Russia bombed Ukraine with rockets on Thursday, striking its largest oil refinery Kyiv said. The head of the Wagner mercenary group predicts the long-besieged city of Bakhmut will collapse within months. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 36 missiles early in the morning, following a pattern of heavy bombing after Ukrainian battlefields and diplomatic gains.
The missiles triggered air-raid sirens and landed across Ukraine, including at the Kremenchuk refinery, where the extent of damage was unclear. Meanwhile, Belarus, which allowed Russia to use its territory to send troops into Ukraine at the start of the war, said it would only fight alongside its ally if it was attacked. Bolstered by tens of thousands of reservists, Russia has intensified ground attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine, and a major new offensive appears to be shaping as the first anniversary of its February 24 invasion nears. Russia’s current focus is on the small city of Bakhmut in Donetsk, one of two regions making up the Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial heartland now partially occupied by Russia.
The military of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received great support. The US alone has put $27.4 billion into the country since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last February. Russia has called the invasion a “special military operation” against security threats and has cited the shipment of heavy weapons to Ukraine as evidence that the West is escalating the war. Kyiv and its allies are calling Russia’s actions a war of aggression.
