A week after the heavy rocket attacks against Ukraine, Russia has again overrun the neighboring country with airstrikes. In the evening, an air alarm was triggered in the capital Kyiv for the fourth time this Monday. According to the authorities, air defenses were deployed around the city of over a million inhabitants to intercept incoming drones from the Russian armed forces. A downing of such a drone was reported from the town of Brovary on the eastern outskirts of the city.
In the evening there was an air raid over the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Odessa. Explosions were heard in Odessa. According to the authorities, an object of the energy supply was hit in the central Ukrainian region of Dnepropetrovsk on the day. “A fire broke out, the damage is extensive,” wrote Governor Mykola Lukaschuk on Telegram.
Selenskyj speaks of terrorism
Four people were killed in drone attacks on Kyiv in the morning rush hour, and many were injured. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of state terrorism. His government called for the early delivery of Western air defense systems and a new package of sanctions against Russia. The attacks sparked international outrage.
The hissing just before the detonation sounded a little different this time in Kyiv than last time: more of a whirring than a roar. Last week, Russia fired missiles at the Ukrainian capital – this time, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, they were combat drones. A total of five impacts shook the metropolis in the course of the morning. An explosion tore a large hole in a multi-story apartment building not far from the main train station. Stones flew through the air, thick smoke rose.
According to official information, a total of four people were killed in the building, including a pregnant woman. Selenskyj and Klitschko called on people to continue to stand together in the difficult times. “The enemy can attack our cities, but he will not break us,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram news channel.
Other Ukrainian regions also reported heavy shelling – some with drones, some with rockets. According to the presidential office, at least seven people were killed nationwide. For several hours there was an air alert across the country, once in the morning and then again in the afternoon.
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant again without power
The Odessa, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions were also affected by the morning strikes. Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that it was once again targeting the neighboring country’s energy infrastructure. The power went out in hundreds of Ukrainian towns. People across the country were asked not to use any electronic devices, especially in the evening hours, so that there would be no major bottlenecks. The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russia, was again cut off from the external power supply.
In response to an explosion at the Crimean bridge, which is strategically important for Russia to the annexed Black Sea peninsula, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had large parts of Ukraine shelled a week ago. Photos are now being shared on social networks that are said to show debris from Iranian kamikaze drones, with which Moscow, according to information from Kyiv, is increasingly attacking.
Against this background, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, demanded: “We need more systems for air defense and as soon as possible.” It is no time to act slowly. In the south of the country, Ukraine is already using the Iris-T air defense system that Germany delivered a few days ago. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reported while the alarm was still being raised from an air raid shelter – and also insisted on further help.
Russia has repeatedly warned the West against the delivery of heavy weapons and already sees the USA as a war party. In Moscow, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russia had once again destroyed US weapons. These missiles were launched from the sea and from the air and were aimed at the country’s energy infrastructure and military objects. “All targeted objects were hit,” he claimed.
The air force of the attacked country, on the other hand, announced that the majority of the more than 40 drones alone were intercepted between the early hours of the morning and midday. The president’s office said the attacks showed Russia’s desperation in the war that has been going on for almost eight months. Because there are no successes on the battlefield, Russia cowardly strikes with rockets.
Remarkable boldness
After the new attacks, many Ukrainians again showed remarkable courage and determination to resist. In Kyiv, just minutes after the air alert ended, people flocked to the streets again, walking dogs and drinking coffee in the sunshine.
The pictures, especially of the damaged house, shook many of the capital’s residents. Even hours after the shelling, rescue workers were looking for buried residents, and calls for help are said to have continued to be heard under the rubble. By the afternoon, 19 people had been rescued. “As far as I know, there were 16 families in this house,” Mayor Klitschko said. “It is completely destroyed and cannot be restored.”
A crater from last week’s attacks, which was only a few hundred meters away at a crossroads, has already been concreted over again. On a playground, children not only romped on climbing frames, but also in a meter-deep impact hole.
An elderly man named Viktor, who rents several apartments in central Kyiv, said he was no longer afraid of Russian missiles. “We’ve become fatalists here over the past few months. The probability of a rocket hitting your house of all places is small. And if it does happen, then it’s a coincidence.”
