Explosion after the missile hit in the Khmelnytskyi region on February 10
Yulia Skarlat
For New Pathway – Ukrainian News, Kyiv
February 10 was an ordinary Friday. The last working day before the long-awaited weekend after a busy week. It seemed like you could relax, because you have a whole weekend ahead of you to reboot. What can happen?
However, for Ukrainians, this is just another morning that did not start with coffee — Russia again launched dozens of missiles upon Ukraine in an attempt to destroy the country’s energy infrastructure. It was the 352nd day of the full-scale Russian invasion. Throughout the country, the morning began with air raid sirens, explosions and calls from the loved ones with the only important question: “How are you?”
“The 14th mass terrorist missile attack on the energy system of Ukraine is ongoing. Unfortunately, we have received hits on several objects of high-voltage infrastructure in the eastern, western, and southern regions, which led to power outages in some regions,” — this is the morning message Ukrainians received from the country’s electricity distribution company.
On February 10, Western regions of the country, as well as Kyiv, Odesa, and Kharkiv regions, were the most affected. The enemy fired 71 cruise missiles, 61 of which were shot down by Ukrainian defenders. Air defense forces also shot down 5 Shahed kamikaze drones.
Nine enemy missiles were shot down over the Lviv region. Unfortunately, one missile did hit an energy facility.
Also, one of the rockets fell near a sanatorium in the Lviv area, which hosted hundreds of visitors. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Another Russian rocket, which was launched in the western direction, fell on the highway, near a bus stop around the village of Kizliv, Zolochiv district of the Lviv region. The rocket did not explode, thanks to that there were no casualties, and emergency personnel defused it.
The Khmelnytskyi oblast was also hit by shelling on Friday. Cruise missiles hit a critical infrastructure facility in right about in the region’s centre. There were no casualties, however, residential buildings and an educational institution were damaged. Windows flew out and roofs broke, a fire started, which was quickly extinguished. As a result of the hit, half of the Khmelnytskyi city and part of the region remained without electricity for a long time.
In the capital of Ukraine, the Russians struck the city, but in Kyiv, there were also no casualties among the civilian population.
In the early morning of February 10, kyivans woke up to the sounds of sirens and loud bangs – the Ukrainian air defense shot down 10 Russian missiles over the city. There was damage to the electrical networks, energy workers have restored the networks by now.
Thankfully, the attack brought no casualties, but fragments of a Russian rocket damaged a car and four private houses the private sector in the Holosiiv district. The windows and roofs of the houses were damaged. This damage is considered minor these days.
It is interesting that even during air raids and massive shellings, Kyiv continues to live. People try to get to work in all possible ways, despite the fact that the public transit is not working during the alarm.
It seems that the people in Kyiv have grown used to these realities and are now really used to the war in general — and this is one of the worst things. If in the first days of the war, almost a year ago, a huge multi-kilometre traffic jam formed on the Kyiv-Zhytomyr highway, as people were fleeing the city, now most people do not even pay attention to the sirens. The psyche of Ukrainians is used to stress and is now in the surviving mode. We have learned to find solutions in seemingly impossible situations.
The State Emergency Service and the energy company DTEK’s electricity technicians are doing an incredible job in helping us go through these challenges. Starting just two days after the last attack, since February 12, the lights have been constantly on in Kyiv and ten other regions, because two power units at the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant have been turned back on. This has been a very pleasant surprise for millions of Ukrainians which have been experiencing lengthy blackouts for months. However, the nationwide energy distribution company is still warning that in the case of network overload, there may be scheduled restrictions in the electricity supply.
This difficult year has split the lives of Ukrainians into “before” and “after”. Our values have changed, and we now find joy in the simple things like when the lights are on and there is no shelling and casualties, when the whole family can gather in the evening for a supper. I really want these little joys to continue uninterrupted.
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