The retaliatory attacks disrupted the functioning of industrial enterprises producing and repairing weapons, military equipment and ammunition in Kiev and other regions, according to Russia's military.
Russia has carried out strikes targeting Ukraine's energy facilities, the military-industrial complex, railway junctions and ammunition depots, the Russian Ministry of Defense has announced.
"Between March 16 and 22, in response to the shelling of our territory and attempts to break through and seize Russian border settlements, the Armed Forces carried out 49 retaliatory strikes using high-precision long-range air-launched weapons, including Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missiles, other missile systems and unmanned aerial vehicles," the MoD said in a statement Friday.
"As a result of the strikes, decision-making centers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, airfield infrastructure facilities, workshops for the repair of weapons and military equipment, storage depots for unmanned aerial vehicles and drone boats, logistics bases, as well as the temporary deployment points for special operations units and foreign mercenaries were hit," the ministry said.
Friday's operations included "a massive strike using high-precision long-range air, sea and ground-based weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against energy facilities, [Ukraine's] military-industrial complex, railway junctions, arsenals, and places of deployment of Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries," the MoD said.
According to the Russian military's information, the attacks left Ukraine's military production and repair facilities in disarray.
Furthermore, the strikes targeted foreign military equipment delivered to Ukraine by its NATO patrons, disrupted the transfer of reserves to the front, and hit Ukrainian and merc forces in rear areas where they were being refitted. "All the goals of the massed strike have been achieved," the MoD said.
In frontline areas, the Defense Ministry reported battles with Ukrainian forces in five settlements in Kharkov region, two settlements in the Lugansk People's Republic, and fighting to repel Ukrainian attacks in the settlement of Sinkovka, Kharkov region and Terny in the Donetsk People's Republic. "Enemy losses amounted to up to 400 troops, three tanks, three armored fighting vehicles, 25 other vehicles and 19 artillery pieces," the MoD said.
Over the course of the week, Ukrainian forces attempts to break into the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Kursk were repulsed "thanks to the coordinated actions of the forces guarding the state border of the Russian Federation," the MoD said, adding that Ukraine's forces had lost "over 3,000 personnel" and militants, seven tanks, 15 armored vehicles and 17 other vehicles over the course of these operations.
In the DPR, Russian forces continued their advance in the Avdeyevka area of the front, repulsing 42 counterattacks and killing over 2,195 enemy troops, destroying two tanks, 21 armored vehicles, 65 other vehicles and 28 field guns, capturing the Alabastrovaya Railway Station, targeting Ukrainian forces in seven enemy-held settlements, and repelling ten attempted counterattacks, with total Ukrainian losses estimated at 1,885+ troops, six tanks, 13 armored vehicles, 41 other vehicles, 17 artillery pieces and nine ammunition depots.
Behind the lines, Russian missile and drone strikes March 16-22 were said to have hit nine Czech-made Vampir MLRS systems, a German IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile system battery, two US-made counter-battery stations - an AN/TPQ-50 and an AN/TPQ-36, and four Ukrainian Enklav-N, Nota and Bukovel-AD electronic warfare stations.
Finally, military aviation and air defense troops were said to have destroyed a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter, shot down two Tochka-U tactical missiles, two S-200 anti-aircraft missiles converted for use for ground attacks, 156 HIMARS, Vampir, Grad, Olha and Uragan rockets, and 992 drones.
Russian Strikes Paralyze Ukraine's Power Grid: Here's What Was Hit
Over half of Ukraine was left without electricity, heating, and Internet connectivity Friday morning in the wake of large-scale Russian precision strikes targeting the country's energy grid.
Ukraine's energy grid experienced the largest attack to date throughout the whole course of the conflict with Russia, Ukrenergo chief Vadim Kudrytsky announced Friday.
"The morning attack...was the largest ever, and was characterized by the use of a combination of weapons. The attack was carried out across different regions of Ukraine, targeting thermal and hydroelectric power plants, as well as the main electricity substations managed by Ukrenergo," Kudrytsky said.
At least two military airfields in the Ivano-Frankovsk and Zhitomir regions were struck, as well as the Starokonstantinov airfield in the Khmelnitsky region, one of the expected deployment areas for Ukraine's as-yet undelivered F-16s. The massive Dnepro Hydroelectric Generating Plant reported a halt to its operations and "very serious" damage. Dnepropetrovsk residents have been asked by authorities to stock up on water due to a disruption in the city's power supply.
Russian strikes on the Ukrainian infrastructure began on October 10, 2022, two days after the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, which, according to the Russian authorities, was backed by Ukrainian special services. Strikes are being carried out on energy and defense industry, military administration, and communication facilities throughout the country. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier stated that Russian troops do not strike residential buildings.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine's Energy Ministry reported "large-scale damage to generation facilities, transmission and distribution systems" and widespread power outages in nearly a dozen regions.
Explosions were reported in regions including Kiev, Kharkov, Sumy, Dnepropetrovsk, the Ukrainian-controlled portion of Zaporozhye, Ivano-Frankovsk, Khmelnitsky, Kirovograd, Krivoy Rog, and Vinnytsa.
In addition to energy infrastructure, the Russian strikes hit the Kharkov Transport Engineering Plant (part of Ukraine's defense industrial base), with blackouts reported across the city. In Zaporozhye, defense sector-affiliated factory Motor Sich was struck, according to the local underground.
At least two military airfields in the Ivano-Frankovsk and Zhitomir regions were struck, as well as the Starokonstantinov airfield in the Khmelnitsky region, one of the expected deployment areas for Ukraine's as-yet undelivered F-16s. The massive Dnepro Hydroelectric Generating Plant reported a halt to its operations and "very serious" damage. Dnepropetrovsk residents have been asked by authorities to stock up on water due to a disruption in the city's power supply.
Russian strikes on the Ukrainian infrastructure began on October 10, 2022, two days after the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, which, according to the Russian authorities, was backed by Ukrainian special services. Strikes are being carried out on energy and defense industry, military administration, and communication facilities throughout the country. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier stated that Russian troops do not strike residential buildings.
Ukraine's Energy System Subjected to Largest Attack of All Time - Ukrenergo Head
Ukraine's energy system was subjected to the largest attack of all time with group strikes hitting the country's thermal and hydroelectric power plants, Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo head Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said on Friday.
"The morning attack on the energy system of Ukraine was the largest of all time, it is characterized by the fact that combined means of destruction were used. The attack was carried out in different regions of Ukraine, on thermal and hydroelectric power plants, as well as on main substations operated by Ukrenergo," Kudrytskyi said.
Damage to energy facilities has been recorded in many regions, especially in Kharkiv, where the scale of damage is greater than in other regions, the official said, noting that the target was power grid facilities in different regions of Ukraine – generation facilities, high-voltage substations, substations of distribution operators.
Russia is at war – Kremlin
Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has turned into full-fledged war after the West became a participant in the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with national media published on Friday.
Moscow will continue to pursue its goal of ensuring that the Ukrainian military cannot pose a threat to Russian citizens or territory, the spokesman told the Argumenti i Fakty newspaper, noting that the country now has four new federal subjects which must be protected and fully liberated from Kiev’s forces.
Peskov stressed that Russia cannot allow the existence on its borders of a state that publicly claims it will seize the Crimean Peninsula as well as Russia’s new territories, referring to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
“We are at war,” Peskov stated, explaining that while the conflict began as a special military operation, as soon as “the collective West became a participant in this on the side of Ukraine, for us it became a war.”
In a phone conversation with journalists later in the day, Peskov explained that despite the conflict “de facto turning into a war,” legally it remains classified in Russia as a special military operation and that nothing has changed in that regard.
The Russian Defense Ministry recently reported that since the start of the military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, over 13,000 foreign nationals have taken part in the fighting on the side of Kiev’s forces.
Of these fighters, which Moscow describes as mercenaries, some 5,962 have been “eliminated,” according to the ministry. Most of them came from Poland, Georgia, the US, Canada, the UK, Romania, Germany, and France, it reported.
The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, claimed earlier this week that France is preparing its forces for deployment to Ukraine and is allegedly looking to send as many as 2,000 troops to fight for Kiev.
French President Emmanuel Macron has hinted in recent weeks at the possible deployment of NATO forces to Ukraine, stating he could not “exclude” this possibility while branding Russia an “adversary.”
Moscow has warned that such a step would likely lead to a direct clash between Russian and NATO forces, which, according to President Vladimir Putin, would be “one step shy of a full-scale World War III.”
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