Residents of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv were told to head to air-raid shelters early on Friday (December 30) as sirens sounded across the city. The day before, Ukraine denounced “massive” Russian missile strikes against its energy infrastructure, which it said killed three people. “Tonight, there are power cuts in most regions of Ukraine,” lamented Thursday its president Volodymyr Zelensky in his daily address on the Internet. The situation is “particularly difficult” in the kyiv region and in the capital itself, in that of Lviv, in Transcarpathia and in Vinnytsia (west) as well as in Odessa, Kherson and its surroundings (south), he said. precise.
- Kyiv bombed again last night
Shortly after 2 a.m., the Kyiv city government issued an alert on its Telegram messaging app channel about air raid sirens and called on residents to seek shelters. A Reuters witness 20 km (12 miles) south of kyiv heard several explosions and the sound of anti-aircraft fire. Olekskiy Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region, said on Telegram that a “drone attack” was underway. Hours later, he said the attack targeted infrastructure and there were no casualties. Kuleba wrote on Telegram: “Night attack by martyr drones. Russia again targeted our infrastructure facilities. Air defense forces repelled the drones.”
- Russian shootings: power cuts “in most regions” of Ukraine
“Most regions” of Ukraine were affected Thursday evening by power cuts after the new salvo of Russian fire which targeted the country’s electrical infrastructure in the morning, deplored its president Volodymyr Zelensky. These strikes left “3 dead and 6 injured, including a child”, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi told local television on Thursday evening.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, “with each of these missile attacks, Russia only drives itself deeper into a stalemate.” “They have fewer and fewer missiles,” he argued, without giving precise figures. On the eastern front, where the fighting is very violent, the “most critical” situation is observed around “Bakhmout and Soledar”, in the Donetsk region, also specified Volodymir Zelensky. Since the summer, the Russian army has been trying in vain to conquer the city of Bakhmout, which had more than 70,000 inhabitants before the war.
- Putin welcomes Netanyahu’s return and wants to strengthen cooperation with Israel
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the return of Benjamin Netanyahu to the head of the Israeli government on Thursday, wishing to strengthen cooperation with Israel “in all areas”, the Kremlin said in a statement. “I hope that the new government under your leadership will continue the line of strengthening Russian-Israeli cooperation in all areas for the benefit of our peoples, in the interests of ensuring peace and security in the Near East,” Vladimir Putin said in a message to Benjamin Netanyahu.
“In Russia, we very much appreciate your personal contribution and long years in strengthening friendly relations between our countries”, underlined the master of the Kremlin, while Benjamin Netanyahu described the Russian leader as a “friend” on several occasions in the past.
- Minsk says it shot down a Ukrainian missile over Belarus, kyiv evokes a possible Russian “provocation”
Minsk, an ally of Moscow, claimed Thursday to have shot down a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile over its territory, kyiv saying in the evening “not to exclude a deliberate provocation” from Russia to “involve Belarus in its war”. This is the first incident of this type reported by Minsk since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than ten months ago, and while Belarus serves as a rear base for Russian forces.
The missile was shot down in the morning by Belarusian air defense systems near the village of Gorbakha, in the Brest region (southwest), bordering Ukraine, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense said in a press release. “During verifications, it was preliminary established that the debris belonged to an S-300 anti-aircraft missile launched from Ukrainian territory,” the statement said. According to the Defense Ministry, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was “immediately informed of the incident”.
- Armenia’s prime minister hits out at Russian military again
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian again attacked Russian peacekeepers deployed in Nagorny Karabakh on Thursday, accusing them of being “silent witnesses” to Azerbaijani aggression in the disputed region. Moscow dismissed these criticisms. “The behavior of Russian peacekeepers is unacceptable to us, they have become silent witnesses” of Azerbaijani attempts to drive the Armenians out of Nagorny Karabakh, accused Nikol Pashinian, during a meeting of the Armenian government.
Yerevan accuses Azerbaijani militants of blocking since mid-December a vital route — the Lachin Corridor — that connects Armenia to territories controlled by Armenian separatists in Nagorny Karabakh, a mountainous region that seceded from Azerbaijan in early 1990s and where residents say they now fear a humanitarian crisis.