Russia shifts tactic with barrage that kills five in Ukraine

BLOOMBERG

Russia launched a devastating bombardment against cities across Ukraine, killing at least five people and casting hundreds of thousands more into sporadic blackouts with a new mix of weapons that mostly evaded air defenses.
The barrage extended Russian President Vladimir Putin’s five-month campaign of air strikes targeting civilian infrastructure including the energy grid, hospitals, schools and residential buildings.
At the same time, Kremlin forces are storming Ukrainian fortifications in the city of Bakhmut, prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to call for reinforcements to prevent Russia from gaining an “open road” to capture more territory in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
“The enemy fired 81 missiles in an attempt to intimidate Ukrainians again, returning to their miserable tactics,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram. “The occupiers can only terrorise civilians.”
While authorities say the electricity grid has survived the most difficult period of winter, low temperatures continue to pose risks to millions of Ukrainians left vulnerable from the war. The capital and major cities such as Kharkiv, Odesa and Zhytomyr reported blackouts, while air-raid sirens that started blaring after midnight continued to sound as the sun rose.
The barrage underscored the wide-scale destruction Putin’s forces are wreaking on Ukraine as the war enters its second year. Tens of thousands of people have died in Russia’s attempt to seize control of its neighbour   while the fighting has driven more than a third of Ukraine’s 41 million people from their homes.