Air attacks with almost unprecedented results since the start of the war. For several days, Ukraine and Russia have been clashing with particularly violent airstrikes, raising fears of a further worrying tightening of the conflict.
This intensification first came from the Russian camp. Last Friday, December 29, Moscow carried out one of the bloodiest air raids since the start of the conflict on several major Ukrainian cities, such as kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv and Odessa. Total toll: nearly 40 dead and 160 injured, buildings razed, and the promise of a Ukrainian response which was not long in coming.
Indeed, the next day, Kiev also led a major air offensive on the city of Belgorod, causing more than 20 deaths and several dozen injuries, the deadliest attack on civilians in Russia since the start of the conflict. in February 2022. Also with a worrying Russian reaction declaring that this attack would “not go unpunished”, and a promise from Putin to “intensify” strikes in Ukraine.
Increasing attacks
Since then, the military gear seems to have restarted again, with very violent air attacks coming from both camps. With this pattern, which seems to be starting to become established: Russia strikes, Ukraine responds.
Thus, this Tuesday, January 2, Russia fired 99 missiles at Ukraine, 72 of which were shot down by air defense according to the Ukrainian army. But this “massive” attack still caused five deaths and nearly 130 injured around Kiev and Kharkiv in particular, with the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army Valeri Zalouzhny declaring that “the main target of these strikes was the Ukrainian capital “.
In retaliation, Ukraine again struck the Belgorod region on Tuesday, with strikes causing one death and five injuries according to its governor. Other missiles were also destroyed by Moscow before hitting their target, the Russian army announced. Finally, this Wednesday, kyiv again targeted Russian territories, with two border regions as well as annexed Crimea which were targeted by Ukrainian strikes, without causing any casualties.
Decisive Western armament
This intensification directly impacts the debates at the end of 2023: can Ukraine really hold out this war in the long (or even medium) term without substantial and lasting Western support? The head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleb is the first to be aware of this, once again calling on Western allies to “accelerate” their arms deliveries and to “react decisively” to these strikes, while the American Congress is still blocked on its next financial envelope in kyiv, and that the European Union was unable to decide at the last European summit.
These air clashes show the importance of Western weaponry: this Tuesday, Kiev claimed to have shot down ten Russian Kinjal missiles fired by Moscow, “a record”, using an American Patriot air defense system, then that these hypersonic projectiles had been presented as “invincible” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. “If the missiles had hit their targets, the consequences would have been catastrophic,” Ukrainian General Zaluzhny said.
Reply “in language that Putin understands”
Enough to once again arouse the concern of the international community. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday that the United Kingdom “will continue to strongly support Ukraine in its fight against aggression and occupation throughout 2024 and beyond.” ‘future’, when London had sent nearly 200 anti-aircraft missiles after the first air raid on December 29.
The new head of Polish diplomacy, for his part, called on the Western world this Wednesday to equip kyiv with long-range missiles that would allow it to respond to massive Russian strikes “in a language that Putin understands.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stressed “that with every missile, Putin shows that he wants to annihilate Ukraine”, recalling that “we are alongside the Ukrainian people as long as they need us and until a daily life without fear and terror is possible.”
The UN, through its Human Rights Office, was concerned that “the escalation of hostilities is alarming, dozens of civilians have been killed in Ukraine and Russia. The law international humanitarian organization prohibits indiscriminate attacks and attacks against civilian installations. With the main Ukrainian cities hit again and civilians targeted, the war between Ukraine and Russia seems to be becoming particularly bloody again.