At around 8:30 a.m. local time (7:30 a.m. CET), the alarm sirens wailed again in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv to warn of another Russian missile attack. Explosions were heard in Kyiv and the surrounding region. The authorities called on the population to go to shelters and warned of the danger of new attacks. An emergency shutdown of the power supply was ordered nationwide.
According to media reports, explosions in the city of Dnipro and in the Vinnytsia region could also be heard during the night. According to the head of the Dnepropetrovsk regional administration, Serhyi Lysak, the explosions came from Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses. This intercepted all incoming drones. However, in the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih, a rocket hit a power supply facility. “There is serious damage there,” and a 46-year-old man was injured, Lysak said.
According to official information, 17 projectiles fell within an hour in the Zaporizhia region, which was also contested. “This is the largest number since the invasion began,” military governor Anatoly Kurtyev said on his Telegram channel.
Russian offensive “definitely” underway
The expected new offensive by Moscow in eastern Ukraine already seems to be underway. When asked on Ukrainian television if Pavlo Krylenko, governor of the eastern Donetsk region, thought the Russian offensive had already begun, he said: “Yes, definitely.”
Especially in cities like Bakhmut, Avdijwka and Wuhledar, which had seen the bloodiest battles of the war, “the enemy’s forces and means are escalating with daily intensity. They are attempting to capture these areas and important cities in order to gain new victories.” The anniversary of the Russian invasion on February 24 is approaching and, in line with Kiev’s predictions, Moscow is stepping up its attacks to boast of frontline successes.
Ukraine: New offensive launched by Russia
The start of a new offensive by the Russian attackers is reported from Ukraine. On February 24 a year ago the war against Ukraine began. Experts suspect that Moscow wants to announce new successes on this anniversary.
UK: Russia gains in two key sectors
Russian forces are said to have made tactical gains in two key sectors since February 7, according to the UK MoD’s latest intelligence report on the situation in Ukraine.
On the northern outskirts of Bakhmut in the Donbas, the forces of Wagner Group had advanced further west, and Russian forces were increasingly dominating the northern approaches to Bakhmut. In the south, Russian units advanced on the western outskirts of the city of Wuhledar, where they resumed offensive operations at the end of January 2023.
The report went on to say that “Russian units are likely to have suffered particularly heavy casualties around Wuhledar due to the deployment of inexperienced units” and that “Russian troops are likely to have fled with at least 30 mostly intact armored vehicles in a single incident following a failed attack.” have left behind”.
“Showcase results” on the first anniversary of the war
Russia will try to have flagship results around the first anniversary of the war, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council head Oleksiy Danilov said in a Reuters interview in Kyiv on Tuesday. An offensive is expected in the Kharkiv regions in the northeast and Zaporizhia in the south. “They need to have something to show their people and they have a great desire to do something they see big by that date,” Danilov said.
The Washington-based Institute for War Studies on Tuesday quoted Ukrainian officials as expecting an offensive beginning in mid-February. An unnamed adviser to Ukraine’s army told the Financial Times on Monday that Russia intends to launch an offensive in the “next 10 days” — before Western military aid arrives. Moscow recently warned the West of an “unpredictable” escalation due to pending arms deliveries.
