Ukraine said it had survived a months-long winter onslaught of Russian strikes on water and energy infrastructure as it marked the first day of spring on Wednesday. But Kiev was under heavy pressure in the eastern city of Bakhmut, while Moscow said it had shot down a “massive” barrage of Ukrainian drones launched into the Crimean peninsula, annexed by the Kremlin in 2014.
Since October, Russia has been bombing key facilities in Ukraine with missiles and drones, disrupting water, heating and electricity supplies to millions of people.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Ukrainians for surviving a winter marked by systematic Russian strikes on energy facilities that plunged millions of people into darkness and cold.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says “We overcame this winter. It was a very difficult period and every Ukrainian experienced these difficulties, but we were still able to provide Ukraine with electricity and heat”.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hailed the first day of spring as another “big defeat” in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Shelling in the southern Kherson region injured a one-year-old child and his mother, according to local authorities.
Russia’s defense ministry’s announcement that it had shot down or disabled 10 Ukrainian drones headed for Crimea came a day after Russian officials said they shot down three more over the country’s southern regions and near Moscow.
“An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a massive drone attack on Crimean peninsula facilities has been foiled,” the Defense Ministry said.
Ten drones were either “shot down” or “decommissioned,” the statement said. Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said earlier on Wednesday that Kiev was not responsible for the attacks in Russia.
Kuleba said “Ukraine is not attacking Russian territory. Ukraine is waging a defensive war to de-occupy all its territories, we survived the hardest winter in our history. It was cold and dark, but we were unbreakable,” in a statement.
Aid organizations warned at the start of winter that the targeted campaign would force a new wave of migration into Europe and that Ukraine’s priority would be “survival” in the months of freezing temperatures. The Kremlin said Kiev was responsible for civilian suffering stemming from massive blackouts because it refused to capitulate to Moscow’s wartime demands.
But the grid is stabilizing and Ukraine’s energy provider Ukrenergo said on Wednesday there had been “no power deficit” for more than two weeks.
The war in Ukraine has seen Europe shake its deep dependence on Russian oil and gas amid waves of sanctions aimed at halting Moscow’s ability to fund its military through energy revenues.
One piece of advice to Russia
“The EU also won and, despite Moscow’s laughter, did not freeze without Russian gas. One piece of advice to Russia: choke the gas and choke the missiles,” Kuleba added in a statement.
The foreign minister’s comments came as fighting in eastern Ukraine appears to be reaching a precarious moment for Kiev around Bakhmut, which has become the longest and bloodiest battle of the Russian invasion.
AFP journalists near Bakhmut saw Ukrainian forces closing roads towards the embattled salt mining town, raising the specter of a possible Ukrainian withdrawal.
But Sergiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces deployed in the east of the country, said “no such decision has been taken yet, there are heavy battles going on for our Bakhmut,” said the head of the city’s military administration, Oleksiy Reva. The town, which once had a population of around 70,000, has seen a gradual exodus and now only 4,500 people remain, Reva said.
