March 22 (UPI) — Ukraine came under sustained aerial assault for a second night after Russian forces unleashed at least 150 rockets and attack drones against mainly power infrastructure targets across the country, killing two people and injuring 14 and knocking out electricity to more than a million people.
The Air Force said its air defense systems shot down 37 cruise missiles and 55 Iranian-made “Shaheed” drones but dozens made their targets in Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia where the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station was set ablaze, blacking out factories and homes in Donets-Kryvyi Rih region.
Oleksiy Kuleba, deputy head of the presidential administration said 700,000 residents in the eastern Kharkiv region had been impacted, at least 400,000 in the southern Odesa and southeastern Dnipropetrovsk regions and another 110,000 in the Poltava region in central Ukraine.
Kharkiv Governor Oleg Synehubov reported on social media that there was no electricity in Kharkiv city first thing Friday.
Energy Minister German Galushchenko, who said the main power line supplying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant with electricity from the hydro station on the Dnipro River had been severed, alleged Russia’s goal was “a large-scale failure of the country’s energy system”.
Sumy, Poltava, Dnipro, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytskyi and districts surrounding also came under attack, according to a social media post from President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The world sees the targets of Russian terrorists as clearly as possible: power plants and energy supply lines, a hydroelectric dam, ordinary residential buildings, even a trolleybus. Russia is at war against the ordinary life of people,” he said.
“My condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed in this terror.”
Zelensky said emergency backup systems were running in the affected cities and rescue workers, energy workers, regional and local authorities and police were all working flat out to restore utilities and services and assist residents, pledging that no one would be left to fend for themselves.
The onslaught followed the largest attack on Kyiv in weeks overnight Wednesday causing serious damage across the capital and injuring at least 13 people, including a child after being targeted with a barrage of cruise and ballistic missiles launched from hundreds of miles inside Russia.
The Ukraine Air Force claimed its air defense systems shot down all 31 missiles but the injuries and damage were caused by falling and burning debris from the mid-air interceptions.
“There are no delays in Russian missiles, as in aid packages to our state,” Zelensky said Friday.
“‘Shaheeds’ are not afflicted with indecision, like some politicians. It is important to understand the cost of delays and delayed decisions,” he said, renewing his calls for more military assistance from Ukraine’s Western partners.
He said re-supply of U.S.-made Patriot anti-missiles was critical to protect Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia and more air defenses to protect people, homes and critical infrastructure like dams.
“The partners know exactly what is needed. They can definitely support it. These solutions are needed. Life must be protected from these savages from Moscow.”
