missile and drone attack on Ukraine since January. reach destinations across the country with multiple Weapons, including hypersonic missilesYou Latest in the Moscow Armory.
After weeks of relative calm in Kiev and other cities, attacks across the country killed at least 11 people and injured dozens, cut power in several areas and damaged three power plants, Ukrainian officials said.
The attacks included six of the new hypersonic missiles known as Kinzhals, or daggers, which have been used most frequently by Russia in a single wave since the war began a year ago, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it carried out a “massive retaliation” against Ukrainian infrastructure targets last week for a socalled terrorist attack in Russia’s Bryansk region.
Smoke shrouds Kiev and the Motherland monument after rocket fire hit Ukraine’s capital Stringer/Portal
Of the 81 rockets fired overnight and in the morning, 47 hit targets, Ukraine said. That’s a much higher ratio of strike hits to missiles fired than Russia has achieved in launches in recent months.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had had a “tough night” with the “mass rocket attack” that was an attempt at intimidation and terror. In Telegram he wrote about Russian troops: “That’s all they can do. But that won’t help them. They will not shirk responsibility for anything they have done.”
Thursday’s attack was notable for the extensive use of Kinzhal missiles, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat told Ukrainian TV. Ukrainian military intelligence said Russia has fewer than 50 such missiles in its arsenal, and the Ukrainian military said six were fired overnight. “I don’t recall that many Kinzhals being fired in one attack during this war,” Ihnat said.
Dmitro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said in a Twitter post that Russia’s predawn airstrikes “had no military objective” and were an example of “Russian barbarism.”
According to the Ukrainian authorities, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is “without electricity”. The Kharkiv regions to the east and Odessa regions to the south were the first to suffer air raids. The capital Kiev also suffered from explosions after rockets landed in several parts of the city.
Since October last year, after several military setbacks, Russia has hit key Ukrainian facilities with missiles and drones, cutting off water and electricity supplies to millions of people left without heat during the freezing cold winter.
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The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was hit and left without power. Electricity is currently being supplied by diesel generators, said stateowned National Nuclear Power Company (Energoatom), the country’s nuclear power plant operator. “The last connection between the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the Ukrainian power grid was cut,” he said.
According to The Guardian, Energoatom reported that the fifth and sixth reactors are shut down and the electrical power needed to run the plant is being supplied by 18 diesel generators, which have enough fuel for 10 days.
The head of the United Nations nuclear agency has issued an impassioned plea after strikes temporarily cut external power lines to the Russianheld Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, forcing it to switch to diesel generators.
It is the sixth time since the war began that the plant has had to switch to emergency power, official Rafael Mariano Grossi said. “If we allow this to continue over and over again, one day our luck will run out,” he said, referring to the possibility of a nuclear accident.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in a photo from late last year: power grid down after bombings and running on diesel generators Photo: Alexander Ermochenko/Portal
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Five people were killed at their homes when a rocket landed in a residential area in western Lviv, on the border with Poland, and one person was killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region of central Ukraine, local officials said.
In the north, in the Kharkiv region, near the border with Russia, 15 rockets hit infrastructure and a residential building, the head of the region’s military administration said on his Telegram account. Three people were also killed in Russian airstrikes in the southern city of Kherson, officials said.
In the capital, Kiev, two massive blasts an hour apart injured at least two residents and sent black smoke billowing out of the city center, rattling windows and setting cars ablaze. At least one hypersonic missile appears to have hit the capital, an official in Kiev said.
Kiev firefighters work to rescue victims hit by Russian bombing in Ukraine. Photo: Gleb Garanich/Portal
“The enemy launched about 15 bombing raids on the city and the region. The Russian occupiers have again targeted critical infrastructure,” said Oleg Sinegubov, governor of the Kharkov region.
According to local authorities, residential buildings were also hit. Lviv region governor Maksim Kozitskii said four people were killed after a rocket hit a residential area in Zolochivsky district. Rescue workers were searching the rubble, he said, which could include other people trapped under it.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported on the explosions in the Ukrainian capital: “Explosions in the Holosiivskyi district of the capital. All services are on point,” Klitschko said on social media, referring to an area south of the city. According to The Guardian newspaper, 40% of the capital’s population is without energy and consequently without heating in their homes.
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Klitschko confirmed that there was also an explosion in the Svyatoshyn district and reported “two victims”. In a Twitter post, President Volodymyr Zeleksnky’s spokeswoman Iuliia Mendel added that the victims were only injured.
Videos posted by residents on social media show the aftermath of the bombings in various areas of Kiev. The thermal power plant was hit by rockets and the smoke can be seen on one of the records made near the site.
In Kharkiv, the information is relayed by the governor of the region, Oleg Synegubov: “The enemy launched about 15 bombing raids on the city and the region. Once again they attacked critical infrastructures,” Synegubov said on social media.
In the Odessa region, Governor Maksym Marchneko said after a “massive missile attack,” “missiles hit the region’s energy infrastructure and damaged residential buildings.” In the city of Zhytomyr, the authorities report that the population is without water supply.
The Kharkiv governor specified that “according to preliminary information, a private residential building in the Kharkov region was hit”. Synegubov added that information about victims and the extent of the damage is still “clarified”.
Authorities in Kharkiv also reported that “electricity infrastructure” had been attacked and that there were “problems” with electricity in parts of the city.
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The same happened in the Odessa region, where Governor Marchneko clarified that although it was necessary to adopt “electricity supply restrictions”, “fortunately there were no casualties”.
People react at the site of a Russian missile attack in Kiev, Ukraine, this Thursday, March 9. Photo: Portal/Gleb Garanich
According to the local military administration, air defense systems have been activated in the Kiev region. Western Khmelnitsky region governor Segiy Gamaliy urged residents to “stay in temporary shelters” after warning that “the enemy is attacking the country’s critical infrastructure”.
Air raid sirens blared across the city for hours Ukraine, including the capital Kiev, where explosions shook residents out of their beds. It wasn’t immediately clear how many missiles had hit targets in the capital, or if the sounds were missiles intercepted by defense systems activated in several regions of the country.
Initially, attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure occurred weekly, plunging entire cities into darkness. Synegubov said that “according to preliminary information, a private residential building in the Kharkov region was hit”. He added that information on casualties and the extent of the damage would be “clarified”.
Smoke billowed from Kiev’s thermoelectric power plant this morning after Russian missiles struck cities across Ukraine from Dnipro to Lviv. pic.twitter.com/zAjNDVqOme
— Maxim Tucker (@MaxRTucker) March 9, 2023
In the city of Kharkov the mayor Igor Terekhov stated that “energy infrastructure” had been hit and there were “problems” with electricity in parts of the city.
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The same happened in the Odessa region, where the governor clarified that although “restrictions on electricity supply” should be issued, “fortunately there were no casualties”.
According to the local military administration, air defense systems have been activated in the Kiev region. Governor of the western region of Khmelnitsky, Segiy Gamaliyurged people to “stay in shelters” and warned that “the enemy is attacking the country’s critical infrastructure.”
The Ukrainian railways reported power outages in certain areas. Five trains were more than an hour late and 10 trains were more than 30 minutes late.
Preventive emergency power shutdowns were carried out in the regions of Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odessa said supplier DTEK. Klitschko says 15% of the capital’s electricity consumers were without power due to emergency power outages.
More explosions were reported in the northern city Chernihiv and in the western region of Lvivas well as in the cities of Dnipro, Lutsk It is Rivne. Ukrainian media also reported explosions in the western regions IvanoFrankivsk It is Ternopil.
The attacks reached the country shortly after The European Union promises funding of another 2 billion euros this Wednesday 8th (more than BRL 10 billion) to increase production and supply of missiles and ammunition to Ukraine in the face of Russian attacks.
The announcement was made by the bloc’s head of diplomacy, Joseph Borrellafter a meeting of EU defense ministers in Stockholmat Sweden. At the meeting, joint arms procurement plans were discussed with the aim of increasing ammunition supplies to Ukraine. and fill up what is depleted from the countries of the bloc. /AFP and AP