2024-01-02 14:38:20
Russia carried out new “massive” strikes against Ukraine on Tuesday morning, causing the death of at least five civilians and injuring around a hundred people mainly in Kiev and Kharkiv, according to the Ukrainian authorities, who urgently demanded their Western allies to accelerate their deliveries of military equipment.
As usual, the Russian army assured that it had only targeted military installations which were all destroyed using long-range missiles and explosive drones.
The inhumane Russians strike again, commented President Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech broadcast on social networks, after denouncing Russian terror.
Ukraine’s military said Russia fired 99 missiles early Tuesday, 72 of which were shot down.
In kyiv, a building in the Solomianskii district, near the center, was hit and many windows were destroyed. On site in the morning, firefighters and rescuers were busy, smoke escaping from several apartments.
Two people died and 49 others were injured, announced its mayor Vitali Klitschko.
It’s horror!, proclaims Galina Soloviova, a 79-year-old woman, on the spot.
There is nothing left in the apartment: no more water, no more electricity, no more gas. Everything was blown away, says her daughter, Violetta, 56. It’s just a pile of ruins…
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Firefighters in front of a multi-story residential building destroyed by a missile attack in central kyiv, January 2, 2024.
Photo : Getty Images / GENYA SAVILOV
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry, for its part, deplored massive bombings, specifying that residential buildings, warehouses and essential infrastructure had been hit.
In addition, two civilians died and 16 other people were injured, including a child, in another Russian strike in the kyiv region, according to Ukrainian emergency services.
And more than 86,000 residents of kyiv and its surrounding areas remained without electricity at the start of the afternoon following the bombings, the Energy Ministry said.
Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, located in the northeast, not far from the Russian border, was the target of at least four strikes, in which a 91-year-old woman lost her life, according to the governor of the region Oleg Synegubov. 47 other people were injured, added the regional prosecutor’s office.
In retaliation for these morning attacks, the Ukrainian army fired two salvos of missiles at midday on the Russian border region of Belgorod, assured the Russian Ministry of Defense, according to which all 17 warheads were destroyed .
Strikes announced by Putin
This new series of Russian strikes comes the day after Vladimir Putin’s threat to intensify strikes in Ukraine in retaliation for the unprecedented attack on the Russian city of Belgorod on Saturday.
In a press release, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba, called on the West to react decisively to the Russian bombings.
The minister therefore urgently called for the acceleration of Western deliveries of additional anti-aircraft defense systems, combat drones of all types and missiles with a range of more than 300 kilometers.
Give arms to Ukraine!, implored the Secretary General of the Ukrainian Security and Defense Council Oleksiï Danilov on Twitter, kyiv facing difficulties in recent weeks in obtaining more military aid from its Western allies .
It is urgent and crucial to support Ukraine now, to stop Putin, said the American ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, on X (ex-Twitter).
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People take shelter at a metro station during a Russian missile and drone strike, in kyiv, Ukraine, December 29, 2023.
Photo: Archyde.com / VIACHESLAV RATYNSKYI
In a press release, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, for her part considered alarming the Russian strikes which leave hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without electricity (and) without water, at a time when the Temperatures are negative in Ukraine.
However, almost two years after the start of its invasion, Russia seems determined to increase its air attacks.
Last Friday, a series of Russian missile attacks left around forty dead.
In total, since Sunday, the Russian army has launched around 170 [drones explosifs, NDLR] Shahed and dozens of missiles of different types, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.
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