Russian Missile Attack Kills At Least 5 People in Ukraine

Ukrainian officials reported Thursday Russian missile attacks on several areas of the country that killed at least five people. The Ukrainian military says it shot down 34 of the 81 missiles fired by Russia, and downed four Iranian-made drones used by Russian troops.

The governor of Lviv, western Ukraine, said four people were killed there when a missile hit a residential area. In Dnipropetrovsk, officials said a Russian strike killed one person and injured two others.

The governor of Odesa, Maksym Marchenko, said Russian missiles hit infrastructure and power outages occurred there. Marchenko said the attacks damaged residential buildings, but there were no reports of casualties.

In Kharkiv, governor Oleh Synehubov said 15 Russian missiles hit the city and surrounding areas, targeting key infrastructure facilities, among others. The Ukrainian capital Kyiv has also been hit by attacks.

Three Russian rockets launched against Ukraine from Russia’s Belgorod region are seen at dawn in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday evening, March 9, 2023. (AP/Vadim Belikov)

Meanwhile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited the speaker of the US House of Representatives to visit Kyiv to see “what is going on there.” He made the point in an interview aired Wednesday on the CNN news channel.

“Mr. [Kevin] McCarthy, he had to come here to see how we work, what’s going on here, what the war is doing to us, which people are fighting now, who are fighting now. And after that, make your assumptions,” Zelenskyy told the media through an interpreter.

Responding to CNN, McCarthy said, “I didn’t have to come to Ukraine or Kyiv” to understand that. He said he received information through briefings and other means.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year, the US has sent nearly $100 billion in military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The aid was sent when the Democratic Party controlled both houses of the US Congress.

Republicans control the US House of Representatives after the midterm elections, and some Republicans have expressed opposition to sending additional financial aid and weapons to Ukraine.

McCarthy said he supported Ukraine but Republicans in the House would not issue a “blank check” for additional US aid to Kyiv without closer scrutiny of its use.

In an interview with CNN, Zelenskyy said, “I think Chairman McCarthy, he’s never been to Kyiv or Ukraine, and I think it will help with his position.”

Many US legislators and officials and world leaders have visited Zelenskyy in Kyiv as a show of solidarity, including President Joe Biden and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Meanwhile Wednesday morning, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a violation of international law as he arrived in Kyiv for talks with Zelenskyy. [uh/ab]