A LARGE-SCALE daytime Russian strike killed at least two people in Ukraine yesterday, officials said, in what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denounced as an “Easter escalation,” as Moscow shifts tactics to avoid Ukrainian air defences.
Since the beginning of the war more than four years ago, Russia has mainly carried out major drone and missile strikes at night. In recent weeks, it has repeatedly sent hundreds of drones and missiles during the daytime, setting a record for the number of weapons used in one such strike on March 24.
Yesterday, drones struck residential and civilian infrastructure in central Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions, killing one person in each, their governors said.
“Essentially, the Russians have only intensified their strikes, turning what should have been silence in the skies into an Easter escalation,” Zelenskiy said.
Yesterday evening, governor of the eastern Donetsk region Vadym Filashkin said a Russian bomb strike killed three people in Kramatorsk, a frequent target in four years of conflict.
Kramatorsk is one of the heavily defended cities in the “fortress belt,” seen by Russia as a key target in its slow advance westward through Donetsk region.
Earlier this week, Zelenskiy proposed a halt in strikes for Easter holidays, and said Ukraine would reciprocate if Russia stopped attacks on the energy sector. Moscow rejected the idea.
“The purpose of these daytime strikes is clear. Russia is deliberately trying to increase the number of civilian victims, disrupt life, spread fear, and damage Ukraine’s infrastructure,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. Ukraine has destroyed 515 out of 542 drones and 26 out of 37 missiles launched by Russia since Thursday evening, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
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