In one of its greatest attacks on Ukraine since the war began, Russia launched more than 70 missiles at Ukraine on Friday, knocking out electricity in the country’s second-largest city and forcing Kyiv to impose emergency blackouts across the country, according to Ukrainian officials.
According to reports, 1 person was killed in shelling in Kherson in the south and three people were murdered when an apartment complex was hit in the center of Kryvyi Rih. 12 individuals were killed by Ukrainian shelling, as per officials imposed by Russia in occupied eastern Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, requested that western partners continue supplying Kyiv with additional and improved air defense systems in an evening video message in which he claimed Russia still has enough missiles on hand to launch many more large assaults.
Ukraine’s President’s Statement
As per Zelensky, is resilient enough to recover. He declared, “Whatever the Moscow rocket enthusiasts are hoping for, it still won’t affect the balance of power in this battle.”
Approximately a year after its invasion on February 24 in which large sections of Ukraine were destroyed by missiles and artillery but little of it was captured by Russian soldiers, On Thursday, Kyiv warned that Moscow planned to launch a new all-out attack early in 2024
Russia has started firing missiles at Ukrainian energy facilities virtually every week since early October as a result of numerous military setbacks. Snow and ice are already regular, but Friday’s attack seemed to do more damage than most others.
Following Ukraine’s air force, Russia attempted to confuse its air defence by flying warplanes close to Ukraine. However, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said that at least nine power-generating facilities had been hit. Its army leader claimed that 60 of 76 Russian missiles had been shot down.
Moscow claims that the attacks are meant to weaken Ukraine’s armed forces. Ukrainians refer to them as war crimes.
“They want to kill us and turn us into slaves. But we’re not going to give up. We’ll fight,” said Lidiya Vasilieva, 53, as she headed for shelter at a railway station in the capital Kyiv.
Just a third of Kyiv’s people had heat and water, and only 40% had electricity, according to the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, who spoke late on Friday. He continued by saying that the metro system, a vital transportation route, was still closed.
Zelensky appealed to Ukrainians to exercise patience and asked local authorities to come up with more inventive ways to organize energy supplies for emergencies.
The second-largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, in the northeast, was also severely affected, losing running water, heating, and electricity. Oleh Synehubov, the regional governor, was quoted by Interfax Ukraine as saying later on Friday that 85% of the surrounding area’s power was restored, as well as 55% of the city’s power.
Liudmyla Kovylko, cooking at an emergency food distribution point, said life must go on. “We heard explosions, the power went out. People need to be fed. We’re cooking on a wood stove.”
Ukrainian Shelling
Many soldiers have allegedly been killed and injured on both sides in fierce fighting while Russian forces have taken up residence in the south and east of Ukraine, occupying almost a fifth of the country. Neither side, unfortunately, releases thorough reports of their military deaths.
Officials with ties to Russia claimed that the most recent Ukrainian shelling had resulted in the deaths of 2 people.
As per rescue services, 11 people were killed, 20 were injured, and another 20 were missing in the town of Lantrativka near the Russian border in the Russian-controlled Luhansk area of eastern Ukraine, reported Russia’s TASS news agency.
Leonid Pasechnik, the region’s newly-installed Russian governor, dubbed the assault “barbaric.” The most recent combat reports could not immediately be confirmed by Reuters.
Mykhailo Shamanov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military, described Friday’s missile barrage as one of Russia’s heaviest and claimed that 37 of the 40 missiles fired at the Kyiv region had been shot down by Ukraine.
Yulia Svyrydenko, minister of economy, says to the media that “The Russian Federation wants to put persistent pressure on Ukrainians.”
Electricity Partial Restores
After earlier attacks, the nation was able to repair a large portion of its water and electricity supplies, but the process has grown more challenging with each incident. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s small and medium-sized firms have imported roughly 500,000 power generators, but the nation requires thousands more that are bigger and stronger to get through the winter.
Due to the lack of peace talks, Ukrainian defence leaders said on Thursday that Russia would begin a fresh all-out onslaught early in the following year, which might include a second attempt to seize Kyiv, which they attempted and failed to do earlier this year. Per the talks with The Economist magazine, Zelensky, Generals Valery Zaluzhniy and Oleksandr Syrskiy, a new assault might take place as early as January.
Invasion by Russia is described as a “special military operation” aimed at “denazifying” and disarming Ukraine. In what the West claims are an imperialistic land grab, thousands of people have been killed, cities have been reduced to ruins, and millions have been displaced from their homes.
