KIEV/BAHMUT, Ukraine (Reuters) – Russia fired more than 100 missiles on Thursday morning, prompting air raid sirens across Ukraine and in several cities, including the capital Kyiv, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said. I heard an explosion. large-scale air raids. In several waves he was fired with more than 100 missiles, ”Olexiy Arrestovich, an adviser to the presidential office, wrote on his Facebook, while the head of the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine also said that Russian missiles flew into the air. reported that it was
Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Odessa, according to Reuters correspondents and local media reports.
A blackout was announced in the Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk regions with the aim of minimizing potential damage to energy infrastructure.
The blitz was intensified after the Kremlin rejected Ukraine’s peace proposal and Kyiv’s insistence on accepting Russia’s annexation of four regions.
Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Ukraine says daily bombings are destroying cities, towns and the country’s infrastructure, from electricity to medical care.
Russian artillery hit the maternity wing of the Kherson city hospital on Wednesday, but no one was injured, said Kirilo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Staff and patients have been transferred to shelters, Tymoshenko said in a Telegram post.
“It was terrifying…explosions suddenly started and the window handles started tearing…oh my hands are still shaking.” “
The recently liberated southern Ukraine city of Kherson continues to come under constant shelling from Russian forces retreating to the east bank of the river when the city was retaken in last month’s major Ukraine victory.
In a video speech, Zelensky urged Ukrainians to hug their loved ones, thank their friends, support their colleagues, thank their parents and celebrate more with their children.
“We’ve endured terrible months, but we haven’t lost our humanity.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. Kyiv and its Western allies condemn Russia’s actions as imperialist land grabbing. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called it a “special military operation” to demilitarize his neighbor.
Full sanctions were imposed on Russia for the war. This war killed tens of thousands of people, forced millions from their homes, devastated cities, shook the global economy, and pushed up energy and food prices.
Gazprom data and Reuters calculations show Russia’s gas exports to Europe via pipelines have slumped as its largest customer cuts imports due to the Ukraine conflict and a major pipeline was damaged by a mysterious blast. By 2022, it will have fallen to its lowest post-Soviet level.
“Today’s Reality”
There is still no prospect of negotiations to end the war.
Zelensky vigorously pursues a 10-point peace plan that expects Russia to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and withdraw all its troops.
But Moscow dismissed it on Wednesday, reiterating that Kyiv must accept Russia’s annexation of four regions: Luhansk and Donetsk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhia in the south.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there could be no peace plan “that does not take into account today’s realities regarding Russian territory, such as the entry of four regions into Russia.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the idea that President Zelensky would push Russia out of eastern Ukraine and Crimea with the help of Western powers and force Russia to pay damages to Kyiv was a “fantasy.”
TASS quoted Lavrov as saying that Russia will continue to build combat and technical capabilities in Ukraine. He said Moscow’s mobilized troops were undergoing “serious training” and many were now on the ground, but most were not yet on the front lines.
Mr Zelensky spoke to parliament to maintain unity and praised Ukrainians for helping the West “get back to itself”.
“The colors of our nation today are an international symbol of courage and fortitude for the whole world,” he said in his annual speech, which was held behind closed doors.
Kherson attack
On the battlefield, Russia shelled more than 25 settlements around Kherson and Zaporizhia, the Ukrainian Army General Staff said Wednesday. The Kherson region, at the mouth of the Dnipro River, serves as the gateway to Russia’s annexed Crimea.
Heavy fighting continued around the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region and the northern cities of Svatove and Kreminna in the Luhansk region, where Ukrainian forces are trying to break the Russian defense line.
The UK Ministry of Defense said Russia has likely reinforced the front-line Kreminna district. This is because it is logistically important and relatively vulnerable after Ukraine advances further west.
Kyiv-based military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said the Kharkiv city and region were also hit hard, damaging the region’s gas pipeline.
Kharkiv’s mayor Ikhor Terekhov said in a Telegram post that the city “probably” was attacked twice by Iranian Shahed drones, five of which were fired by the Ukrainian Eastern Air Force Command over the city of Dnipro. The shot down was reported separately.
Reuters was unable to confirm the battlefield report.
Reported by a Reuters bureau. By Himani Sarkar.Edited by Simon Cameron Moore and Michael Perry
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