RUSSIAN RETALIATORY STRIKES PUNISH KIEV FOR ATTACKS ON BORDER

In response to the Ukrainian provocations on the Russian border, the Russian military resumed massive strikes on Ukrainian strategic infrastructure. On the morning of March 21, at least 11 Russian strategic missile carriers launched strikes on Ukraine, including with hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. According to Ukrainian reports, the main target was the Ukrainian capital, where at least 3 series of explosions thundered. During the day, more Ukrainian military facilities were destroyed in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions, as well as in the Donetsk People’s Republic. For example, the Zarya plant, which is one of the key enterprises of the Ukrainian defense industrial complex came under attack in Mykolaiv. The strikes were aimed at distracting the Ukrainian air defense. The main attack was launched on the night of March 22. The Russian military achieved strategic surprise thanks to “false” strikes on Kiev and the preparation for the upcoming devastating attack remained unnoticed by Ukrainian forces. According to Zelensky, on March 22, about 90 Russian cruise and ballistic missiles and 60 kamikaze UAVs targeted Ukraine. The Ukrainian air defense forces reportedly intercepted only 35 missiles. The footage of heavy damage throughout the country prevented the Kiev regime from hiding the truth. The Ukrainian air defense reinforced by NATO systems failed. The targets of the missile strikes included the largest facilities of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. One precision strike destroyed the engine room of the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station in the Zaporizhia region. Another precision strike hit the Ladyzhenskaya TPP in the Vinnytsia region. In the Kharkiv region, the Zmievskaya TPP and the CHP-3 were put out of operation. One of the strikes hit the largest power plant in Western Ukraine, the Burshtyn TPP. Heavy damage to energy facilities in the Odessa region was also reported. Together with the energy infrastructure, Russian forces struck Ukrainian military facilities. One of the facilities of the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate came under attack in Dnipro. An air defense system launcher was also reportedly destroyed in the city. Explosions thundered in Kremenchuk in the Poltava region, and at Kanatovo airfield in the Kirovograd region. A series of strikes destroyed locations of Ukrainian military personnel, headquarters and warehouses in Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Krivyi Rih, Cherkassy and other cities. This was one of the largest Russian attacks in recent months. Single daily precision strikes on local energy facilities have been disrupting the operations of military enterprises; but there were no such heavy massive attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure during the cold winter months. As another gesture of goodwill, Moscow allowed Kiev to provide its citizens with heat and electricity. In response, the Ukrainians launched attacks on Russian territory, killing Russian civilians, in order to fulfill the wishes of their NATO patrons.