Early Wednesday, March 22, 2023, Ukraine faced a new series of Russian drone attacks, which killed at least three people and damaged some infrastructure across the country. This happened shortly after Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida left Kyiv.
Kishida’s surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital stole some of the attention from Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow where he promoted Beijing’s peace proposal for Ukraine, which Western nations have already dismissed. Xi also left Moscow early Wednesday.
Kishida, who will chair the Group of Seven summit in May, became the group’s last member to visit Ukraine and meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to Japan’s news media, Kishida was back in Poland on Wednesday and is expected to return to Japan on Thursday, March 23, 2023.
Kishida called Russia’s invasion a “disgrace that undermines the foundations of the international legal order” and pledged to “continue to support Ukraine until peace is back on the beautiful Ukrainian lands.”
After meeting Kishida, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters that his team had sent his own peace formula to China but has not heard back, adding that there were “some signals, but nothing concrete about the possibility of a dialogue.”
The Ukrainian military’s General Staff disclosed that Russia struck Ukraine with Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones, adding that air defenses downed 16 of the 21 drones launched by Russia.
The Kyiv military administration said that eight of the drones were downed near the Ukrainian capital. A high school and two dormitories were partially destroyed in an overnight drone attack in the city of Rzhyshchiv, in Ukraine’s north-central Kyiv province, local officials disclosed on Wednesday morning.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that “As of 7 a.m., three people were killed, two people were wounded and one person was rescued. There are probably four people under the rubble.”
Regional Governor, Vitalii Bunechko stated that exploding drones damaged infrastructure facilities in neighboring Zhytomyr province. He said that Ukrainian air defenses shot down three drones.
In a separate Russian attack, three people were wounded in the southern city of Odesa, when a three-storey building was hit in the grounds of a monastery, presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said.
Russian Military Fends Off Drone Attack At Sevastopol
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-appointed head of the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, disclosed that the Russian military has fended off a drone attack on the main harbor.
Razvozhayev said the Russian navy destroyed three unmanned sea drones that attempted to attack Sevastopol that serves as the main base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Razvozhayev stated that Russian warships were not damaged in the attack, but added that several civilian facilities were slightly damaged when the drones were hit and exploded, shattering windows in several buildings near the harbor. He said there were no injuries.
Ukrainian military did not claim responsibility for the attacks. Earlier this week, the Ukrainian military said that it had destroyed missiles destined for the fleet at a rail hub in Dzhankoi in northern Crimea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched more than 20 “killer drones”, as well as missiles and shells.
Referring to Chinese President, Xi Jinping’s departure from Russia hours earlier, he said that every time “someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow,” another order is given to launch attacks.
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