Russian forces carried out massive strikes across Ukraine on Thursday, including on the Kharkiv and Odessa regions, and explosions were heard in kyiv, local authorities said. The attack left at least nine people dead. Ukrainian air defense said it had shot down "34 missiles" out of 81 as well as 4 out of 8 Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones, General Valery Zaluzhny said on Telegram.
Since October and after several military setbacks on the ground, Russia has been bombarding key energy facilities in Ukraine with missiles and drones, each time plunging millions of people into darkness and cold in the freezing winter.
The massive Russian missile and drone strikes, which killed at least nine people Thursday in Ukraine, are "brutal" and "unwarranted", denounced the White House. It is "overwhelming to see these brutal, unwarranted attacks on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine," Olivia Dalton, a spokeswoman for the executive, told reporters. The attacks left part of the population without power, as well as, temporarily, the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia.
A Russian strike killed at least four civilians - two men and two women - in Ukraine's western Lviv region early Thursday morning, the regional governor said. A missile fell on a residential area in Zolochiv district, destroying three houses, Governor Maksym Kozytsky said on Telegram. "Debris is being cleared, other people may be underneath," he added.
Three people died in a Russian bombardment on the city of Kherson (South) Thursday morning, said the head of the presidential administration Andriï Yermak on Telegram. "Russian terrorists shelled Kherson again this morning, including hitting a public transport stop," Andriy Iermak said.
In the east of the country, "the enemy carried out about 15 strikes on the city and the region. Occupiers are once again targeting essential facilities,” regional governor Oleg Synegubov said on social media. “According to initial information, a residential building was hit,” he added. Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said the city's "energy infrastructure", the main one in the region, had been targeted and there were "problems" with electricity in some neighborhoods.
In the south of the country, Governor Maksym Marchneko reported that "missiles hit regional energy infrastructure and damaged residential buildings", speaking of a "massive missile strike". The attack caused no fatalities, according to the governor, but "electricity supply restrictions" were put in place. Two people were injured, however, according to a spokesman for local rescuers.
Explosions also sounded in the capital on Thursday morning, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported. “Explosions in the Holosiivskyi district of the capital. All services go there,” Vitali Klitschko said on social media, referring to a neighborhood in the south of the city.
⚡️Explosions heard in Kyiv. A loud explosion was heard in Kyiv, as reported by a Kyiv Independent journalist. Earlier, the Kyiv Oblast military administration reported that the oblast's air defenses had been operating.
In the west of the capital, at least two people were injured, the mayor said. "Another explosion in the capital. Sviatochyne district. Help is on the spot. Cars are on fire in the courtyard of a residential building,” Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, adding that two people in that neighborhood were injured and hospitalized.
"Emergency power cuts do not provide heating for 40% of Kyiv's consumers," the administration also said on Telegram.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, occupied by the Russian army in southern Ukraine, was cut off from the Ukrainian electricity grid after a Russian strike, the Ukrainian nuclear operator said on Thursday, warning of the risk of an accident. . "The last line of communication between the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the Ukrainian power grid has been cut due to Russian rocket attacks," Energatom said in a statement, adding that emergency diesel generators had been activated to ensure the minimum power supply of the plant.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denounced Russian "miserable tactics" after the wave of massive strikes on his country. “The enemy launched 81 missiles trying again to intimidate the Ukrainians, again using their miserable tactics,” the president said on Telegram.
Russia announced on Thursday that it had carried out "massive" strikes in Ukraine "in retaliation" for a recent incursion into its territory that it blamed on Kiev "saboteurs". "In response to the Kyiv regime's terrorist acts in the (Russian) region of Bryansk on March 2, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out massive retaliatory strikes," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. , claiming that "Kinjal" ("dagger" in Russian) hypersonic missiles had notably been used.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday described negotiations as "complicated" to extend an agreement that has allowed Ukrainian grain exports to resume despite Moscow's offensive in Ukraine. Stating that the terms of the pact intended to benefit Russia were "not at all" implemented, Sergey Lavrov said that "if the agreement is implemented halfway, then the question of its extension becomes rather complicated". This grain agreement, vital for the world's food supply, expires on March 18.
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