WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russian air assaults target Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine says
Russia launched a fresh bombardment of Ukraine in the hours leading into New Year's Eve, Ukrainian officials said, targeting Kyiv and inflicting damage on residential areas of the country's second largest city of Kharkiv.
Ukraine's air defence systems in the region surrounding Kyiv were engaged late on Saturday to repel Russia's drone attack, the military administration of the region said on its Telegram messaging channel.
The scale of the attack and any damage were not immediately clear.
In Kharkiv, in Ukraine's northeast, a fresh drone attack in several waves hit residential buildings in the city centre, spouting fires, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram. Twin missile strikes by Russia on Saturday hit the city and injured at least 21 people.
"On the eve of the New Year, the Russians want to intimidate our city, but we are not scared - we are unbreakable and invincible!" Terekhov said.
"Information about potential casualties is being clarified."
He posted several photos showing windows blown out of residential buildings and fire fighters putting out a fire at what seemed like a store.
The last week of 2023 has seen increased attacks by both sides, with Russia killing at least 31 civilians in its biggest air assault of the war on Ukraine on Friday, and 20 people killed in a Ukrainian attack on the Russian provincial capital of Belgorod on Saturday.
U.S. President Joe Biden, asked if he'll speak to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy after Russia's latest attacks in Ukraine, said: "I speak to him regularly."
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Kiev used banned weapons in attack on Russian city – Defense Ministry
Kiev employed rockets carrying cluster bomb warheads in its strike against the Russian border city of Belgorod, the Russian Defense Ministry stated on Saturday, labeling the attack a ”crime.” This weapon type has been banned by more than 110 nations under a UN convention dating back to 2008, due to the extreme danger it poses to civilians. Its use in densely populated areas can lead to devastating consequences.
The “Kiev regime” used several multiple rocket launchers to hit the city earlier on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement on Telegram. One was a Ukrainian Olkha system, which is capable of firing 12 guided rockets in one volley, hitting targets at a maximum range of 70 to 130 kilometers, depending on the type of system. The Olkha rockets were equipped with cluster bomb warheads, the ministry claimed.
A Czech-made RM-70 Vampire – an upgraded heavier version of the Soviet BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher – was also used, according to the Russian military.
Russian air defenses intercepted most of the incoming projectiles, but several hit the city, the ministry said. It added that “in case of a direct hit by Olkha missiles equipped with cluster munitions… the consequences would be immeasurably more severe.”
Earlier, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said that the strike claimed the lives of 14 people, including two children, and left 108 people, among them 15 children, injured.
The Russian military accused Kiev of seeking to draw public attention away from its failures on the front line, as well as provoking Moscow into retaliatory strikes of a similar nature. The ministry maintained that Russia only strikes military targets and infrastructure that is directly relevant to these military facilities.
“This crime will not go unpunished,” the military said.
Cluster munitions are highly controversial due to their design. They comprise dozens of small submunitions that can be scattered over a large area by an initial detonation, which can then also explode, causing a large number of smaller secondary blasts. Some, however, typically fail to detonate and remain a hazard for years or even decades.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in July that the use of cluster bombs should be regarded as a war crime. At the time, Washington had announced that it would supply Kiev with cluster bombs out of its Cold War-era stockpiles, justifying its decision by claiming that Ukraine had pledged not to use them in populated areas.
The US government also claimed that both Russia and Ukraine had been using their own cluster munitions throughout the conflict. Nevertheless, the move sparked widespread criticism even among America’s allies, including Canada, Germany, and the UK.
Putin said at the time that Moscow reserved the right to use its own cluster munitions in response. He added that Russia had previously refrained from using the weapons even when there was a shortage of other types of munitions.
Reuters/RT