Russia launches fresh wave of strikes on civilian areas across Ukraine | Ukraine

Russia has launched a new wave of missile and drone strikes on civilian areas across Ukraine, killing at least five people, as Moscow appears to be stepping up a spring offensive aimed at crushing Ukrainian resistance on the front lines.

Moscow fired nearly 400 long-range drones and 23 cruise missiles overnight, Ukraine’s air force said, in one of the biggest attacks in weeks after a relative lull.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the dam caused damage in 11 regions and repeated his call for allies to urgently provide Kiev with more air defense ammunition. He has repeatedly said that Ukraine, which relies on the United States for systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, faces looming shortages as Washington focuses attention on the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.

Neighboring Moldova also said a key power line connecting it to Europe was damaged in Russian night attacks and called on citizens to reduce their electricity use during peak hours.

After a winter with widespread power and heating outages, Ukraine is preparing for a new Russian attack. Moscow’s war of attrition usually intensifies as weather conditions improve in the spring. Russian forces, which outnumber Ukrainian troops by roughly three to one, are trying to make gains on the eastern and southern fronts.

Russian troops continued to advance slowly in the eastern Donetsk region throughout the winter, approaching the key city of Slovyansk from the north and east. They hold positions about 12 miles (20 km) from the outskirts. Open source analysts also report gains near Zaliznychne in Russia’s Zaporizhzhia region.

The Kremlin is moving heavy equipment and additional troops to the front line, the Institute for the Study of War said in a statement late Monday.

Michael Kofman, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, D.C., said: “There is usually a wave of Russian mechanized attacks around April, which once again prove costly and ineffective.”

He said Ukraine’s defenses were “optimized to defeat mechanized attacks” and that most fighting was now focused on suppressing or displacing opposing drone units.

Ukraine has also made significant progress on the battlefield this year, recapturing about 150 square miles of southern Zaporozhye where Russian forces had previously advanced. According to military analysts, February was the first month since 2023 in which Kiev gained more territory than it lost.

The counterattack was aided by Elon Musk’s decision in February to shut down Russian forces’ access to Starlink internet connections, disrupting a key communication line for soldiers.

But Ukraine is still in an unstable situation; Much of the world’s attention is focused on the war in the Middle East, raising concerns that the US could run out of Patriot missile interceptors, the backbone of the nation’s air defenses.

Ukrainian and US delegations held two days of talks in Florida over the weekend to find a way to end Russia’s large-scale occupation, but no progress was reported. The Donbas region, where Moscow wants Kiev’s complete surrender, remains a major sticking point.

Zelenskyy wrote on

“The geopolitical situation has become even more complicated due to the war against Iran, and unfortunately this is emboldening Russia.”

Well-sourced outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported He said that the United States pressured Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the Donetsk region during the Florida talks and that Washington could withdraw from the peace talks and shift its attention to the military operation in Iran.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly said that any discussion of a voluntary withdrawal would only be possible if Ukraine first received strict security guarantees from the West.

Taking advantage of the unexpected economic downturn caused by the rise in global energy prices, the Kremlin said last week that talks between Washington, Moscow and Kiev on ending the war in Ukraine were on a “situational pause” due to the conflict in Iran.