Russia fired almost 50 Shahed drones at targets in Ukraine and shelled a train station where more than 100 civilians were gathered to catch a train to Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.
At least five people were killed and power was knocked out in most of the southern city of Kherson.
The aerial barrage came a day after Ukrainian warplanes damaged a Russian ship moored in the Black Sea off Crimea as soldiers on both sides struggle to make much progress along the front line of the 22-month war.
Overnight, Kremlin forces launched an artillery and drone bombardment of the Kherson region as some 140 civilians were waiting for a train at the region’s capital city of the same name, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
One police officer was killed and two others were wounded. Two civilians also were killed.
More than 100 people waiting for the train at the time of the attack arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday morning, national rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia said.
A Russian warship in a Crimean port city has been struck by Ukraine. Russia says it was only damaged, while Ukraine claims it was destroyed.
Much of Kherson without power
The attack on the Kherson region and its capital hit residential areas and a mall as well as the power grid, leaving around 70 per cent of households in Kherson city without electricity amid the cold, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said.
It was not immediately possible to estimate when power might be restored, he said.
Targeting energy infrastructure was also a Russian tactic last winter.
In Odesa, another major city in southern Ukraine, the drone assault killed two people and wounded three, including a 17-year-old male, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 32 of the 46 drones that Russia fired overnight.
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No major Russian gains from fallen city: think-tank
A Western military assessment reckoned Russia’s capture this week of a city in Eastern Ukraine would not provide it with a springboard for major battlefield gains.
Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, said Tuesday his troops had retreated to the northern outskirts of the city of Marinka, which is about 20 kilometres west of Donetsk, the largest city in Russian-held territory.
Zaluzhnyi said his troops had held Marinka for almost two years, but Russians “were destroying it street by street, house by house.”
The Institute for the Study of War, a think-tank, said “Russian forces are highly unlikely to make rapid operational advances from Marinka.”
But it noted “localized Russian offensive operations are still placing pressure on Ukrainian forces in many places along the front in Eastern Ukraine.”
Ukraine ‘urgently’ awaiting funds from allies
Ukraine is waiting on billions of dollars of financial support from Western countries, and deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko told the Financial Times on Wednesday that the government may have to delay pensions and salaries for public servants if Western financial aid is not approved soon.
Svyrydenko said 500,000 civil servants, 1.4 million teachers and 10 million pensioners could experience payment delays.
“The support of partners is extremely critical,” she told the newspaper. “We need it urgently.”
Ukraine has relied on foreign support to cover pensions and social payments since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Hungary vetoed a proposed 50-billion euro ($73.2-billion Cdn) aid package from the EU earlier this month that was aimed at helping the country stay afloat, while in the U.S., President Joe Biden’s $60-billion aid package to Ukraine is not expected to come through before the end of the year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a press conference last week he is mulling a request from Ukraine’s military to send another 500,000 soldiers into battle — a move that would cost about $17.9 billion Cdn — but has asked military officials to spell out their plans in detail before making a decision.
He said that he does not believe Ukraine is losing the war and dismissed suggestions that Moscow’s forces have come out of 2023 on top, but acknowledged the country is facing many challenges.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, said his agency has confirmed more than 10,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine since February 2022, and that the true toll is “probably substantially higher.”
Russia’s combat losses are estimated at more than 315,000 dead and wounded, while Ukraine has suffered as many as 250,000 military casualties.
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