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Russia has deployed its long-range arsenal against Ukraine in two new bombings early in the morning and this Sunday morning.
In the first attack, 29 missiles and 28 drone bombs were fired against eight provinces;
In the second, four hours later, the western provinces of Lviv and Ivano Frankivsk once again received the arrival of missiles from the invader.
The two bombings on cities far from the front line occur a day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of participating in Friday's jihadist attack in Moscow, taken over by the Islamic State (ISIS). .
This is the third major Russian air offensive against Ukrainian territory far from the front this week.
The worst day occurred on Friday, when 151 Shahed missiles and drone bombs destroyed energy infrastructure and caused half a dozen deaths in nine provinces.
The first attack was on Thursday against kyiv.
The capital was targeted again early this Sunday with 12 cruise missiles fired by TU-95MS bombers from the Russian province of Saratov, 1,000 kilometers from kyiv.
kyiv's metro stations have been filled with thousands of citizens, more than on previous occasions, due to fear that Russia would use the accusation against Ukraine in the Moscow attack to carry out a massive bombing.
The one who has borne the brunt of this morning's attack is the province of Lviv, bordering Poland, which has been attacked with 19 cruise missiles and seven drones.
Russian military accounts claim that the main target was the military air base in the municipality of Strii.
The Lviv regional authorities have only confirmed that two missiles hit a “strategic infrastructure” this morning and that, early in the morning, this same target was again attacked by Russian Kinzhal hypersonic rockets.
Thousands of residents of the city of Krivvii Rih, in the east of the country, have suffered power and heating outages due to the impacts of drone bombs.
The Ukrainian Air Force has reported that its air defenses have intercepted 18 of 29 missiles and 25 of 28 drones.
The percentage of Russian missiles shot down by anti-aircraft batteries is 60%, far from the 80% average in 2023. Ukraine insists on the deficit of anti-aircraft ammunition that they are suffering due to the drop in military aid from their international allies, especially from the United States.
Alarm in NATO territory
One of the missiles destined this morning for Lviv has violated Polish airspace, as reported by the Polish Air Force.
The projectile has entered a NATO country for 39 seconds.
Polish F-16 fighters and other Atlantic Alliance aircraft have been activated to prevent the missile from hitting Poland.
The Polish Armed Forces already reported another similar case last December, although on that occasion, the Russian projectile flew over Polish airspace for several minutes.
This incident and the bombings near the Polish border coincide with two attacks by Ukraine this weekend in Crimea with Storm Shadow / Scalp missiles.
These rockets, produced by the United Kingdom and France, are the only long-range weapons that NATO members have provided to kyiv.
The Ukrainian Air Force is using them against Russian warships, military and energy infrastructure on the peninsula illegally annexed by Putin in 2014.
kyiv residents taking refuge in the subway during the latest Russian attack, on March 24.
Thomas Peter (REUTERS)
Defending Crimea is a matter of national pride for the Kremlin, and it has already threatened the Atlantic Alliance on several occasions for helping Ukraine strike on the Black Sea peninsula.
The German government has refused to supply kyiv with its long-range Taurus missiles for fear of an escalation of tension with Russia.
No fear of Putin
Ukraine is demonstrating in the last 48 hours that it does not intend to give up despite Putin's speech in which he accused Kiev of cooperating in the attack that took the lives of 133 civilians in a concert hall near Moscow on Friday.
The Islamic State has acknowledged responsibility for the massacre, but the Kremlin has insisted that the terrorists were coordinating with the Ukrainian authorities.
Putin promised exemplary punishment against all those involved.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attacked Putin in a message issued on Saturday night.
Zelensky, as his Ministry of Defense did on Friday, accuses the Russian leader of being behind the attack, as he was also behind Chechen terrorist attacks in the past, according to the Ukrainian version and that of the Russian opposition: “Putin and other scoundrels They simply try to blame everything on others.
They always use the same methods.
In the past there have been destruction of buildings, shootings and explosions, and they always blame others.”
“If Russians are ready to die silently in places like the Crocus auditorium,” Zelensky said, referring to the concert hall where the massacre occurred, “and not ask their security and intelligence services for explanations, Putin will use it.” again for your benefit.”
Zelensky reiterated that they will continue to defend themselves and asked the international community not to back down in its opposition to Putin.
The bombings in Crimea, and the new drone attack on Friday night – a few hours after the attack in Moscow – against a Russian oil refinery show that Ukraine does not intend to step on the brakes.
The
Financial Times
reported on Friday that the United States government had asked the Ukrainian presidency to stop its campaign against the Russian oil industry, fearing a price spike in the global fuel market.
The US Deputy Secretary of Defense, Celeste Wallander, did not want to deny it during her intervention on Friday at the kyiv Security Forum.
Oleskii Danilov, secretary of the Ukrainian National Security Council, took the floor to warn his allies that no one will decide what Ukraine has to do: “It is our war and we will not ask anyone for permission to attack on Russian territory.”
“In the past Ukraine was left alone, they took away the atomic bomb from us, they made a mistake, but we will defend our country,” Danilov added.
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