This Tuesday, March 24, Russia launched one of its biggest daytime attacks against Ukraine, with more than 400 drones, after a night already marked by heavy bombings, said the spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force.
“More than 400 drones have already been launched” since 09:00 local time, according to Yuriy Ignat, speaking to France-Presse (AFP), describing “an unprecedented scale” of daylight attacks since the start of the war, in February 2022.
The Russian attacks this Tuesday caused at least four deaths and left 35 injured, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russia had already fired 23 cruise missiles and seven ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, hitting at least 10 sites across the country, the Air Force reported.
The attacks continued throughout the day in several regions of the country, including the capital, Kiev.
At least 13 people, including three children, were injured in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, and another shelling hit an apartment building in the center of the western city of Lviv, where two people were seriously injured, regional authorities said.
“These numbers clearly show that more life-saving protection is needed from Russian attacks. It is important to continue supporting Ukraine. It is important that all air defense agreements are implemented in a timely manner. And it is important that Europe is able to produce the necessary number of air defense missiles to protect itself against any threats.”commented this Tuesday the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, on the social network Telegram.
At the same time, Moscow’s forces are stepping up operations to breach Ukrainian front-line defenses in what could be the start of an expected ground offensive during the spring.
The commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, indicated that Russian troops made simultaneous attempts in recent days to break through defensive lines in several strategic areas.
“Fierce fighting took place along the entire line of contact”Syrskyi said on Monday, with Russia launching 619 attacks in four days and deploying new units on the ground, while Ukraine sent reinforcements to contain these waves of assault.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank that has monitored battlefield developments since the start of the war, considered on Monday that Russia’s spring-summer offensive is already underway.
Moscow intensified its attacks from March 17 and moved heavy equipment and more troops to the front line, according to ISW.
With the war in Ukraine on the back burner due to the conflict started on February 28 by the United States and Israel against Iran, Ukrainian envoys met again on Saturday with North American representatives to try to relaunch negotiations with Moscow, which have been at a standstill for several weeks.
The last trilateral round was held in Geneva on February 17 and 18 and ended with the parties separated on the essential topics of the talks, which concern the future of the regions claimed by Russia in eastern Ukraine and security guarantees to Kiev to prevent new aggression from Moscow.
The war in the Middle East has benefited Russia, through the partial and temporary lifting of US sanctions against Russian oil trade, as part of efforts to contain the high instability in world markets since the beginning of this new conflict.
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