As Russian military operations continue in Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said his country shot down 60 of 76 missiles fired by Russia on Friday.
General Zaluzhny wrote in Telegram: “According to preliminary data this morning, from the Caspian and Black Sea regions, the enemy fired 76 missiles, including 72 cruise missiles (X-101, ‘Caliber’, X-22) and four guided air missiles (X-).59) on critical infrastructure in Ukraine.
On Friday morning, several Ukrainian cities were targeted by a flurry of Russian attacks, explosions were heard in central Kiev and power outages were reported in several areas.
Air raid sirens have sounded across Ukraine, including the capital Kiev, officials said, pointing to another Russian missile strike on the country.
On Friday, two people were killed and five others were injured when a Russian missile hit a residential building in the southern Ukraine town of Kryvyi Rig, according to the region’s governor. Governor Valentin Reznichenko said: “Two people died and at least 5 people were injured, including two children, all of whom were hospitalized.”
For their part, the Ukrainian authorities have announced that the air defenses have shot down a missile over Kiev.
“Do not leave the shelters. The attack on the capital continues,” Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitko wrote via Telegram. He stressed that the Russian bombing caused water cuts in the capital and the metro stopped, while the stations were used as shelters against the bombing. He stated that “Russian attacks have caused serious damage to infrastructure, especially energy systems”.
And its counterparts in Kharkiv (north-east) and Lotava (central-east) have announced that their cities have been deprived of electricity due to early morning strikes.
In turn, the Ukrainian mayor of Kherson said several Russian attacks targeted the city’s infrastructure.
Vitaly Kim, governor of the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, said up to 60 Russian missiles were detected targeting Ukrainian airspace.
A Ukrainian bombing on Friday in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine killed 8 people and injured 23 others, according to Russian authorities who control the region.
The appointed governor of Russia, Leonid Pasechnik, said: “In the early hours of Friday morning, the town of Stakhanov and the village of Lantratovka were again subjected to artillery shelling by nationalists, and 8 people were killed and 23 of our compatriots were injured.”
This was announced on Thursday by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky Russian forces Kherson has been targeted with more than 16 raids, resulting in two deaths and leading to a power outage in the city.
Zelinsky added that the Donbass and Kharkiv regions were also subjected to “brutal Russian attacks,” as he described them.
Expectations of a major attack on Kiev
This comes as Ukrainian army commander Valery Zaluzhny expected Russia to launch a new attack on Kiev in early 2023, after fighting concentrated months ago in the east and south of the country, according to Agence France-Presse.
Zaluzhny said, in an interview with the British weekly The Economist, that there is a “very important strategic task for us, which is to build reserves and prepare for war that could break out in February, in March at the latest, and at the lowest deadlines.” at the end of January.” He added: “I have no doubt that they will try again to take control of Kiev.
In the interview, the head of the Ukrainian army confirmed that he had done “all the calculations; how many tanks and artillery do we need, etc.” to repel the potential attack.
Zaluzhny believed that the Ukrainian military is currently facing a “problem” of “holding the line” of the current front that stretches from south to east, and “not losing any more ground”, after defeating Russian forces in September from Kharkiv (northeast) Kherson (south) regions early November.
According to the Ukrainian army chief, the Russians have been bombing the country’s energy infrastructure since October after a series of humiliating setbacks, because “they need time” to “pool their human and military resources” in view of the launch of a new major offensive in the coming months.
He also indicated, in his interview with The Economist, that the national energy grid is “walking a razor’s edge”, considering it “possible” to be completely out of commission, if it receives new missile and drone attacks.
The Russian military began its war against Ukraine in late February and has been trying to quickly control Kiev by sending forces from Belarus, which borders Ukraine from the north.
Russian forces closed within tens of kilometers of the center of the Ukrainian capital before withdrawing from the region in late March and early April in what was seen as a victory for the Ukrainian military.
Strikes cause daily power outages across the country, leaving millions of Ukrainians cold and dark in the dead of winter.
