In the early morning hours, local time, on May 8, 2024, Russia unleashed a bombardment on essential Ukrainian infrastructure.
Attacking with more than 50 missiles and over 20 Iranian-made ‘Shahed’ drones, the Russian strike targeted the vital infrastructure of seven regions: Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, and Ivano-Frankivsk.
According to AP News, several homes as well as the country’s railroad system sustained major damage, and three people—including one child—were injured.
Most notably, however, was the damage to three Soviet-era power plants.
These strikes mark the most recent Russian attack on the Ukrainian power grid.
In April, Russian strikes destroyed the crucial Trypillya power plant in Kyiv, which, according to the BBC, was the largest provider of electricity in three regions, including Kyiv itself.
The timing seemingly was not random. On Tuesday, May 7, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a fifth six-year term, and May 8 marks the Ukrainian Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II.
Furthermore, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has drawn stark comparisons between the Nazis of World War II and the current Kremlin government, writing on X, “The entire world must understand who is who. The world must not give a chance to new Nazism.”
Later on Wednesday, also on X, Zelenskyy further described the February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine by Russia as the “rebirth of Nazism,” stating,
“As in 1945, only a united free world—united in the Anti-Putin Coalition—can stop the Moscow Nazis through action rather than words. Such a world can keep the new evil from spreading across the entire European continent, and eventually the entire world. Such a world is capable of demonstrating its commitment to the words ‘Never again!’ so that they become relevant again.”