Ukraine said several people were killed in a town south of the capital Kyiv in an overnight drone attack by Russian forces, as Moscow accused its neighbor of using unmanned sea and air drones to target its navy based in the occupied Crimea peninsula.
The latest Russian airstrikes targeting energy infrastructure came hours after Chinese leader Xi Jinping wrapped up a visit to Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed a Chinese peace plan that largely supports Moscow’s position and is viewed as a non-starter by Ukraine and its western allies.
“Every time someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow, another order is given for such a criminal attack,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter on Wednesday, adding that the country had been hit by 20 Iranian-made drones, missiles and missiles. shelling.
Zelenskyy said late Tuesday that he had “no confirmation yet” that he would hold a call with Xi.
The Ukrainian air force said that “Russian invaders attacked Ukraine with Iranian-made ‘kamikaze’ drones of the Shahed-136/131 type”, adding that 16 were intercepted by air defenses.
The emergency situation ministry posted a photo of a hostel in Rzhyshchiv in the Kyiv region that it said was hit by a Russian drone. Officials said at least four people were confirmed dead in the attack.
Explosions were reported in other cities including Zhytomyr, west of the capital, and frontline towns in the east and south of the country where Russian forces still control less than 20 percent of the national territory since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion 13 months ago. A monastery in the Black Sea port city of Odesa was also struck, officials said.
The southern industrial city of Zaporizhzhia was hit by repeated attacks on Wednesday. Zelenskyy posted a video of an attack on a residential building in the provincial capital.
Zaporizhzhya. Now, residential areas where ordinary people and children live are fired.
It should not be “just another day” in 🇺🇦 or anywhere else in the world. The world needs greater unity and determination to defeat Russian terror more quickly and protect lives. pic.twitter.com/YnocW2yVaU– Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) March 22, 2023
Mikhail Razvozhaev, Moscow’s top official at the Crimean port of Sevastopol, said in a Telegram post that Russian forces had “destroyed” three naval drones. “Anti-aircraft defenses against air targets also work. The warships are not damaged,” he added.
The attack on Sevastopol, home of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, came a day after Russian officials accused Ukraine of a drone attack on Dzhankoi, a railway hub city in northern Crimea.
Referring to the reported incident, Ukrainian military intelligence said on Tuesday that an “explosion” damaged a Kalibr cruise missile being transported to the Black Sea fleet. But it did not stop taking responsibility for the attack, sticking to Kyiv’s policy of not recognizing the act of attack on the territory of the Russian Federation as well as the occupied peninsula.
Neutralizing Russia’s use of the Black Sea peninsula as a southern military base and staging area for attacks is key to Ukraine’s chances of liberating the southeastern region, according to military analysts.
Zelenskyy has pledged to liberate all Ukrainian lands including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 before waging a proxy separatist war in the eastern Donbas region, and has called on allies to increase arms supplies to bolster another counter-offensive.
“The success of the Ukrainian forces . . . brings peace closer. Full compliance with the sanctions regime against Russia really restores the strength of the UN Charter. Global unity can restore global stability,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.