WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russia unleashes biggest air attack on Ukraine since start of full-scale invasion
Russia has launched the biggest air attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian military told CNN, with an unprecedented number of drones and missiles fired at targets across the country, killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 150 others.
The wave of attacks began overnight into Friday and struck nationwide, with blasts reported in the capital Kyiv, as well as at a maternity hospital in the central city of Dnipro, the eastern city of Kharkiv, the southeastern port of Odesa, and the western city of Lviv, far from the frontlines.
The strikes continued Friday afternoon, Ukraine’s air force said, as a barrage of missiles targeted the northern Cherkasy region, with one hitting the city of Smilla. Other missiles were detected from Russia’s Kursk region heading towards the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy.
“It’s been a long time since we have seen so many enemy targets on our monitors in all regions and all directions,” Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force, told national television. “Everything was being fired.”
R ussia used 158 drones and missiles, including hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, cruise missiles and Shahed drones, to strike targets in Kyiv, the east, south and west of the country, Ukraine’s air force said.
“Today the enemy has struck a powerful blow. There are downed targets, however unfortunately there are also casualties,” Ihnat added.
The Polish military reported an “unidentified airborne object” entered Polish airspace from Ukrainian territory early Friday morning.
Chief of the General Staff, General Wiesław Kukuła, said everything indicated that a Russian missile had entered and then left Polish airspace, official Polish news agency PAP reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia used “nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal” in the “terrorist strikes,” to which he pledged Ukraine’s military would respond.
The massive overnight assault comes just days after Ukraine struck a Russian Navy landing ship in Crimea on Tuesday, causing severe damage to the vessel in another major blow to Moscow’s Black Sea fleet.
But the onslaught also came shortly after Ukraine received the last package of military aid from the United States until Congress approves the Biden administration’s funding request.
Nearly two years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Zelensky is facing a largely-stalled counteroffensive while Western aid has begun to dry up.
In a separate development, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to troops fighting in one of the most fiercely contested parts of front, the ruined city of Avdiivka.
Video released by the Ukrainian Presidency showed Zelensky standing on a muddy track with the town’s name behind him. As he speaks, two detonations in the distance are heard. He is also shown presenting medals to troops in an underground bunker.
“Ukraine is defending its own here,” he said. “Defending our entire nation. Just as on the entire front line.”
In Kyiv at least seven people were killed and dozens injured after Russia targeted a metro station and residential buildings.
Kharkiv was hit by a “massive attack,” Ukrainian Prime Minster Denys Shmyhal said, with more than 20 strikes reported in the region, including on a hospital. At least three people were killed and 11 injured in the strikes, according to regional military administration head Oleh Syniehubov.
At least four people were killed and 10 people were injured in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, the regional military administration head Yurif Malashko said on Telegram. Emergency workers are still working to see if people are trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Malashko said the region had been targeted by 10 missiles, including Kinzhal missiles, of which one was intercepted.
Further south, a school building was hit in Odesa, injuring seven people, including a child. At least three people were killed and 22 injured – including two children and a pregnant woman – in strikes elsewhere in the region, according to Oleh Kiper, head of Odesa region military administration. At least 18 people were hospitalized.
And in the central city of Dnipro, six people have been confirmed killed, and thirty people were injured in the missile strikes. Elsewhere in the city, 12 pregnant women and four newborn babies had a lucky escape, with video showing extensive damage to a maternity hospital after a Russian missile strike.
Iryna Kulbach, the head of the obstetrics department at the hospital, said “Windows were smashed in the building and the ceilings were broken. But all the patients and medical staff are safe.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Russia had targeted “Ukrainian women, children, the elderly, and civilians.”
“The crimes that Russia has committed in Ukraine today are its revenge for its inability to turn the tide of the battle in the fight against the Ukrainian defense forces,” it said in a statement.
Without referring directly to Friday’s attacks, the Russian Defense Ministry said its army had “carried out 50 group strikes and one mass strike with high-precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles” in the period from December 23 to 29, claiming it had only struck military targets.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Kyiv warned Americans Friday that it “anticipates there may be an increase in Russian drone and missile attacks during the New Year holiday weekend.”
The head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, called for support as his country battles Russian airstrikes.
“A massive terrorist attack, rockets are flying at our cities again, and civilians are being targeted,” Yermak said in a Telegram post on Friday.
“Ukraine needs support. We will be even stronger, we are doing everything to strengthen our air shield. But the world needs to see that we need more support and strength to stop this terror.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”
“We have stood by Ukraine since day one of Russia’s war of aggression. With almost €85 billion [$94 billion] in financial, humanitarian and military support,” she wrote on X.
The latest proposed package of EU aid to Ukraine was blocked by Hungary earlier this month, but a majority of members are exploring the use of different mechanisms to continue providing financial assistance to Ukraine. Von der Leyen said Brussels was “working very hard” to reach an agreement between 27 member states.
Following the attacks the United Kingdom’s defense minister Grant Shapps said the UK is sending “hundreds of air defense missiles” to Ukraine, to “restock British gifted air defense systems capable of striking down Russian drones and missiles with incredible accuracy.”
‘The house was shaking’
The Ukrainian Air Force said it recorded “the departure of 9 Tu-95MS strategic bombers from the ‘Olenya’ airfield in the Murmansk region of Russia.” The Tu-95 bomber is a mainstay of Russia’s aerial attacks on Ukraine, able to launch cruise missiles against its neighbor out of the range of most air-defense systems.
In Kyiv, air raid sirens sounded for several hours overnight. Residents told CNN later Friday how they were woken by the attacks.
“It was very loud, the house was shaking, it was very scary,” said Viktoria Krasyuk. “It seems like you’ve been living in this for many months, but it still causes emotions, it’s still very difficult, it’s very hard to decide whether to stay or go somewhere, or even leave (the country).”
A man named Sehiy told CNN the attack was a reminder that Russia’s “goal is the same – to destroy Ukraine as a state.”
“Unfortunately, Russia is learning to fight. It is learning to fight, including from us Ukrainians. They are accumulating ammunition, everything else they need,” he said.
Trains were halted as a building was damaged at Lukianivska subway station in central Kyiv, which is also operating as a shelter, mayor Klitschko said.
Many were wounded and a search for victims is underway after a warehouse caught fire in the Podilskyi district of the capital region, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said in a Telegram post.
In Lviv, which borders Poland, the head of the regional military administration said that at least 15 people had been injured, with damage reported in 13 residential buildings and two schools. The National Basketball Federation later announced that one of the country’s most celebrated basketball players, Viktor Kobzystyi, had died in the strikes on the city.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he wished the “loud sound of explosions” heard across Ukraine Friday morning “could be heard all around the world.”
“In all major capitals, headquarters, and parliaments, which are currently debating further support for Ukraine. In all newsrooms, which are writing about ‘fatigue’ or Russia purportedly being ready for ‘negotiations,’” he wrote on X.
“These sounds are what Russia really has to say. Our only collective response can and must be continued, robust, and long-term military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Only greater firepower can silence Russian terror.”
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Russia confirms ‘massive barrage’ on targets in Ukraine
The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that its forces launched a series of air attacks against multiple targets in Ukraine in the last week. A statement from the ministry on Friday detailed 50 “group” strikes and a single “massive” barrage using precision missiles and drones.
The ministry described the intended targets as “defense industry sites, military airfield infrastructure and depots for the storage of artillery munitions, naval drones, arms and fuel for military vehicles,” as well as troop positions. All of them were successfully hit, the statement added.
Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, reported earlier in the day that at least 158 separate launches were detected by Kiev’s troops on Thursday evening and Friday morning. He claimed that of the total, 27 drones and 87 cruise missiles were intercepted.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yury Ignat said in a televised statement that “we have never seen so many targets on our monitors simultaneously.”
Officials in various parts of the country claimed damage to several warehouses and a metro station in Kiev, among other locations.
** Russian supersonic missiles are unstoppable – Ukraine
Kiev’s forces have been unable to shoot down a single Kh-22 or Kh-32 supersonic cruise missile out of around 300 allegedly launched so far by Russia, Ukrainian Air Force Command spokesperson Yury Ignat has disclosed.
His comments came after Moscow launched a major missile attack against targets across the country over the past two days. The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that it carried out 50 “group strikes” as well as a single “massive” barrage using precision missiles and drones this week, targeting defense industry sites as well as military airfields and depots.
One of the biggest challenges for Ukrainian air defense systems is the Russian Kh-22 missile and its modernized variant, the Kh-32, according to Ignat. He explained that the missile travels at a speed of 4,000kph and follows a ballistic trajectory, meaning that intercepting it requires “special equipment” such as the US-made Patriot air defense system.
The Kh-22 ‘Storm’ is a supersonic long-range air-launched anti-ship cruise missile originally developed in the USSR. The Kh-32 is a deeply modernized version of its predecessor and acts as a supersonic air-to-surface cruise missile with a range of up to 1,000km.
The air force spokesman claimed that since the launch of Moscow’s military operation in February 2022, Russian forces have fired 300 Kh-22 and Kh-32 rockets across Ukraine. He stated that Ukrainian air defense systems have not been able to intercept a single one of them.
Kiev has already received several Patriot systems from its Western backers earlier this year. It has reportedly used them to strike targets over the Russian border, despite vowing not to use the donated weapons outside of territories it claims as its own. Last month, the Ukrainian military claimed that it had used the US systems in May to take down five military aircraft in Russia’s Bryansk Region, including two fighter jets and three helicopters. Russia, however, has not confirmed the attacks.
While Kiev has continued to demand more advanced weapons systems from the US and its allies, Washington has reiterated that it would only provide them on condition that Ukraine does not use them to attack Russian territories. US Army General Mark Milley stressed in May that “this is a Ukrainian war. It is not a war between the United States and Russia. It’s not a war between NATO and Russia.”
Russia has repeatedly denounced the West over the arms shipments, warning that they will only prolong the fighting and lead to more bloodshed without changing the outcome of the conflict. Moscow has also stressed that any Western arms that make it to Ukraine will be considered legitimate targets and will promptly be destroyed.
CNN/RT