According to the Ukrainian Air Force, more than 120 Russian missiles hit several cities in the country, including Kiev, on Thursday morning.
Source AFP
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Lhe war in Ukraine knows no respite this Christmas season. The Ukrainian Air Force announced on social networks that “the enemy is attacking [le pays] on several fronts, with cruise missiles launched from planes and ships”, this morning of Thursday 29 December. Several locations would be affected, including the capital, Kiev and Lviv, where 90% of the city would be without electricity. The mayor, Andriï Sadovy, denounces the Russian bombing of energy infrastructure. “Trams and trolleybuses no longer circulate in the city, there could be cuts to the water,” he said on the social Telegram.
The Ukrainian air defense claims it managed to shoot down 54 of the 69 Russian missiles fired at Ukraine, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Valery Zalouzhny, assured on social media. “According to provisional data, a total of 69 missiles were fired and 54 enemy missiles shot down,” he wrote on Telegram. The Air Force also reports 11 Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones that have been destroyed.
Earlier, the Ukrainian presidency reported that up to 120 missiles had targeted the country. “More than 120 missiles have been fired to destroy critical civilian infrastructure and kill civilians en masse,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter.
Kiev residents without electricity
At least three people were injured in Kyiv, including a 14-year-old girl, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, and nearly half of the Ukrainian capital was without electricity by noon on Thursday. “40% of consumers in the capital are without electricity after the Russian attack,” said Vitali Klitschko on the Telegram social network, assuring that water and district heating worked normally, except in buildings without electricity where boilers work at electricity.
However, the head of the military administration of the city, Serguiï Popko, assured that the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses managed to shoot down all 16 Russian missiles that targeted the capital. “Fragments from the downed missiles damaged three houses and a car in the Darnytsky district, an industrial enterprise in the Golossiivsky district and a playground in the Pechersky district. Three people were injured and hospitalized,” he added.
Energy infrastructures, central objective
The Kremlin had warned that there would be no New Year’s truce on the ground in Ukraine. And indeed, these bombings take place a few days before New Year’s Eve – the main family holiday this season in most countries of the region.
After a series of military setbacks on the ground in late summer and fall, the Kremlin changed tactics and in October began regularly targeting transformers and power plants with salvos of dozens of missiles and drones from Ukraine . With the key to severe energy shortages and millions of Ukrainians plunged into cold and darkness.
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