Massive Russian missile and drone strikes in Ukraine, the largest in weeks, killed at least six people on Thursday March 9 and deprived part of the population of power, as well as, temporarily, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
Russia called the strikes, which it carried out using new hypersonic Kinjal missiles, “retaliation” for an incursion into its territory on March 2 by Ukrainian “saboteurs”. A few hours after the missile strikes, the Ukrainian electricity operator Ukrenergo announced the restoration of power to this occupied plant, ruling out the risk of a nuclear incident.
Russian strikes: “A new attempt to fight civilization”, according to Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Thursday evening, in his daily message on the Internet, “a new attempt by the terrorist state to fight civilization, which temporarily cut off power, heating and water in some of our regions and of our cities. “Russian missiles killed six Ukrainians today,” he added.
According to the Ukrainian army, the anti-aircraft defense shot down 34 of the 81 missiles launched by Moscow, and four Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones. None of the six Kinjal missiles used by the Russians for this attack could be shot down, according to kyiv. Russia has regularly bombed Ukrainian energy facilities, plunging millions into darkness and cold, but such attacks had become less frequent of late.
The “brutal” and “unjustified” Russian strikes, says the White House
The massive Russian missile and drone strikes, which killed at least six people Thursday in Ukraine, are “brutal” and “unjustified”, denounced Thursday the White House. It is “overwhelming to see these brutal, unjustified attacks on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine,” Olivia Dalton, a spokeswoman for the executive, told reporters.
Moldova: pro-Russian separatists call on the UN to investigate a planned attack
Authorities in Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova, have called on the UN to investigate a plot to attack several senior officials, which they said they foiled earlier Thursday and blame on Kiev, which denies .
“I have already instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to prepare statements to all members of the UN Security Council. […] We (them) will call to examine this situation and ensure our safety,” separatist leader Vadim Krasnosselsky said in Russian in a televised address.
This intervention came a few hours after the separatist authorities in Transnistria claimed to have foiled an attack, fomented according to them by the Ukrainian security services (SBU). The SBU immediately denounced these allegations as being a “provocation orchestrated by the Kremlin”, while Moscow had already affirmed at the end of February that Kiev was carrying out “preparations” with a view to attacking Transnistria, a self-proclaimed pro-Russian border state. ‘Ukraine.
Lithuania believes that Moscow has the means to continue the war for two years
Lithuanian military intelligence estimates that Russia has enough resources to continue its offensive in Ukraine at the current rate for two years. “Russia accumulated weapons and equipment during the long years of the Cold War,” Lithuania’s military intelligence chief Elegijus Paulavicius told reporters.
“We estimate that its resources allow it to continue the war with the same intensity as today for two years,” he added, provided that no foreign country provides military aid to Moscow.
Elegijus Paulavicius was speaking alongside his civilian intelligence counterpart during the presentation of their annual report. This report suggests that in Russia support for the war in Ukraine “is not as great as the regime’s propaganda tries to make it out to be”. “Dissatisfaction with the regime’s policy currently takes a passive form: mostly mobilization is avoided, complaints are made about poor supplies and disarray within the army,” the document said.