According to the Ukrainian Air Force, more than 120 Russian missiles hit several cities in the country, including kyiv, this Thursday morning, December 29.
SourceAFP
© DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP
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Lhe war in Ukraine knows no truce this Christmas season. The Ukrainian Air Force announced on social networks that “the enemy is attacking [le pays] on several fronts, with cruise missiles fired from planes and ships”, this Thursday morning, December 29. Several localities would be affected, including the capital, kyiv, and Lviv, where 90% of the city would be without electricity. The mayor, Andriï Sadovy, denounces Russian bombardments on energy infrastructures. “Trams and trolleybuses no longer run in the city, there could be water cuts,” he said on the social network Telegram.
Ukrainian air defense says it has managed to shoot down 54 of the 69 Russian missiles launched against Ukraine, assured the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Valery Zalouzhny, on social networks. “According to provisional data, a total of 69 missiles were launched and 54 enemy missiles were shot down,” he wrote on Telegram. The Air Force also reports 11 Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones that were destroyed.
Previously, the Ukrainian presidency had reported up to 120 missiles having targeted the country. “More than 120 missiles were launched to destroy critical civilian infrastructure and kill civilians en masse,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter.
kyiv residents without electricity
At least three people were injured in kyiv, including a 14-year-old girl, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko, and nearly half of the Ukrainian capital was without electricity by midday Thursday. “40% of consumers in the capital are without electricity after the Russian attack”, declared Vitali Klitschko on the social network Telegram, assuring that the water and the district heating functioned normally, except in the buildings deprived of current whose boilers run on electricity.
However, the head of the city’s military administration, Serguiï Popko, assured that the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses managed to shoot down all of the 16 Russian missiles that targeted the capital. “Fragments of the downed missiles damaged three houses and a car in the Darnytsky district, an industrial enterprise in the Golossiivsky district and a playground in the Pechersky district. Three people were injured and hospitalized,” he added.
Energy infrastructure, core target
The Kremlin had warned that there would be no New Year truce on the ground in Ukraine. And indeed, these bombings occur a few days before New Year, the main family celebration in this season in most countries of the region.
After a series of military setbacks on the ground in late summer and fall, the Kremlin changed tack and in October began regularly hitting transformers and power stations with salvoes of dozens of missiles and drones. from Ukraine. With the key to serious energy shortages and millions of Ukrainians plunged into the cold and the dark.
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