A Russian missile and drone strike targets Ukraine’s energy system. A Russian air strike hits a school stadium in Kharkiv, injuring four children. “Today, Hitler’s ideas are voiced in Russian,” Zelenskyi says in his address on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II.
Russian missile, drone strike targets Ukraine’s energy system
Russia carried out a major missile and drone strike at Ukraine overnight into Wednesday, damaging energy facilities in Poltava, Kirovohradska, Zaporozhzhia, Lviv, Ivan-Frankivsk, and Vinnytsia regions.
At least three thermal power plants were “seriously damaged” overnight, according to Ukraine’s largest private energy operator DTEK. A child was wounded in Kirovogradska region, while two people were hurt by falling debris in the region surrounding Kyiv, authorities said.
Russia launched 55 missiles and 21 Shahed drones, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. The missiles included sea-launched Kalibr missiles, Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles launched from Tu-95MS strategic bombers, ground-launched Iskander-M and Iskander-K missiles, and a Kinzhal ballistic missile. Air defenses shot down 39 of the missiles and 20 of the drones, Ukrainian Air Force Commander, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk said.
The attacks come as Ukraine marks the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II. “On Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II Day, Nazi Putin launched a massive missile attack on Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on social media.
“Over 50 missiles and more than 20 ‘Shahed’ drones targeted infrastructure in Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. All necessary services are already working to mitigate the consequences of Russian terror,” Zelenskyi said. “The entire world must understand who is who. The world must not give a chance to new Nazism,” he added in a post on X.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry warned of possible power cuts for industrial consumers across Ukraine between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Wednesday after a wave of Russian missiles and drones targeted Ukraine’s energy system.
Russian air strike hits school stadium in Kharkiv, injuring four children
A Russian air attack hit a school stadium in Kharkiv on Wednesday, injuring at least four children and three adults, officials said.
At 11:07 a.m. the Air Force issued a warning of a missile threat in Kharkiv region. Later local media said two explosions rocked the city. Authorities were investigating what type of weapons was involved in the attack.
Teenagers ages 12, 13, and 15 were hospitalized. Two of them are in serious condition, head of the Kharkiv regional administration Oleh Synehubov said. They were playing football when the strike hit the school stadium. Doctors are fighting for their lives, he added.
Women ages 32 and 80, an eight-year-old girl and a 55-year-old man were also injured in the attack.
Zelenskyi: “The world slept through the revival of Nazism on February 24, 2022. Today, Hitler’s ideas are voiced in Russian”
Ukrainians who fought against Nazism 80 years ago now stand up to an evil that has reemerged — “Russian fascism,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in his address on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II.
“’They break into your house. They come to kill, burn, execute. They don’t spare anyone – the elderly, women, children… They are beasts…’ These are the memories of the Nazi occupation survivors. And these are the memories of the Russian occupation survivors. The same horrors, the crimes of the same monsters,” Zelenskyi said.
“Eighty years ago, millions of Ukrainians fought to defeat Nazism forever. But today, Ukrainians are once again standing up to evil, which reemerged, returned, and wants to destroy us again. It’s an army of a fiend that kills, tortures and wipes peaceful cities and villages off the face of the Earth. This evil is called Russian fascism, or RF for short.”
Zelenskyi addressed the nation from a school basement in Yahidne, Chernihiv region where Russian forces held residents of the entire village for almost a month in early 2022. There were 80 children, the youngest one was just one and a half months old.
“The ruscists herded all the villagers into it and kept them there for almost a month. All of them. 350 people, all the children of this village, 80 girls and boys, the youngest of whom was a month and a half old. Everyone in the world can understand what Putin’s Russia is by imagining themself here, in this basement, among these people, without light, food, water, medicine, and air, in a room with less than a meter per person. They slept seated. They went outside only once. They ate 200 grams of soup a day. The men were stripped naked in the freezing cold to find Ukrainian tattoos. 10 of the hostages died here. It was forbidden to bury them. Another 17 people were killed by the ruscists. In any corner of the world, that’s known by the same word – hell. When entire villages are burned down, when there are mass executions, when people are put against a wall blindfolded to be killed – in any corner of the world, that’s known by the same word – Nazism. If that’s not Nazism, then what is that?” Zelenskyi said.
“Everyone on Earth knows history and remembers how to fight Nazism. It’s done with humanity united to oppose Hitler, not with buying oil from him or attending his inauguration,” he added.
The world slept through the rebirth of Nazism at 5 a.m. on February 24, 2022. And today, everyone who remembers World War II and has survived to this day feels a sense of déjà vu.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 8, 2024
The Battle of Kyiv, the bombings of Kharkiv, Odesa, and Dnipro, mass graves, child deportations,… pic.twitter.com/GRmPFTM641
