Ukraine accused Russia of destroying buildings in the southeast and knocking out power in many areas with new missiles on Monday, while Moscow said Ukrainian drones had attacked two airstrips inside Russia hundreds of kilometers from the frontline.
The explosion of new missiles had been expected in Ukraine for several days, and it happened just as the emergency shutdown was supposed to end, with early damage. The strike plunged parts of Ukraine into a deep freeze, with temperatures now dropping below zero Celsius (32 Fahrenheit).
At least four people have been killed in Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that about 70 missiles were fired. Power crews had already begun restoring power, he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian drones attacked two airfields in Ryazan and Saratov in south-central Russia, killing three crew members and injuring four.
Ukraine has not directly claimed responsibility for the attacks. Had it been behind them, it would have been the deepest threat inside Russia since Moscow annexed Ukraine on February 24.
One of its targets, Engels airfield near the city of Saratov, about 730km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, houses bombers for the Russian military.
“The government of Kyiv, in order to stop Russian long-range aircraft, attempted to strike with Soviet-made fighter jets at the airfields of Diagilevo, Ryazan region, and Engels, Saratov region,” Russian defense. the ministry said.
It said that the drones, flying at low altitude, were intercepted by the air defense and shot down. The death was reported in Ryazan, 185km (115 miles) southeast of Moscow.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the plane was hit by a “terrorist attack” aimed at disrupting its long-range navigation.
Despite this, the ministry said, Russia responded with “massive strikes on military defense and similar defense equipment, communication centers, forces and forces of Ukraine with the most advanced air and sea weapons” and said that all 17 targets were achieved.
Tracking electronic devices
Ukraine’s military said it shot down more than 60 of the more than 70 rockets fired by Russia on Monday – the latest in weeks of attacks targeting infrastructure that cut off power, heat and water to much of the country.
“Our guys are amazing,” Andrii Yermak, Ukraine’s chief of staff, wrote on Telegram.
Kyiv’s military has also demonstrated a greater ability to strike Russian targets more than 1,100km (684 miles) away from the front line in southern and eastern Ukraine.
Saratov is 600km (373 miles) from the nearest part of Ukraine. Russian commentators have said on social media that if Ukraine can strike hard inside Russia, it can also strike Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin drove a Mercedes across the bridge that connects southern Russia to Crimea on Monday, less than two months after the building was hit again by an explosion.
Kyiv did not claim responsibility for the explosion, only that it was “karma” for the Russian attack.
“If something is introduced into the airspace of other countries, soon the unidentified flying objects will return [their] departure,” the adviser to the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak wrote, tongue in cheek, on Monday.
Meanwhile, Moscow has been hitting Ukrainian forces almost every week since early October when it was forced to return to other hostilities.
This time, it is said that the Moldovan police found pieces of missiles on the country’s soil near the border with Ukraine.
In the Zaporizhia region, at least two people were killed and several buildings were damaged, the deputy of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said.
Missiles also hit power lines in Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions in central Ukraine, Odesa in the south and Sumy in the north, officials said.
Forty percent of the Kyiv region was without electricity, regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said, praising the work of Ukraine’s aviation security.
Ukraine had just returned to a blackout since Monday in place of the emergency blackout that has been in place since Russia’s November 23 terrorist attack, the worst power outage since early October.
Russia has said that the barrage has been made in order to humiliate the Ukrainian army. Ukraine says it is targeting civilians and, as such, constitutes a war crime.
