Ukraine: Intensive Russian strikes sound alarm bells across the country
Air raid sirens are once again resounding throughout Ukraine. A sound that, unfortunately, citizens are used to hearing. Russia launched an unprecedented attack on Ukrainian territory this morning. More than a hundred missiles have hit several cities in the country, including the capital Kiev, according to a presidential aide. The mayor of the capital, Vitali Klitschko, quickly reported the situation, confirming that three people were wounded, including a 14-year-old girl. He said they were well and were being hospitalised. These attacks caused power cuts in the Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, with the aim of spreading the damage to the energy infrastructure.
The shelling came after the Kremlin rejected Ukraine's peace plan and insisted that Kiev accept Russia's annexation of four regions. Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Ukraine says daily shelling is destroying villages, towns and national infrastructure, from electricity to medical care. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff to Russian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russian gunfire hit the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of a hospital in the town of Kherson on Wednesday, but no one was injured. Tymoshenko said in a Telegram post that staff and patients have been moved to shelters.
"When we got to the basement, the shooting had not stopped. Not for a minute." The recently liberated Ukrainian town of Kherson is under constant fire from Russian troops who withdrew to the east bank of the river after Ukraine retook the town in a major Ukrainian victory last month. In his annual speech, held behind closed doors because of Russia's war, Zelensky said Ukraine's military resistance to the Kremlin had revived faith in world values. "Thanks to our unity, we achieved what almost nobody in the world believed in. Almost no one more than us," he told lawmakers, his cabinet, other senior officials and top military commanders.
"Our national colours have now become an international symbol of courage and indomitability around the world," he said in his 45-minute speech, at times applauding. The closing speech focused mainly on the war, now in its 11th month, but he also used it to outline ideas such as decentralising the energy system and going green to rebuild a strong and prosperous nation. Zelensky thanked Western partners for arms supplies and also said Ukraine would create a strong national defence industry "that will become one of the strongest defence industries in Europe and the world".
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February. Kiev and its Western allies have condemned Russia's actions as an imperialist land grab. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a "special military operation" aimed at demilitarising its neighbour. Russia has been hit with sweeping sanctions for a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, reduced cities to rubble and devastated the global economy by driving up energy and food prices. Talks to end the war remain off the table. Zelensky is pushing hard for a 10-point peace plan that calls on Russia to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and withdraw all its troops.
But Moscow rejected this on Wednesday and reiterated that Kiev must accept Russia's annexation of four regions - Luhansk and Donetsk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said there can be no peace plan "that does not take into account the current reality in the Russian territories, with four regions entering Russia". Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Zelensky's idea of expelling Russia from eastern Ukraine and Crimea with the help of the West and making Moscow pay for Kiev's losses is a "fantasy", RIA reports.
According to Russia's TASS news agency quoting Sergey Lavrov, Russia will continue to improve its technological and combat capabilities in Ukraine. He said the troops mobilised from Moscow had received "rigorous training" and, while many were now on the ground, most were not yet on the front line. Zelensky told parliament there was solidarity and praised Ukrainians for helping the West "rediscover itself". "Our national colours are now an international symbol of courage and perseverance around the world," he said in his annual closed-door speech.
