KYIV- In a wave of attacks across Ukraine early on Friday, Russia used strategic bombers, cruise missiles, and killer drones. Meanwhile, Kiev claims Moscow's military offensive, which has been simmering for days, seemed to pick up steam in eastern regions ahead of the invasion's one-year anniversary.

According to Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander of Ukraine's armed forces, Russian forces have launched 71 cruise missiles, 35 S-300 missiles, and seven Shahed drones since late Thursday.

He added that 61 cruise missiles and five drones were shot down by Ukrainian forces.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, argued that more Western assistance was needed to counter Russia's military aspirations. He added: "This is the terror that can and must be stopped."

The Ukrainian military claimed that the Kremlin's ground forces were concentrating on the industrial east of the country, particularly the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces that make up the industrial Donbas region, where recent fighting has been most intense. Since 2014, there has been conflict between Ukrainian forces and separatists backed by Moscow.

According to representatives of Kyiv, the Kremlin is working to secure the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia that it illegitimately annexed last September and where it asserts that its rule is welcomed.

Since beginning its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, Moscow's goals have become more focused, according to military analysts. The installation of a puppet government and the capital city of Kyiv were among its goals at the time, but numerous battlefield setbacks, including giving up Donbass territories it had initially taken, have embarrassed Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin is currently focusing its efforts on securing complete control of the Donbas and is making moves at strategic locations on numerous fronts, though Russian progress is reportedly slow. Local Ukrainian officials claimed that the Russian military had enlisted more troops and begun offensive operations in the Donetsk region.

According to regional governor Serhii Haidai, the Russian army is attempting to breach Ukrainian defenses in the province of Luhansk.
The enemy is relentlessly attacking, the situation is getting worse, and the Russians are bringing in a lot of heavy machinery and aircraft, Haidai claimed.

Russian forces, according to Denis Pushilin, the Donetsk region's newly appointed Moscow-appointed leader, have taken up positions on the southern outskirts of Vuhledar.

The strategically significant town of Vuhledar is located next to a railroad that travels through the area on its way to Crimea. To ensure the security of the railway link to Crimea and advance its objective of annexing the entire Donetsk region, Russia must take the town.

The cruise missiles aimed at Ukraine were launched by Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers and from Russian navy ships in the Black Sea, military chief Zaluzhnyi said, while the S-300 missiles were launched from the Belgorod region just inside Russia and the occupied part of Ukraine`s Zaporizhzhia region.

Denys Shmyhal, the prime minister of Ukraine, claimed that Moscow had once more targeted the country's electricity grid in "another attempt to destroy the Ukrainian energy system and rob Ukrainians of light, heat, and water." Two of Ukraine's three operating nuclear power plants reportedly reduced power "due to renewed shelling of the country's energy infrastructure," according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The second-largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, in the northeast, also suffered critical infrastructure damage. In many parts of the country, air raid sirens were audible.

Also on Friday, the Moldovan Ministry of Defense reported that a missile had been spotted flying through its airspace close to the Ukrainian border. The missile, according to the ministry, flew over two border villages before entering Ukrainian airspace at around 10 a.m. However, the defence ministry of Romania denied that, stating that the missile's closest approach to Romanian airspace was about 35 kilometres (20 miles).

High-voltage infrastructure facilities were hit in the eastern, western and southern regions, Ukraine’s energy company, Ukrenergo, said, resulting in power outages in some areas. It was the 14th round of massive strikes on the country’s power supply, the company said. The last one occurred on Jan. 26 as Moscow seeks to demoralize Ukrainians by leaving them without heat and water in the bitter winter.

Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Anatolii Kurtiev said the city had been hit 17 times in one hour, which he said made it the most intense period of attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

Ukraine’s Air Force shot down 10 Russian missiles over Kyiv, according to the Kyiv City Administration. The fragments of one missile damaged two cars, a house and electricity wires. No casualties were reported.

The Ukraine Air Force said Russia launched S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles on the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia provinces. Those missiles cannot be destroyed in mid-air by air defenses but they have a relatively short range so the Russians have used them for attacks on areas not far from Russian-controlled territory.

The Khmelnytskyi province in Western Ukraine was also attacked with Shahed drones, according to regional Gov. Serhii Hamalii.

Russia has in the past used Iranian-made Shahed drones to strike at key Ukrainian infrastructure and sow fear among civilians, according to Western analysts. They are known as suicide drones because they nosedive into targets and explode on impact like a missile.