Ukraine said it had weathered a months-long winter onslaught by Russian strikes on water and power infrastructure as it marked the first day of spring on Wednesday.
But Kiev has been under heavy pressure in eastern Ukraine while Moscow said it shot down a “massive” barrage of Ukrainian drones fired at the Crimea peninsula, annexed by the Kremlin in 2014.
Since October, Russia has been bombing key facilities in Ukraine with missiles and drones, cutting off water, heating and electricity for millions of people.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed Ukrainians for surviving a winter marked by systematic Russian attacks on power plants, which plunged millions into darkness and cold.
“We survived this winter. It was a very difficult time, and every Ukrainian experienced this difficulty, but we were still able to provide electricity and heat to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hailed the first day of spring as another “major defeat” for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
“We survived the most difficult winter in our history. It was cold and dark, but we were unbreakable,” Kuleba said in a statement.
Aid organizations had warned earlier in the winter that the targeted campaign was forcing a new wave of migration to Europe and that Ukraine’s priority was to “survive” through the frosty months.
The Kremlin said Kiev was responsible for the suffering of civilians stemming from the massive power outages because it refused to give in to Moscow’s demands for war.
“Choke on Your Rockets”
But the grid has stabilized, and Ukrainian energy supplier Ukrenergo said on Wednesday there had been “no electricity deficit” for more than two weeks.
“Engineers are also continuing repairs to all power system facilities previously damaged by Russian missile and drone strikes,” it said.
The war in Ukraine has led Europe to question its deep dependence on Russian oil and gas amid waves of sanctions aimed at curbing Moscow’s ability to fund its military from energy revenues.
“The EU won too, and contrary to Moscow’s laughter, it didn’t freeze without Russian gas. One piece of advice to Russia: choke on your gas and choke on your missiles,” Kuleba added in the statement.
The foreign minister’s comments came as fighting appears to be reaching a precarious moment for Kiev, as a missile struck the eastern Ukraine town of Zaporizhia on Wednesday night – a region regularly the target of Russian attacks.
Two people died in the attack, according to Zaporizhzhia City Council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev, who added on his Telegram channel that civilians were still trapped under construction debris.
Further east, near Bakhmut – the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle of the Russian invasion – AFP journalists saw Ukrainian forces blocking roads towards the embattled salt-mining town, raising the specter of a possible Ukrainian withdrawal.
But Sergiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for Ukraine’s armed forces stationed in the east of the country, said “no such decision has been made so far”.
“Heavy fighting is taking place around our Bakhmut,” said the head of the city’s military administration, Oleksiy Reva.
The city, which once had a population of around 70,000, has experienced a gradual exodus, and now only 4,500 people live, Reva said.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that fighting around Bakhmut had “increased”.
“Russia does not count people at all and sends them to constantly attack our positions,” he added.
“You can’t help”
Elsewhere in the Donetsk region, the cost of fighting became clear at a field hospital where AFP journalists watched wounded Ukrainian soldiers being treated.
“You remember the extraordinary cases where people have suffered fatal injuries. Partially severed heads, torn or severed main vessels where you could not help the patient. You remember that,” said Igor, a 28-year-old anesthetist.
Ukraine’s presidency said on Wednesday that Russian attacks in the Donetsk region killed three civilians and wounded four others.
According to local authorities, a one-year-old boy and his mother were injured in a shelling in the southern region of Kherson.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s announcement that it had shot down or disabled 10 Ukrainian drones in Crimea came a day after Russian officials said they shot down three more over the country’s southern regions and near Moscow.
“An attempt by the Kiev regime to launch a massive drone attack on the Crimean peninsula’s facilities was prevented,” the Defense Ministry said.
Ten drones were either “shot down” or rendered “inoperable,” the statement said.
Ukraine’s presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said earlier Wednesday that Kiev was not responsible for the attacks in Russia.
“Ukraine does not attack Russian territory. Ukraine is waging a defensive war to occupy all its territories,” he wrote on social media.