Russia fires more than 1,000 drones against Ukraine as spring offensive ramps up on battlefield

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Russia launched a series of large-scale attacks on Ukraine this week, firing more than 1,000 drones in the last 36 hours, as Moscow launches a new campaign on the battlefield.

Some 392 were launched Monday night into Tuesday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. More than 550 were launched at targets across the country in a rare and deadly daytime assault on Tuesday, the military said. And Russia launched another 147 drones overnight into Wednesday, striking more than a dozen locations, the air force added.

The large-scale attacks come as Russian forces have begun a spring offensive in eastern Ukraine, including the use of dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, the Ukrainian military and analysts told CNN earlier this week. The assault is gathering pace as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned about the consequences of the Middle East conflict for his country.

Tuesday’s drone attacks left at least 40 people in the country injured – including five children, Zelensky said.

At least two people in the western Ukrainian oblast of Ivano-Frankivsk were killed in an attack on a maternity hospital, the region’s governor Svitlana Onyshchuk said. The victims included a National Guard soldier and his 15-year-old daughter, according to Ivano-Frankivsk mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv. They were at the maternity ward visiting the soldier’s wife, who had given birth to a son just days earlier.

Four other people, including a 6-year-old, were injured. And in Vinnytsia, a 59-year-old man was killed while 11 others were injured, according to mayor Serhiy Morgunov.

“This was one of the largest attacks over the course of the day,” with drones directed towards central and western Ukraine, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, said in its latest analysis that “the Russian strikes on March 23 to 24 represent a significant inflection in Russian strike tactics that allow Russia to threaten more areas of Ukraine for longer periods of time and disproportionately affect civilian areas.”

In Lviv, at least 22 people were wounded in the attack, the city’s mayor Andriy Sadoviy said on Tuesday.

The air force said at least 15 hits were identified and at least 541 drones were shot down or neutralized.

Residential buildings and city centers in the country were hit, including the maternity hospital in Ivano-Frankivsk that sustained damage, according to Ukrainian officials.

A church building in part of Lviv’s Bernadine Monastery Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was also hit, according to Maksym Kozytskyi, head of Lviv region military administration.

Ukraine State Emergency Service via Telegram

“An architectural monument of national significance – the Bernardine Monastery Complex – has been damaged,” Kozytskyi posted to Telegram, adding that experts have yet to determine the extent of the damage.

“It is located within the historic district of Lviv, a site listed on the International List of Cultural Heritage Sites under enhanced protection,” Kozytskyi said. “The fire has engulfed the buildings adjacent to the complex.”

“The scale of this attack clearly shows that Russia has no real intention of ending this war,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.

“The geopolitical situation has become more complicated due to the war against Iran, and unfortunately, this is emboldening Russia,” Zelensky added in a statement on Tuesday. “Russia continues this war and its destabilization of Europe, supports the Iranian regime with intelligence, and thereby prolongs the war in that region, while also preparing for new conflicts in the coming years. This threat of constant war across the map must be stopped.”

Meanwhile in Russia, a 55-year-old man was killed and 13 others injured in Ukrainian drone attacks in the Kursk region, according to the acting governor, Alexander Khinshtein, on Tuesday.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that Ukraine had launched 389 drones on Russia overnight.

Meanwhile in eastern Ukraine, Russia is stepping up assaults.

“With changing weather conditions, the Russian aggressor has stepped up pressure across several sections of the front,” Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said last week.

There are signs that Russian forces plan intensified ground operations against multiple parts of Ukraine’s so-called fortress belt, including the cities of Kramatorsk and Kostyantynivka, key defensive hubs for Ukraine, according to ISW.

Another focus of Russian attacks has been the town of Lyman in Donetsk, which is also at the edge of the fortress belt in the region.

Russian forces begin offensive in Ukraine as Zelensky worries about impact of Iran conflict

Despite marginal gains in recent months across much of the battlefield, the Kremlin has continued to insist that the capture of the remainder of four eastern regions of Ukraine remains the goal of what it calls the Special Military Operation.

Ukrainian forces still hold about 20% of Donetsk and larger parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, according to analysts. Ukraine gained ground in the south last month.

CNN’s Nina Subkhanberdina contributed to this report.

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本周，俄罗斯对乌克兰发动了一系列大规模袭击，在过去 36 小时内发射了 1000 多架无人机，莫斯科在战场上发起了一场新的战役。

乌克兰空军称，周一晚至周二期间，共发射了约392架无人机。军方表示，周二当天，超过550架无人机对乌克兰全国各地目标发动了罕见且致命的白日袭击。乌克兰空军还补充说，俄罗斯在周三晚间至周三期间又发射了147架无人机，袭击了十几个地点。

据乌克兰军方和分析人士本周早些时候向CNN透露，俄罗斯军队已在乌克兰东部发动春季攻势，动用了数十辆坦克和装甲车。与此同时，大规模袭击事件也随之发生。乌克兰总统泽连斯基警告中东冲突将给乌克兰带来严重后果，而此次攻势正愈演愈烈。

泽连斯基表示，周二的无人机袭击造成该国至少 40 人受伤，其中包括 5 名儿童。

乌克兰西部伊万诺-弗兰科夫斯克州州长斯维特拉娜·奥尼舒克表示，该州一家妇产医院遭到袭击，造成至少两人死亡。据伊万诺-弗兰科夫斯克市市长鲁斯兰·马尔钦科夫称，遇难者包括一名国民警卫队士兵及其15岁的女儿。事发时，他们正在妇产科探望这名士兵的妻子，她几天前刚刚生下一个儿子。

另有四人受伤，其中包括一名6岁儿童。据文尼察市长谢尔盖·莫尔古诺夫称，该市一名59岁男子死亡，另有11人受伤。

乌克兰空军发言人尤里·伊格纳特表示：“这是当天规模最大的袭击之一”，无人机瞄准了乌克兰中部和西部地区。

总部位于华盛顿的智库战争研究所（ISW）在其最新分析中表示，“俄罗斯在3月23日至24日的袭击标志着俄罗斯打击策略的重大转变，使俄罗斯能够威胁乌克兰更多地区，持续时间更长，并对平民区造成不成比例的影响。”

利沃夫市市长安德烈·萨多维周二表示，袭击事件造成至少 22 人受伤。

空军方面表示，至少已确认15起袭击事件，至少541架无人机被击落或摧毁。

据乌克兰官员称，该国的居民楼和市中心遭到袭击，其中包括伊万诺-弗兰科夫斯克的一家妇产医院，该医院也遭受了破坏。

据利沃夫地区军事行政长官马克西姆·科济茨基称，利沃夫伯纳丁修道院建筑群（联合国教科文组织世界遗产）的一部分教堂建筑也遭到袭击。

乌克兰国家紧急服务部门通过 Telegram 平台发布

科济茨基在 Telegram 上发帖称：“具有国家意义的建筑古迹——伯纳丁修道院建筑群——遭到破坏”，并补充说，专家尚未确定损坏程度。

科济茨基说：“它位于利沃夫历史街区内，该街区已被列入国际文化遗产名录，并受到加强保护。大火已经吞噬了建筑群附近的建筑物。”

泽连斯基在晚间讲话中表示：“这次袭击的规模清楚地表明，俄罗斯根本没有结束这场战争的真正意图。”

泽连斯基周二在一份声明中补充道：“由于对伊朗的战争，地缘政治局势变得更加复杂，不幸的是，这助长了俄罗斯的嚣张气焰。俄罗斯继续发动这场战争，破坏欧洲的稳定，并以情报支持伊朗政权，从而延长了该地区的战争，同时也在为未来几年的新冲突做准备。这种席卷全球的持续战争威胁必须被制止。”

与此同时，据俄罗斯库尔斯克地区代理州长亚历山大·欣施泰因周二表示，一名 55 岁男子在乌克兰无人机袭击中丧生，另有 13 人受伤。

俄罗斯国防部周三表示，乌克兰连夜向俄罗斯发射了 389 架无人机。

与此同时，在乌克兰东部，俄罗斯正在加紧发动进攻。

“随着天气状况的变化，俄罗斯侵略者加大了在前线多个区域的施压力度，”乌克兰军事总司令奥列克桑德·瑟尔斯基上周表示。

据 ISW 称，有迹象表明，俄罗斯军队计划加强对乌克兰所谓“堡垒带”多个地区的地面作战，其中包括乌克兰重要的防御中心——克拉马托尔斯克和科斯蒂安蒂尼夫卡。

俄罗斯袭击的另一个重点是顿涅茨克的莱曼镇，该镇也位于该地区要塞带的边缘。

俄军在乌克兰发动攻势，泽连斯基担忧伊朗冲突的影响

尽管近几个月来在战场的大部分地区取得了一些进展，但克里姆林宫仍然坚持认为，占领乌克兰东部剩余的四个地区仍然是其所谓的“特别军事行动”的目标。

分析人士称，乌克兰军队仍控制着顿涅茨克约20%的地区以及赫尔松和扎波罗热的大部分地区。乌克兰上个月在南部地区取得了进展。

CNN的Nina Subkhanberdina对本报道亦有贡献。