Kyiv officials said Moscow’s military had changed the tactics of its rocket attacks and is planning to launch a massive missile strike on Ukraine to coincide with the first anniversary next Friday of Russia’s all-out invasion of its pro-western neighbour.
At least one person was killed and seven injured when missiles hit the eastern city of Pavlohrad in the early hours of Thursday, in a bombardment that also targeted energy and civilian infrastructure facilities in several other parts of the country.
In two air strikes later on Thursday, one electricity repair worker was killed and several of his colleagues injured in Vovchansk, a town in Kharkiv province near the Russian border, according to regional governor Oleh Synehubov.
“Another Russian missile strike. Drones and missiles were launched overnight. Unfortunately, there are some strikes in the northern and western parts of Ukraine, as well as in Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions,” Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on social media.
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“The Russians changed their tactics somewhat. They first run active reconnaissance and employ decoy targets. Still, our anti-aircraft defences dealt with most of the enemy missiles and drones.”
Ukraine’s military said that its air defences had shot down only 16 of 36 missiles, however, which represents a considerably lower success rate than during other recent attacks.
Kyiv said on Wednesday that Russia had launched at least six balloons into its airspace carrying simple metal devices that could confuse radar systems and draw fire from air defence units. Most of them were shot down.
“These objects could carry radar reflectors and certain reconnaissance equipment. The balloons were launched to detect and exhaust our air defence forces,” said Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat. “Reconnaissance drones like the Orlan-10 are now being used more sparingly [by Russia], and they thought ‘Why don’t we use these balloons?’ So they are using them. The enemy wants us to use our air defences – which protect our strategic objects – on these balloons that cost nothing.”
Moscow’s military is also believed to be testing the response and checking the positioning of Ukrainian radar and air defence systems by flying warplanes in Russian and Belarusian airspace in ways that put Ukraine on alert for a possible missile attack.
“They are preparing and will try to make another attempt to mount a massive [rocket] attack on February 23rd-24th. We have to be calm about this, and we are ready for it,” said Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council. “I think we already understand what an attack is after we [were targeted by] 115-120 missiles in a day. Let’s get through this day. Yes, it will be tough, but we will get through it all.”
Next Friday will mark one year since Russia began an all-out invasion of Ukraine that has now killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.
Russia’s forces have used its neighbour and ally Belarus, which is on Ukraine’s northern border, as a staging post from which to send troops into Ukrainian territory and launch air strikes against targets there.
“I am ready to fight alongside the Russians from the territory of Belarus in only one case: if even one soldier comes on to the territory of Belarus to kill my people,” Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday. “If they commit aggression against Belarus, the response will be the most severe, and the war will take on a completely different nature,” he added, a day before he is expected to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin.
As heavy fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, Moscow and Kyiv freed 101 of each other’s soldiers in their latest exchange of prisoners of war.
