Russia fired strategic bombers, killer drones and rockets in a barrage of attacks across Ukraine early Friday, February 10, 2023.
The Ukrainian military disclosed that Kremlin’s forces focused their bombardments on Ukraine’s industrial east, especially the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces that make up the industrial Donbas region where fighting has recently been most intense.
Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces there since 2014.
However, the barrage went further, also taking aim at the capital, Kyiv, and Lviv, near Ukraine’s Western border with Poland.
It also struck critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in the northeast. Seven people were wounded there, two of them seriously, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Air raid sirens went off across much of the country.
The barrages could be an effort by Russia to weaken Ukraine’s defenses ahead of a ground assault, which Kyiv believes Moscow is planning in the east where the Kremlin is striving to secure areas it has illegally annexed and where it claims its rule is welcomed.
Also on Friday, Moldova’s Ministry of Defense said that a missile was detected traversing its airspace near the border with Ukraine.
Moldova’s foreign ministry revealed in a statement that the Russian ambassador in Chisinau has been summoned for talks over the “unacceptable violation”.
The ministry said that the missile was detected in its airspace at around 10 a.m. and flew over two border villages before heading toward Ukraine.
The Ukraine Air Force disclosed that Russia launched up to 35 S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles on the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia provinces.
Those missiles cannot be destroyed in mid-air by air defenses but they have a relatively short range so the Russians have used them for attacks on regions not far from Russian-controlled territory.
The Khmelnytskyi province in Western Ukraine was also attacked with Shahed drones, according to regional Gov. Serhii Hamalii.
Power Outages In Some Areas
According to Ukraine’s energy company, Ukrenergo, high-voltage infrastructure facilities were hit in the eastern, western and southern regions, resulting in power outages in some areas.
It was the 14th round of massive strikes on the country’s power supply, the company disclosed. The last one occurred on January 26, 2023 as Moscow seeks to weaken Ukrainians by leaving them without heat and water in the bitter winter.
Some 150,000 homes were without electricity in the Kharkiv region alone, and seven people were injured, officials said. Nobody was hurt in Kyiv, according to the city’s mayor.
Moscow has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy facilities over the winter. This has been described by some analysts as a war crime, although Russia denies intentionally harming civilians.
Energy workers in the country have increasingly dangerous jobs and 98 of them lost their lives while performing their duties last year, an official recently disclosed.
Putin To Address Russian Federal Assembly Before One-Year Anniversary Of Ukraine Invasion
Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver an address to the Federal Assembly on February 21, 2023, three days before the one-year anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine.
Kremlin Spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov has divulged that Putin will cover the “special military operation” in Ukraine, economics, and social issues in his address.
The decision in regards to possible accreditation for journalists for the address has not been made yet, Peskov added.
Asked if participants, or servicemen, of the war in Ukraine would be attending Putin’s address, Peskov replied, “We can say with certainty that they will be invited.”
The announcement from the Kremlin came after Ukraine’s Defense Minister, Oleksii Reznikov said that Kyiv believes Russia will mark the first anniversary of its invasion next month with a renewed offensive.
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