New ‘massive’ Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure | War in Ukraine

Additionally, for the first time since the Russian invasion began 10 months ago, Belarus, a close ally of Moscow, said it had shot down an S300 air defense missile from its territory. of Ukrainian territory.

Authorities have released images of the debris that fell in a field in the Brest region, near the village of Korpaka in the southwest of the country. They called the Ukrainian ambassador and demanded an investigation fully And To punish those responsible.

The Ukrainian government reacted officially, citing possible stimulus To draw Belarus from Moscow into its war. kyiv added Ukraine is ready to conduct an objective investigation into the incident And says it wants to cooperate experts including international States are not associated with support of Russia.

A shower of exploding missiles and drones

On the front, in Ukraine, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Valery Salujny noted that 54 of the 69 Russian missiles launched against Ukraine on Thursday were shot down. The Air Force later announced that 11 Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones had been destroyed.

But those who hit their targets caused further damage to the country’s power grid, already badly damaged by nearly three months of heavy bombardment of this kind.

Power outages in the country multiplied on Thursday, while millions of Ukrainian citizens have already been living with heavily rationed electricity for weeks, as well as water and heating problems in the middle of winter.

” At 11 a.m. local time in Odessa, in the western part of the country, the situation was critical. [sud-ouest] and in the Kiev region. »

His Foreign Ministry representative, Dmytro Kouleba, A Pointless barbarism launched against Quiet Ukrainian cities just before the New YearA major family celebration this season.

After military setbacks on the ground in the late summer and fall, the Kremlin switched tack and began a steady assault in October, targeting dozens of missiles and drones, transformers, and Ukrainian power plants.

So Ukraine is asking its Western allies for more anti-aircraft systems.

On Thursday, 90% of Lviv, a large city in western Ukraine, was without power. In the area of ​​the same name, 282 localities are without electricity.

We must hold on, this is war, we must survive and winIrina Ivaniko, driver of the Lviv tram, which was stopped due to lack of electricity, says.

In Kyiv, at noon, 40% of the population was without electricity due to infrastructure strikes outside the city.

But fragments of the fallen missiles landed on houses and a playground, injuring three people, including a 14-year-old girl, municipal officials said.

In the Portnichy district, half a dozen houses were damaged, an AFP reporter said. One street was strewn with cables, wooden planks and brick rubble.

The war continues and we do what we must to survive. The most important thing is that people should be aliveGuéorguiï Yatsenko, a 59-year-old resident of the district, commented that he was in his cellar with his 3 grandchildren during the strike.

In Odesa, a major port in the southwest, 21 Russian missiles were shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses, Governor Maksim Marchenko said. But there is also a blackout as others hit their target.

Diplomacy stalled

Russian President Vladimir Putin justified this tactic of mass strikes affecting millions of civilians in early December, saying they were a response to Ukrainian attacks against Russian infrastructure.

His invasion of Ukraine, which has lasted more than 10 months, has suffered heavy losses and, as a necessity, assures that the West is using Ukraine as a bridge to threaten Russia.

Again on Wednesday, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, assumed that war had taken place Produced by the West via Ukraine.

Faced with severe military setbacks, Moscow mobilized 300,000 reservists and, therefore, civilians to man the frontlines.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

Photo: Getty Images / Sputnik / AFP / GAVRIIL GRIGOROV

Fighting continues to be fierce, with particularly bloody battles for the eastern city of Pakmud, which Russia has been trying to capture for months, and Kremina, which Ukrainian forces are trying to retake.

Kherson is a large southern city from which Russian forces withdrew on November 11It is now the target of almost daily Russian strikes.

In Russia, anti-aircraft defense forces shot down a drone on Thursday in the area of ​​the main Engels military base, located 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and already hit by a deadly drone attack attributed to Ukraine on Monday.

There is almost no chance of peace talks.

Ukraine is demanding a full withdrawal of the Russian military, while Moscow wants Kiev to cede at least four regions it has claimed annexed by the Kremlin since late September, as well as Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.