Russia launched attacks in more than 40 Ukrainian cities on Wednesday, killing at least two people and forcing locals to take refuge in air raid shelters, Ukrainian authorities said.
According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Russian army launched five missiles, 30 air strikes and more than 100 multi-launch missile system attacks on Ukrainian targets.
The attacks come at a time when fears are growing that, with several setbacks on the battlefield, Russia will attempt to detonate a so-called “dirty bomb,” a device that uses explosives to disperse radioactive waste, in an attempt to foment terror. , or use its nuclear arsenal.
On the other hand, pro-Russian authorities in Ukraine’s Lugansk region, annexed by Russia, said this Wednesday that “intense fighting” is taking place near Kreminna and Svatove, close to the administrative borders of Donetsk and Kharkov.
“The heaviest fighting takes place near Kreminna and Svatove. Groups consisting of between 30 and 50 members of territorial defense units and mobilized troops [da Ucrânia] are testing our defense,” Vitali Kiseliov, adviser to the pro-Russian interior minister in Lugansk, told Russian public television.
According to Kiseliov, Ukrainian troops suffer “great losses”.
The adviser to the post-Russian interior minister of Lugansk also told TASS news agency that Kiev troops are testing defenses in the Lisichansk urban area near Kreminna.
However, he added that the weather conditions do not allow either side to proceed with a strong offensive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the country’s strategic nuclear exercises on Wednesday, which involved several ballistic and cruise missile launches in a show of force.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the exercise was intended to simulate a “mass nuclear attack” launched in retaliation for a nuclear attack on Russia.
The US administration, led by President Joe Biden, said it had been informed in advance of the annual Russian exercises.
Also this Wednesday, Shoigu spoke with his Indian and Chinese colleagues to share Moscow’s concerns about “possible Ukrainian provocations with a ‘dirty bomb’,” Russia’s defense ministry said.
Shoigu first made the claim in contacts with British, French, Turkish and American officials.
The United Kingdom, France and the United States rejected the claim, calling it “transparently false”. Ukrainian authorities have warned that Moscow may be preparing to use such a device.
The military offensive launched by Russia on February 24 in Ukraine has already resulted in more than 13 million people fleeing — more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.7 million to European countries — according to the latest data from the UN, which ranks this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Putin with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for the country’s security – was condemned by the international community at large, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions. to impose on Russia.
The UN presented as confirmed 6,374 civilian dead and 9,776 wounded since the start of the war, underlining that these numbers are far below the actual number.
Source: DN
