Day 236 Roundup: Waves of Russian Drones Rock Kyiv; Energy Infrastructure Again Targeted Across Ukraine

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Facts

  • Dozens of Russian drones struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Monday morning, killing at least three civilians and injuring three others, local officials said. As civilians scurried into shelters, some images showed security forces attempting to shoot the drones down using small arms, while others captured the aftermath of the blasts.
  • Drone strikes were also recorded in the region of Mykolaiv, reportedly hitting industrial infrastructure facilities and a pharmaceutical warehouse. Ukrainian officials said their missile defenses shot down as many as 26 drones – reportedly Iranian Shahed-136s – across the country. On Monday, Iran repeated its denial that the nation is supplying Russia with drones.
  • Elsewhere, the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Monday that the bloc would "look for concrete evidence" that Iran was "participating" in the conflict by supplying Russia with drones, an investigation that may lead to sanctions on the Islamic Republic if a connection were proven.
  • Meanwhile, Russian missile and rocket attacks were also recorded on Monday in the regions of Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, and Odesa. Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyal said the strikes again targeted the country's energy infrastructure, and urged Ukrainians to be mindful of their electricity use while work to reconnect the power grid got underway.
  • In Donetsk, as Russian forces reportedly intensified attacks on Bakhmut and Avdiivka, Ukrainian officials reported that four civilians were killed and 10 others were injured in the last 24 hrs.
  • Finally, in a new report issued by the UN's children's agency UNICEF on Monday, the body said an estimated 4M children across Eastern Europe and Central Asia have been pushed into poverty as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "Children are bearing the heaviest burden of the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine," UNICEF said.

Sources: Pravda, Times of Israel, Ukrinform, and Al Jazeera.

Narratives

  • Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by PBS NewsHour. This invasion is an egregious violation of international law. Putin's ultimate aim is to restore the Soviet empire, even if it takes massive bloodshed and false pretexts such as calling the 2014 Ukrainian revolution after an election a "coup". This unprovoked attack is the latest chapter in Putin's Orwellian attempt to rewrite history.
  • Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by National Security Archive. NATO and the US have ignored Russia's security concerns by breaking its promise not to expand eastward in return for German reunification. These concerns are legitimate and taking them seriously would have avoided the Ukraine tragedy.

Predictions