Air raid alarms were set off across a large portion of the nation early on March 9 due to a series of Russian drone and missile strikes that occurred overnight that affected Kyiv and other significant cities in Ukraine, such as Lviv, Kharkiv, and Odesa.
The commander of Ukraine’s armed forces claimed that on Thursday morning, Russia had launched 81 missiles into Ukrainian territory, including six “kinzhal” hypersonic missiles that Ukraine’s air force was unable to shoot down.
The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said the capital experienced a number of explosions that had damaged energy infrastructure and injured several civilians.
Klitschko said that because of emergency power outages after the missile attack, 40% of the capital’s consumers are now without heating.
Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, on Telegram accused Russia of unleashing “almost all types of their air weapons” from Iranian-made drones to “almost all types of cruise missiles.”
Officials in the southern port of Odesa, Lviv in western Ukraine and Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine also reported drone and missile strikes overnight. Elsewhere, in the Dnipro area, a regional official said there was “serious destruction” as a result of the shelling with “energy infrastructure and industrial enterprises” damaged. A number of fatalities were reported in Lviv and Dnipro.
Andrii Sadovyy, Lviv city mayor, said on Telegram that “according to preliminary information, drones and missiles flew in our direction. The enemy is raging” as he likened Russia to a wounded bear in a trap.
“They have not had success at the front for a long time. That is why they choose senseless chaotic shooting all over Ukraine,” he said.
Responding to the attacks, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia will be held to account.
“It’s been a difficult night. A massive rocket attack across the country. Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia regions. Attacks on critical infrastructure and residential buildings,” he said on Telegram. “Unfortunately, there are injured and dead.”
He said efforts were underway to restore energy infrastructure that had been damaged in the 81 missile strikes that the president and Ukraine’s military said had been targeted at Ukraine.
“The enemy fired 81 missiles in an attempt to intimidate Ukrainians again, returning to their miserable tactics. The occupiers can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do. But it won’t help them. They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done,” Zelenskyy said.
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