Russia’s strikes have caused disgust about the intentional endangering of civilians, and that includes disrupting the energy supply of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has now been restored, writes Reuters.
On the morning of Thursday, the 9th of March, at least nine civilians were killed in rocket and drone strikes before dawn. The Ukrainian armed forces reported that they managed to intercept a large number of missiles and drones, however, the Russians also used six Kinzhal supersonic missiles, which the Ukrainians could not shoot down. Moscow has approved the use of supersonic missiles.
The strikes of the 9th of March brought back Russia’s attacks on civilian infrastructure that had been halted for about a month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said:
«The occupiers can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do. But it won’t help them. They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done.»
Russia has repeatedly denied threatening civilians. Its Defense Minister has announced that Moscow carried out a retaliatory strike for border violations detected in early March and insisted that all planned targets – drone bases, railways, and weapons factories – had been hit.
The rockets fired by the Russians killed the village’s inhabitants on the western side of Lviv, as well as closer to the front line in the vicinity of Dnipro. At least three people were killed in artillery fire in Kharkiv. Moscow insists the strikes are aimed at undermining Ukraine’s ability to fight back, while Kyiv says the airstrikes have no military significance and are aimed at intimidating and harming civilians, and are a war crime.
Oleg Zhdanov, a Ukrainian military expert and reserve colonel of the armed forces, said that Russia has failed and is unable to identify military targets. Hence, it resorted to a backup plan – demoralizing the population. He added:
«That is why they hit energy infrastructure, the weakest point, electricity, heating, water. And they seem unable to change their strategy with the notion that – whether they make hits or not – sooner or later the people will say «enough, we give up.» But that won’t happen.»
Washington has announced that it will continue to help strengthen air defense systems. It is believed that Russia has dozens of Kinzhal missiles, the speed of which exceeds the speed of sound several times. The Kinzhal is designed to carry nuclear warheads and is capable of reaching targets 2,000 kilometers away. In his speeches, Russian President Vladimir Putin often praises Kinzhal as a weapon that NATO is unable to counter.
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