Air raid sirens went off across much of Ukraine on Friday as Russian forces struck critical infrastructure in Kharkiv and launched multiple strikes on energy infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia. Several explosions were also heard in Kyiv. Moscow has stepped up attacks in Ukraine’s south and east in the past few days.
Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Anatolii Kurtiev said the city had been hit 17 times in one hour, making it the most destructive and intense period of attacks since the invasion started in February last year.
The mayor of Kharkiv confirmed that an infrastructure facility in the area had been hit and warned of possible power outages as a result.
Ukraine had been anticipating a fresh offensive by Russia as the war approaches its one-year mark and now believes it has already begun. The eastern region of the country is witnessing fierce fighting and officials in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions say that escalation by Russian troops in their areas has already started.
Kyiv has been saying that Russia plans to strike heavily so that it can tout some achievements on the one-year anniversary of the war on February 24.
Asked on Ukrainian television if he agreed that the Russian offensive escalation had already begun, Pavlo Krylenko, governor of the eastern Donetsk region, said on Thursday: “Yes, definitely.”
“Around eastern towns like Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Vuhledar, the enemy’s forces and means are escalating there with daily intensity. They are trying to…seize these areas and key cities…to score new successes,” he added.
Leader of the Luhansk region also said that the offensive has started, although without “much success”.
“We can conclude that a certain escalation has already begun. And we can say de facto that this is part of the full-scale offensive that Russia has been planning,” Serhiy Hayday, head of Luhansk region military administration, said in a television interview posted on his Telegram channel.
“Over the past week to 10 days, the frequency of shelling has increased. The daily number of attacks has increased,” he said.
He added that there was a major new Russian assault around Russian-occupied city of Kreminna in northeast Ukraine. However, Hayday said that Moscow has had little success.
“There our soldiers constantly repulsed a large number of attacks by the occupation troops,” Hayday said. “They have not had much success. There is no breakthrough. The situation is difficult, but is still controlled by our defense forces.”
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Brussels on Thursday, said that several European leaders were ready to supply the country with military aircraft. He had attended an EU summit there and said that several European Union leaders told him at that they were ready to equip Ukraine with fighter jets. He is due to return to Kyiv on Friday.
Zelensky’s surprise European tour began on Wednesday with a meeting with Britain Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London and dinner in Paris with France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz.
(With inputs from agencies)
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