Russia launched on Thursday massive bombardments against Ukraine, the most important for weeks, that left a dozen dead and caused power cuts in various regions.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that it fired hypersonic missiles during these bombardments, carried out “in retaliation” for a recent incursion on its territory on March 2, which it attributed to Ukrainian “saboteurs”.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Russian “miserable tactics”after these bombings that reached 10 of the 27 regions of the country, including kyiv, and affected energy infrastructure.
air defense shot down 34 of the 81 missiles launched by Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian army.
Since October, after various military setbacks on the ground, Russia hits key Ukrainian facilities, cutting off water and electricity services for millions of people, who were left without heat in the freezing winter. In recent weeks, these attacks had been less important.
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Every time we play with fire and if we allow
let this situation continue, one day our luck will change
But this Thursday morning, the Ukrainian authorities reported attacks in 10 regionsin the east, south and west.
In the Lviv region (west), a shot from “missile” in a residential neighborhood killed at least five people, according to the regional governor.
Three people died in the city of Kherson (south) in shelling that hit a public transport station, said the head of the presidential administration, Andriy Yermak.
The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region (central-east) indicated that a 34-year-old man had died, and that a woman and a young man had been injured. In Kharkov (east), the entire city was left without electricity, water or heatingAccording to its mayor.
Nuclear accident risk
The huge Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, Russian-occupied southern Ukraine also lost power in an attack on Thursday and was running on emergency generators, Ukrainian operator Energoatom said.
“Every time we play with fire and if we allow this situation to continue, one day our luck will change,” warned the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.
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Energoatom said the Russian missiles cut the last line of communication between the plant and the Ukrainian grid and warned of the risk of accident in the plant “if it is not possible to recover the external power supply”.
The Russian occupation administration confirmed the start-up of the emergency diesel generators, but attributed it to a “short circuit” on another line. The supplies were also affected in Kharkivwhich was completely left without electricity, water or heating, indicated its mayor.
In kyiv, the military administration claimed that a 40% of the inhabitants of the capital were left without heating. In addition, both in some districts of the capital and in Odesa (south), there were preventive power outages.
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Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the south and west of the city, which left at least three injured.
On Prospekt Peremogi, in the west, three cars parked near a building they were charred, confirmed an AFP correspondent. “There was a very loud explosion,” said Igor Yezhov, 60, who evacuated the building with his wife. “When this happens nearby, in your house, you are really afraid.”
AFP
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