Moscow/Kyiv: As the first anniversary of the Ukraine offensive approaches, Russia has again shown its military power and capacity. Russia carried out a large number of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine on Thursday night and Friday morning. A total of 10 provinces, including the capital Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa, are said to have been targeted. Russia has fired such a large number of missiles and drones for the first time since December. The attacks once again caused blackouts in many cities in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials claimed that the attack was a precursor to the start of a new Russian attack.

Russian fighter jets and warships in the Black Sea initiated attacks on Thursday night. Russia used as many as 106 missiles and seven attack drones in operation, which began on Friday afternoon. The 71 Kalibr, KH-101 and KH-555 missiles, along with 35 S-300 missiles, were used, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said. About 60 of these missiles were claimed to have been intercepted by the Ukrainian military.

Most provinces in Ukraine and their major cities, including the capital Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr, were targeted. A blackout has been declared again in most Ukraine cities due to the attack. Some missiles fired towards the south of Ukraine are said to have landed in Moldova and Romania. Also, Moldova has accused Russia, saying its missiles have violated its airspace. According to local sources, the Russian missile passed the Romanian border from a distance of just 35 kilometres.

The Russian attacks have proved that claims made by Ukraine and the Western alliance are untrue. Ukraine and the countries supporting it, such as the United States and the European countries, had made big claims that the Russian military power was weakening. Western media and analysts had said that the Russian missile attacks in October last year were the last attempt by Russia as its missile arsenal had depleted considerably. However, Russia has used at least 40 to 100 missiles and drones in major attacks every time since then. As a result, the claims about Russia depleting its stockpile of missiles and drones have been proved wrong.

A Ukrainian official has claimed that the Russian missile and drone attacks were signs of a new attack. February 24 marks one year since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict began. In view of this, Russian President Vladimir Putin will launch a new attack, the Ukrainian and Western agencies have claimed. Russia is said to have prepared 1,800 battle tanks and 400 fighter jets for the new offensive. According to Ukrainian officials, 500,000 troops will be deployed for the new offensive, targeting the Donbas region as well as the Kharkiv province and southern Ukraine.

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