Russia launched several attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia on the morning of Friday February 10, 2023.

At least 17 bombs hit the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia in an hour, Mayor Anatoii Kurtiev said, and the country’s grid operator said high-voltage power had been installed and power had been cut. Russia has repeatedly attacked civilian infrastructure far from the front lines over the past four months, leaving millions of Ukrainians in the capital without electricity, heat or water for days at a time. cold.

Airplanes sounded across the country in the wee hours of the morning and civil servants told civilians to evacuate. The Kyiv city government said its air defenses were operational when explosions were heard in the capital.

Kharkiv regional governor Dari Synehubov reported about 10 explosions and said that power was cut in many places. Critical infrastructure was also hit in Khmelnitskyi in the west and in Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine, regional officials said.

Air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television that Ukraine’s air defense shot down five of the seven drones and five of the six caliber missiles. However, the air force also said that Russia introduced 35 S-300 missiles, which the Ukrainian air defense could not shoot down in Kharkiv and Zaporizhia regions.

Ukraine is preparing for a new Russian invasion in the belief that after months of setbacks, President Vladimir Putin wants to be able to win before the invasion of the year on February 24. Russia’s main target is the town of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, an area it controls that has been one of Moscow’s top priorities since the war began.

Road to Bakhmut

After months of shelling there, the Russian army and philanthropists from the Wagner Group, who had brought tens of thousands of convicts with promises of amnesty, finally began a siege of the city. The UK Ministry of Defense said Wagner’s forces appeared to have advanced two to three kilometers north of Bakhmut since Tuesday – the fastest escalation in front-line fighting in months.

He says they are now wearing the main western road to Bakhmut, a now-abandoned town of about 7,000 before the war, although Ukrainian officials say their line has not been cut. Although Wagner has raised the number of prisoners, Russia’s regular army could deploy 300,000 or more as it was included in the total force late last year.

Britain also said that Russian forces had made progress near Vuhledar, a Ukrainian stronghold at the junction of the south and east. British reports indicate that Russia’s advantage there may be at a high cost to inexperienced units, including at least 30 vehicles left behind by Russian troops in a failed attack.