Putin’s criminal campaign continues with large air strikes on infrastructure, energy and the environment.
On the eve of celebrations to welcome the New Year in Ukraine, Russia started one of the biggest missile attacks in the war on energy infrastructure. At dawn the sound of blasts was heard throughout cities and towns across the country as 70 cruise missiles and armoured drones were sent against civilian targets. Kyiv described as one of the biggest days of air strikes since the Kremlin began a campaign to attack the country’s electricity, water and heating system, that as temperatures began to drop with the onset of winter, have focused on power plants. Thursday’s strikes were the 10th massive attack on the power grid of Ukraine since the beginning of September.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has employed the method to diminish the motivation to take on Ukraine’s civilian population by casting civilians in darkness and freezing with sub-zero temperatures, as the war is entering its 10th month. According to Kyiv military, air defense units from the Ukrainian military have destroyed 54 of the cruise missiles fired from Russian forces. However, the most recent wave of attacks left the majority of the city of Lviv in the western part of Ukraine with no electricity as per local officials in addition to water supply being significantly damaged. In Kyiv the city, 40 percent of homes were without electric supply, Kyiv’s mayor the capital, Vitali Klitschko, said.
A Ukrainian anti-aircraft ballistic missile landed on Belarusian territory, as per BelTA, the state news agency. The agency added no casualties had been reported. It is believed that the Belarusian Defense Ministry is investigating whether it was shot down through its air defense systems or whether it was unable to hit its target.
When dawn broke over Kiev and Kiev, the hum of missiles, and the gray trail were seen across the sky. Sirens from air raids had previously alerted Kiev that the capital and the entire nation, was under alert for the possibility of a missile strike. On Thursday, 16 projectiles fired by Moscow focused on the Ukrainian capital, all were blocked by anti-aircraft defences, according to Kyiv authorities. In the end, shell fragments struck two homes, a kids’ play area and a manufacturing plant, which injured three people, which included a teenager in the city’s Mayor’s office.
Russian strikes have also damaged infrastructure located in port cities like Odesa as well as the cities in northern Russia of Zhytomyr and Kharkiv. There were several buildings damaged, as well as a power line and a gas pipeline were destroyed in attacks on the outer reaches of the city in the south-central region of Zaporizhzhia as per the regional governor, Oleksandr Staruj. In Kherson that was freed from the hands of Ukrainian force in late November, and was the subject of heavy shelling over the past couple of days, the missile struck a medical centre, as per the local authorities. It injured two individuals. “They imagine they will see Ukrainians can celebrate the New Year in darkness and cold. However, they are not able to defeat the Ukrainian people,” Kyiv’s Defense Ministry announced on social networks.
A power plant in Kyiv is burning after an attack from a drone on the night of December 19 2022. A power plant in Kyiv burned after an unmanned attack on the 19th 2022.
SERGEI SUPINSKY (AFP)
The most recent round of air strikes were executed by two warships , as well as 13 strategically bombers that carried cruise missiles According to Ukrainian Air Force. Before the missiles began to drop, Moscow sent waves of Iranian-made Shahed suicide drones. These were deployed by Russian forces as a way to distract Ukrainian air defense teams ahead of subsequent missile strikes. A group of 13 drones were directed at Kharkiv which saw 11 of them shot down, according to the local authorities. In Dnipro which is a city that plays a crucial role situated in the central region of the country and a logistics and communication hub, five drones were downed before a wave of missiles launched. The southern Ukrainian Army command is reporting that three Russian military vessels carrying missiles have taken to positions in combat within the Black Sea.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned days earlier that Russia planned large-scale military strikes over the course of the Christmas holiday. “With the approaching holiday season, Russian terrorists may become active again,” Zelenskiy stated. “They despise Christian values and any values in general.”
Thursday’s strikes came days after a drone attack on a Russian strategically bomber base from where Moscow is conducting raids against critical Ukrainian infrastructure. At least three Russian troops were wounded during an attack that revealed cracks in Moscow’s anti-aircraft defences. The second drone raid executed the Engels airbase that is located in the Saratov region, hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian frontier. Like it had done in earlier attacks against bases on Russian territorial waters it was the Ukrainian government used cryptic words but did not assign the attacks to its own military while also insisting they are in direct response to the war waged by the Kremlin.
Comments are closed.