Massive Russian missile and drone strikes, the largest in weeks, have left at least six people dead.
A flood of fire. Massive Russian missile and drone strikes in Ukraine, the largest in weeks, killed at least six people on Thursday, March 9, and deprived part of the population of power, as well as, temporarily, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant . Russia called the strikes “reprisals” to an incursion into its territory on 2 March “saboteurs” Ukrainians. Franceinfo looks back on the key events of the day on the war front in Ukraine.
Missile and drone strikes kill at least six
In the Lviv region (west), a shooting in a residential area killed at least five people, the governor reported, while that of the Dnipro region (center-east) announced that a 34-year-old man had been killed.
The strikes cut off electricity, water and heating in Kharkiv, a large city in the northeast, and deprived 40% of users of heating in kyiv, according to the respective authorities. In kyiv, explosions affected southern and western districts, according to the mayor. Three people were injured, police said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Thursday evening, in his daily message on the internet, “a new attempt by the terrorist state to fight civilization, which has temporarily cut off power, heating and water in some of our regions and cities”.
According to the Ukrainian army, the anti-aircraft defense shot down 34 of the 81 missiles launched by Moscow, and four Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones. None of the six Kinjal missiles used by the Russians for this attack could be shot down, according to kyiv.
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant temporarily without electricity
The gigantic Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, occupied by the Russian army in southern Ukraine, was also briefly cut off from the Ukrainian electricity network, said the Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom.
Emergency diesel generators were switched on to ensure a minimum supply of security systems, according to Energoatom, which had warned of the risk of a nuclear accident. In the afternoon, the electricity operator Ukrenergo announced that it had “Restore the power supply to the plant”.
“We play with fire”, warned from Vienna the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi. “This is a serious violation of nuclear security, caused by Russia”added the High Representative of the European Union Josep Borell.
Russia calls strikes ‘retaliation’
Moscow called the strikes, which it carried out with the help of new hypersonic Kinjal missiles, among other things, “reprisals” to an incursion into its territory on 2 March “saboteurs” Ukrainians.
Russia has regularly bombed Ukrainian energy facilities, plunging millions into darkness and cold, but such attacks had become less frequent of late.
The battle for Bakhmout continues to rage
Moreover, in eastern Ukraine, the battle for the symbolic city of Bakhmout continues to rage. After announcing the day before the capture of the eastern part of the city, the boss of the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner, Evgeny Prigojine, said Thursday that his fighters had conquered the small village of Doubovo-Vassylivka, north of Bakhmout.
Bakhmout could fall “in the next few days”NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Wednesday.
An attack project attributed to kyiv in Transdniestria
In Moldova, pro-Russian separatists in Transdniestria claimed that Ukraine had wanted to carry out an attack in the center of their capital, Tiraspol, to “eliminate” their leaders and make “a large number of victims”. “I have already ordered the Minister of Foreign Affairs to prepare statements to all members of the UN Security Council. (…) We will call (them) to examine this situation and ensure our safety”declared in Russian the leader of the separatists, Vadim Krasnoselskiï, in a televised address.
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said “not having confirmation” of these allegations, and the Ukrainian security services (SBU) denounced a “provocation orchestrated by the Kremlin”. Moldova and the West regularly accuse Moscow of using Transdniestria to further destabilize neighboring Ukraine.
A meeting Monday in Geneva between Russia and the UN on the grain agreement
Russia announced Monday a meeting in Geneva with the UN on the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports. Earlier, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, had called “complicated” negotiations aimed at extending the agreement which had enabled the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports, despite Moscow’s offensive.
“The Black Sea Grain Initiative”, the official name of the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports from Ukrainian ports, stems from a pact sealed on July 22 that helped alleviate the global food crisis caused by the Russian attack on Ukraine. Vital for the global food supply, it was renewed in mid-November for the four winter months and expires on March 18.