russia may launch massive missile strikes on invasion anniversary – AFU

russia is preparing for another massive missile strike, says Natalia Humeniuk, the joint press center chief at the Ukrainian army's South Operational Command.

Given the tendency to take a break between attacks of about two weeks, it is possible that the next missile attack could occur on February 24, the first anniversary of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk told the Yedini Novyni journalists on the air of the nationwide telethon.

"If we talk about the timeline between massive missile strikes, it is usually up to two weeks," Humeniuk said. "We can notice that when two weeks pass since the previous massive missile attack, it will be exactly February 24. Keeping in mind the enemy's allure to sacred dates, we must be on the alert." 

She also noted that the attack could be both mass and targeted.

"Two submarine missile carriers equipped with up to eight missiles continue to be in the service of the russians. This indicates that the enemy has not given up missile attacks, and they may be involved in both a mass or combined missile attack and pinpoint strikes," Humeniuk said.

On February 10, Ukraine's Defense Forces destroyed 61 out of 71 rockets launched by the russian occupiers during another massive rocket attack with rocket launchers. It was the 14th massive missile attack since October 10, when russia started rocket strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

For background

russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, attacking the regions neighboring russia, the temporarily occupied Crimea and Donbas, and belarus. In the first week of the attack, russian forces occupied part of the northern regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, most of the eastern regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, part of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, and almost the entire Kherson region in the south.

The Ukrainian armed forces liberated the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy after a month of invasion and the Kharkiv region in early September 2022 and part of the Kherson region in November 2022 as part of a major counter-offensive.