Kyiv, Ukraine –
Russian troops fought Thursday to reclaim lost ground in areas of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has illegally annexed, as Moscow sought to subdue the invaded country with more missile and drone strikes on critical infrastructure.
Russian forces attacked Ukrainian positions near Bilohorivka, a town in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine. In the neighboring Donetsk region, the fighting took place near the city of Bakhmut. Kremlin-backed separatists have controlled parts of both regions for eight and a half years.
Putin declared martial law in Luhansk, Donetsk and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of southern Ukraine on Wednesday in a bid to assert Russian authority in the annexed areas following a series of battlefield setbacks and a mobilization of troublesome troops.
The unstable state of the illegally absorbed territory was especially visible in the regional capital of Kherson, where military officers replaced Kremlin-installed civilian leaders amid a mass evacuation and an ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The city of Kherson was one of the first urban areas captured by Russia when it invaded Ukraine, and remains a prime target for both sides due to its key industries and important river port. Thousands of the city’s 250,000 residents fled the city in anticipation of intensified attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces continued to attack the enemy, staging 15 attacks on Russian military strongholds in the Kherson region.
Meanwhile, Russia continued its intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, sending drones and missiles to eight regions. At least three civilians were killed and 14 wounded in overnight attacks in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian president’s office.
In Kryvyi Rih, Russian strikes damaged a power plant and another power facility, cutting off electricity to the central Ukrainian city of about 600,000 people. In addition to being Zelenskyy’s hometown, Kryvyi Rih is home to several large metal factories that are key to Ukraine’s economy. Regional Governor Valentin Reznichenko said the city was badly damaged.
Ukrainian authorities said missile and drone strikes sparked several fires in the southern town of Mykolaiv, with four drones hitting a school. Another school in Komyshuvakha, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region, also suffered four drone strikes and was damaged. Authorities reported no casualties.
Russia’s sustained attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure prompted authorities to ask residents to reduce their power consumption from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. starting Thursday and to dim street lights from the city. They warned about continuous blackouts.
“Now every illuminated commercial sign, billboard or washing machine can lead to serious lockdowns,” Reznichenko said.
Despite Kremlin claims to the contrary, a leading Russian military expert inadvertently acknowledged that Iran has supplied Russia with drones that it uses in Ukraine.
Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based center for analysis of strategies and technologies, asked reporters before a television interview not to ask him where the drones came from, not knowing he was live.
Pukhov said that “we all know that they are Iranian-made, but the authorities have not recognized it.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday dismissed reports that Moscow is using Iranian-made drones in Ukraine as “rumors” and “wild assumptions.”
In Brussels, the European Union on Thursday imposed sanctions on Iran’s Shahed Aviation Industries as well as three generals in the Iranian armed forces for undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity by helping to supply drones to Russia.
In another sign of Russia’s hesitant mobilization, Ukrainian authorities said that so far more than 3,000 Russians have called a hotline dedicated to those who do not want to take part in the war and want to surrender.
The hotline’s spokesman, Vitalii Matvienko, said the most recently recruited Russian soldiers are now calling, with some crying fearing the possibility of their being drafted.
“When the Ukrainian counteroffensive progresses, the number of calls increases,” Matvienko told The Associated Press in an interview.
Ukraine says it guarantees the safety of anyone who surrenders in accordance with international law and that they can return to Russia or apply to live in some European Union countries or in Ukraine.
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Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.