Russia is intensifying attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, seeking to disrupt Western arms shipments as Moscow’s offensive in the east appears to have stalled.
Ukraine’s state rail operator said Thursday that 46 passenger trains were delayed by up to 11 hours due to damage from the Russian strike.
Missile attacks in recent days have targeted rail hubs and electric power facilities, particularly in western Ukraine, where weapons flow into the country from the US and its allies.
“They are trying to achieve what we value as critical infrastructure targets in the west,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. “We think this is an attempt to try to interfere with Ukraine’s ability to replenish and strengthen themselves.”
Russia also resumed bombing of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol on Thursday, a day after more than 340 women, children and the elderly were evacuated through a humanitarian corridor from the city and surrounding areas, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russian troops blocked and tried to destroy Ukrainian units in the Azovstal area. “With the support of the aircraft, the enemy continued the offensive to take control of the factory,” the ministry said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian forces continued to block the Azovstal plant, but did not confirm that Russia had resumed bombing the site. He said comments from the Ukrainian side contained disinformation.
On Wednesday, about 344 people were evacuated from in and around the city, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, who thanked the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross for working to ensure refugees safely reach the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia. .
“Another little win from us,” wrote Ms. Vereshchuk in a Facebook post.
A Russian missile hit rail infrastructure in the eastern city of Dnipro late Wednesday, stopping trains, Ukrainian officials said. The city’s rail network, the epicenter of Ukraine’s military efforts in the east, was also hit by two missiles on Tuesday, part of one of the biggest attacks since Russia invaded on February 24.
A missile strike late Tuesday hit two water pumping stations and three power substations in the western city of Lviv, shutting off power in parts of the city, the mayor said.
Trains around Lviv were badly affected by the Russian attack, the train operator said. Lviv, about 30 miles from the border with Poland, is a hub for moving weapons and supplies into Ukraine.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday it had used air-launched missiles to attack the Kanatovo military airfield in the Kirovohrad region of central Ukraine, as well as a large ammunition depot and fuel storage facility for Ukrainian military equipment in the Mykolaiv region on the Black Sea.
Ukrainian officials in the region confirmed the overnight strike but did not provide an assessment of the target and extent of damage.
Kirby said the Pentagon was unable to provide a direct assessment of the impact of the latest Russian strike, but noted the inaccuracies of many of the Russian missiles.
“Their ability to target with less precision than advertised during this entire war,” he said.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday reiterated that Moscow considers arms shipments from the West a legitimate target.
Ukrainian railways are essential for moving weapons and evacuating civilians. A Russian missile attack last month on a station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk killed more than 50 civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the increased attacks on infrastructure underscore Russia’s failed war effort.
“They are trying to vent their helplessness, because they can’t beat Ukraine,” he said.
Ukrainian troops have recently gained an advantage on the battlefield, driving Russian troops out of the villages they used to attack Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second most populous city.
Russia has also taken a recent setback from the battlefield. The European Union on Wednesday proposed a ban on Russian crude and refined oil products, and is preparing to impose sanctions on Russian military figures accused EU officials of war crimes.
The US Justice Department said Thursday that law enforcement officials in Fiji had seized a $325 million superyacht belonging to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, who was previously sanctioned for alleged money laundering, in the latest move by a US task force hunting down the assets. Russian elite is hiding all over the world. Defense lawyers say the yacht is actually owned by a different Russian oligarch.
Western countries have been trying to tighten economic ties around Russia, and earlier this week Zelensky called on companies to disengage from Russian trade.
“If any company remains on the Russian market, it means you are directly supporting that war machine, the Russian Federation’s terrorist war machine,” Zelensky said via video link to The Wall Street Journal CEO Board Summit on Tuesday.
Mr Zelensky warned executives that doing business with Russia also carries risks.
“It looks like you have business with Russia … profitable business, but one day you wake up to find that a rocket is flying at you from Russia, and everything changes,” he said through an interpreter. “It’s impossible to do business with someone who tomorrow, instead of payment, will just send a rocket at you.”
Mr Zelensky recently launched the United24 platform as the main place to raise funds for the state. He said this week that the reconstruction would cost about $600 billion. The platform name reflects the 24 regions of the country, as well as Mr. Zelensky to fully restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The collected donations will be transferred to the National Bank of Ukraine and channeled to relevant ministries for use in defense and mines, medical assistance and rebuilding efforts, according to the website.
Belarus, Ukraine’s neighbor which has supported the Russian invasion, began the military drills on Wednesday, calling the drills “a very effective form of training that poses no threat to the European community as a whole and neighboring countries, in particular. .”
The British government said on Thursday that Russia could exploit large-scale drills from its ally Belarus to “develop a threat” against Ukraine in the north and keep Ukrainian forces occupied there, as Moscow seeks to gain an advantage in the east and south of the country.