Explosive Consequences: How Russian Shells Sparked Hospital Fires in Anticipation of Attack
Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – Russian shelling hit more civilian targets in Ukraine and sparked a fire at a city’s hospital, local officials said on Tuesday, before Kiev authorities suspected an imminent new offensive by Russia around the anniversary of its invasion.
A hospital in the northeastern city of Vovchansk caught fire as a result of shelling late Monday, regional Ukrainian emergency services reported.
The shelling caused several fires in the city, including at its two-story municipal hospital, the state emergency medical service in the northeastern Kharkiv region said in an online statement.
Rescue workers evacuated eight civilians from the site before dousing the fire, which claimed no lives, authorities said.
Vovchansk is in the Kharkiv region, which was occupied by Russia after its all-out invasion began on February 24 and subsequently recaptured by Ukraine during a counteroffensive last year.
The anticipated Russian push may be aimed at recapturing areas Moscow lost in this counteroffensive.
Ukrainian officials say they expect the new push to take place in eastern and southern Ukraine as the Kremlin is eager to secure areas it has illegally annexed and where it claims to welcome its rule.
Setbacks on the battlefield have embarrassed the Kremlin, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is keen to solidify public support for the war. Securing Kremlin rule in the industrial region bordering Russia in the east of the Donbass is likely to be a key objective.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed concern about an increase in fighting towards the end of the winter.
The prospects for peace “continue to shrink” and “the chances of further escalation and bloodshed continue to grow,” he said in a speech late Monday.
However, some military analysts are skeptical about Russia’s ability to launch a major new offensive in the coming weeks. Ukraine and Russia are both still training their new troops and stockpiling weapons.
The UK Ministry of Defense said in an assessment on Tuesday that Russia “needs understaffed, inexperienced units to achieve unrealistic goals due to political and professional pressures”.
“Russian leaders are likely to continue to call for far-reaching progress,” she added. “It remains unlikely that Russia will be able to build up the forces needed to materially influence the outcome of the war in the coming weeks.”
Michael Kofman, an American military analyst and director of Russian studies at CAN, a research organization in Arlington, Virginia, tweeted Monday that it was unclear how large an offensive by Russia could be.
He added: “But I suspect it might prove underwhelming as it’s mainly focused on Donbass.”
Meanwhile, the shelling kept Ukraine’s civilian population under pressure in some areas of the country.
Russia has launched six rocket attacks, two dozen airstrikes and 75 shell attacks on civilian targets in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson in the past 24 hours, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a statement on Tuesday.
About 60,000 homes were left without water after Russian shelling near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant cut power to a local pumping station, authorities said.
Mykola Lukaschuk, head of the Dnepropetrovsk regional council, accused Russian forces of firing heavy artillery and multiple rocket launchers at towns and villages near the power plant, Europe’s largest, overnight.
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