KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces unleashed a barrage of missile and drone strikes against targets in eastern and southern Ukraine early Friday, as a Moscow offensive that has been brewing for days appeared to choose up pace ahead of the one-year anniversary of its invasion.
The Kremlin’s forces focused their bombardments on Ukraine’s industrial east, especially the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, the Ukrainian military said. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces there since 2014.
The barrage struck critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city within the northeast, and hit energy infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia within the southeast. Air raid sirens went off across much of the country.
Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Anatolii Kurtiev said town had been hit 17 times in a single hour, which he said made it essentially the most intense period of attacks for the reason that starting of the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 2022.
The bombardments could possibly be an effort by Russia to melt up Ukraine’s defenses ahead of a ground assault, which Kyiv believes Moscow is planning.
The onslaught lent a way of urgency to Ukraine’s pleas for more Western military support. The necessity prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a rare — and daring — two-day trip abroad this week to press allies to grant Kyiv more aid.
Resulting from the specter of a missile attack, emergency power outages were enacted in Kyiv city, the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, based on private energy operator DTEK.
The top of Kyiv City Administration, Serhii Popko, said that “there may be an incredible threat of a missile attack” as Tu-95 strategic bombers are within the air, which might carry cruise missiles on board. The top of Kryvyi Rih city Administration confirmed that Russia had launched missiles and urged people to proceed to the shelters.
In Kharkiv, authorities were still trying to ascertain information on victims and the size of the destruction, with Mayor Ihor Terekhov saying there could possibly be disruptions to heating and the electricity and water supply.
Military analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin is hoping that Europe’s support for Ukraine will wane, as Russia is believed to be preparing a latest offensive.
Fighting in Ukraine intensified Thursday. Kyiv’s military intelligence agency said Russian forces have launched an offensive within the partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with the aim of grabbing full control of your complete industrial region, often called the Donbas. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces there since 2014.
