what we know about the massive Russian strikes carried out during the night from Thursday to Friday

Moscow claims to have carried out this nighttime operation “in response” to Ukrainian attacks against its territory.

This is one of the most significant attacks in recent months. On the night of Thursday March 21 to Friday March 22, Russian forces launched several dozen missiles and drones into Ukrainian territory, announced Volodymyr Zelensky. At least five people died and several energy infrastructures were hit and Kharkiv, the country’s second city, was completely without electricity on Friday.

Russia claimed this “massive strike” on Ukraine, “in response” to those targeting its border regions, notably Belgorod. Here’s what we know about it.

Around 90 missiles and 60 explosive drones used

“There have been more than 60 Shahed [un type de drone explosif] and almost 90 missiles of different types” targeted Ukraine, listed Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram, presenting his “condolences to the families of those killed by this terror”without initially specifying the results of these strikes. According to the Ukrainian president, the attacks targeted “power plants, high voltage lines, a hydroelectric dam, residences and even a trolleybus”. “Russia is at war against people’s daily lives”denounced Volodymyr Zelensky again.

In the same message, the head of state mentions damage in Kharkiv and its region, but also in the regions of Zaporizhia, Sumy (north), Poltava and Dnipro (center), Odessa (south), Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia and Frankivsk (west).

The Ukrainian Air Force claims, again on Telegram, that its anti-aircraft defense was able to shoot down 55 Shaheds out of 63 and 37 missiles out of 88.

At least five dead

At least five people were killed in these attacks, Ukrainian authorities announced. Three people died in the Zaporizhia region and two in the western Khmelnytsky region. Early Friday morning, kyiv also reported several injured and missing.

Power cuts in several regions

The Minister of Energy ruled on Friday that the nighttime bombardment of the country was “the biggest attack on the Ukrainian energy industry in recent times”. The operation affected numerous infrastructures and caused power cuts.

Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, is without electricity and heating after Russian bombings “severely damaged” energy infrastructure, the mayor of this Russian border city assured on Telegram. According to Igor Terekhov, running water reaches the inhabitants of this city of around 1.5 million inhabitants before the war, but the “pressure is minimal”.

Other regions are also experiencing cuts or rationing. In Odessa (southwest), 26,000 subscribers are without power. In Khmelnytsky (west), up to 200,000 people suffered power cuts, but electricity was restored to most of them at midday on Friday.

The Zaporizhia region (south) was also hit. However, authorities did not say how many residents were in the dark. Ukraine’s largest hydroelectric power station, on the Dnieper River, was hit by eight Russian missiles which inflicted “very significant damage” without causing immediate danger for the population, specifies the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office. The dam, damaged, is not likely to break, according to the same source.

One of the two power lines supplying the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Moscow, was also cut by bombing, according to the Ukrainian Minister of Energy. “This situation is extremely dangerous and threatens to trigger an emergency situation, because in the event of a disconnection of this last line of communication with the national electricity grid, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will be on the verge of a new blackout -out”warned Energoatom, the Ukrainian operator.

Paris and Washington condemn the strikes

France condemned “with the greatest firmness” Russian strikes in Ukraine, deploring that they were aimed “many civilian objectives”. These strikes “constitute a new violation of international law by Russia, which relentlessly pursues its strategy of intimidation against Ukraine and its supporters, with disregard for the lives of Ukrainian civilians”reacted the deputy spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The White House also condemned the series of Russian strikes, urging Congressional Republicans to lift the blockage of American military aid to kyiv. “It is essential that we provide Ukraine with additional air defense interception systems to enable them to defend against these attacks as quickly as possible. Lives are at stake, and any further delay is unforgivable.”declared the spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House.