War of aggression: Russia massively attacks Ukraine – deaths and destruction

The Russian military has carried out one of the heaviest air strikes on Ukraine since the war began more than two and a half years ago. During the night and early morning hours, the attackers used 120 rockets and cruise missiles as well as 90 drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. The anti-aircraft defense was successful in around 140 cases. But there were also deaths and injuries as well as damage, especially once again to the country’s energy infrastructure.

Several explosions triggered by anti-aircraft defenses were heard in the Ukrainian capital Kiev this morning. Two residential buildings caught fire. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, two women were injured by falling debris and one had to be hospitalized.

Dead in Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Lviv

According to authorities, two women were killed by drones overnight in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. “Four adults and two children were injured,” wrote the region’s military governor, Vitaly Kim, on Telegram. Several residential buildings, a high-rise building, a shopping center and a number of cars were damaged. An infrastructure object that Kim did not specify was also hit.

Two railway workers were killed when a depot was shelled in the southeastern Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk. Three others were injured, Ukrainian Railways said. A woman in a vehicle was killed by falling debris in Lviv region, western Ukraine. In nearby Poland, fighter jets flew up as a precautionary measure in response to the attacks.

Explosions were also reported in Zaporizhia, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Odessa. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, dozens of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, including strategic bombers, were fired at targets across the country. Dozens of combat drones had previously been used by Russia.

Power was shut off in several areas as a precautionary measure to prevent possible overloading of the grid if energy facilities were hit. The responsible minister, Herman Halushchenko, reported on Facebook about a massive attack on Ukraine’s energy system. In the Volyn region, the authorities have already confirmed another blow to the network infrastructure.

The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed the strike against the energy infrastructure. The reason given was that the targeted objects would have supplied the Ukrainian defense industry with electricity.

Criticism of Scholz: Attack Putin’s response to talks

Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha accused Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin of war crimes in this context. The drones and cruise missiles are aimed at cities, infrastructure and sleeping civilians. This is “Putin’s true answer to all those who have recently called or visited him. We need peace through strength, not appeasement,” he wrote on X.

The entry may also refer to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s phone call with Putin on Friday. While Scholz again called for a withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and negotiations in the first conversation between the two in almost two years, the Kremlin chief insisted on Moscow’s well-known preconditions for peace talks. These include Ukraine’s cession of territory to its large neighbor and the country’s renunciation of NATO membership.

The phone call sparked criticism shortly after it became known, including in Ukraine. “In my opinion, Olaf’s call opens Pandora’s Box,” Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Friday. With his call, Scholz fulfilled Putin’s long-held wish to reduce Russia’s isolation and begin talks that will lead to nothing, he explained.

European partners also question the usefulness of the telephone call: The latest air raid showed that “telephone diplomacy” cannot be a substitute for real support from the entire West for Ukraine, wrote Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk on X.

However, the Ukrainian armed forces will face enormous challenges in the coming days and weeks: The Ukrainian soldiers in the east of their country on the edge of the Donbass will have to accept further setbacks in the form of territorial losses. Since the fall of the Avdiivka fortress at the beginning of the year, the Ukrainians have been unable to stabilize the front in Donbass. The Russian troops have since advanced around 40 kilometers. Kurachowe, another strategically important city, is currently about to be captured by Russian troops.

According to British assessments, further north the Russians are increasing pressure on the strategically important city of Kupyansk. There have probably already been attempts to enter the city from the northeast. In the south, the Russians had extended an arc of the front and reached the Oskil River, the British Ministry of Defense said. This would disrupt the Ukrainian supply lines east of the river. The area was liberated in autumn 2022 as part of a Ukrainian counteroffensive after a good five months of occupation.

There are also signs of a counteroffensive by Moscow in the Kursk region of western Russia, which is occupied by Ukrainians. According to Western and Ukrainian military experts, Russia has already assembled almost 50,000 soldiers, including over 10,000 North Korean fighters. The troops are intended to force the Ukrainians out of the country, who were able to establish themselves there in a surprise counter-offensive in the summer. However, the Russian military has reportedly suffered heavy losses in previous attacks on Ukrainian positions.