Kiev responds and rains missiles and drones on Russian lands and Moscow
Ukraine rained missiles and drones on Russia on Saturday, following the largest air attack carried out by Russia the previous day since the war began in February 2022. The Ukrainian attack affected the capital, Moscow, and several border regions, namely Belgorod, Bryansk, Oryol, and Kursk, in western and southern Russia.
Firefighters try to put out a fire that broke out in a car after the Ukrainian bombing of Belgorod (Reuters)
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that air defense systems destroyed 13 missiles over these areas. On the other hand, the Ministry announced the destruction of a total of 32 Ukrainian drones over Moscow and the Bryansk, Kursk and Orel regions north of the border with Ukraine.
A car damaged by a Ukrainian counterattack on the Russian city of Belogorod (Reuters)
The Ministry of Defense in Moscow reported via the Telegram application that Russian air defenses intercepted Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over areas near the Ukrainian border, as well as over the Moscow region. The ministry announced that 32 drones were shot down over Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk and Moscow during the night. No information was provided about the damage, deaths or injuries.
Two children were killed and wounded in the Russian city of Belgorod, located in an area bordering Ukraine, according to what the local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced on Saturday. Gladkov wrote on the Telegram application: “The Ukrainian armed forces bombed the center of Belgorod, and according to preliminary information, there are two dead, two children, and two wounded.”
Belgorod is located 80 kilometers north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which was subjected to heavy bombardment by Russian forces on Friday morning, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
At least 39 people were killed in violent strikes launched by Russia, on Friday morning, on a number of Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kiev, according to a new toll announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday. The Ukrainian president wrote on social networking sites: “At the present time, we unfortunately have 39 dead,” offering his “condolences” to their relatives.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to a military point in Avdiivka, Donetsk region (AFP)
Russia’s capabilities
On the other hand, military analysts in the United States expressed that Russia could launch more widespread air attacks on Ukraine, such as Friday’s attack, which was the largest with missiles and drones since the beginning of the war in February 2022. A daily report issued late by the American Institute for the Study of War said, Friday: “Russia will continue to launch attacks on Ukraine on a significant scale in an attempt to reduce Ukrainian morale and Ukraine’s ability to sustain its war effort against Russia.” However, analysts noted that after nearly two years of war, Russia’s reserves and production capabilities mean that it is unlikely Moscow can launch large-scale missile attacks on a regular basis, but it can do so continuously using drones.
The institute’s analysis stated that the Russians worked over a period of months to test different sets of drones and missiles to identify weak points in the Ukrainian air defense system.
The next day, Kiev responded with a column of missiles and drones. The Ukrainian Armed Forces posted a video on Telegram of what they described as the Belgorod sky, showing a fire in at least one building. In the Bryansk region, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said that 6 drones were shot down, describing this as “another foil to a Ukrainian terrorist attack.” He stated that there were no dead or injured as a result of the attack.
On Friday, a senior United Nations official condemned the “horrific attacks” against Ukraine. “Unfortunately, the horrific attacks that occurred today were only the latest in a series of escalating attacks launched by the Russian Federation,” UN Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed El Khayari said during an emergency meeting of the Security Council, on Friday, in New York. He added: “The (United Nations) Secretary-General condemns unequivocally, and in the strongest possible terms, the horrific attacks that took place today on cities and towns across Ukraine. “Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law, are unacceptable, and must stop immediately.”
For his part, the United States representative to the UN Security Council said: “We regret this tragic loss of life.” He added, “Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goal has not changed: he seeks to annihilate Ukraine and subjugate its people.” As for Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, he pointed out on the “X” platform that his country, along with more than 30 member states of the United Nations, requested that this emergency meeting be held in the Security Council.
Firefighters work at the site of a damaged building after the Russian attack on Kiev (AP)
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, said at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Friday that the real problem is that Ukraine has set up its air defense systems in residential areas. “If the Ukrainian air defense systems had not been activated, there would have been no civilian casualties at all,” Nebenzia said. Ukrainian citizens were killed in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Odyssey and Lviv. At least 9 people were killed in the capital, Kiev.
People inspect a car destroyed during a missile strike amid the Russian attack on Kiev (Reuters)
“Russian violations”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the town of Avdiivka, which is besieged from three sides, on Friday. According to the evening report on developments in the situation, there were 3 battles in Avdiivka itself and 10 battles in areas very close to it. Another focal point is the Ukrainian bridgehead on the south bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. The General Staff said that Russian forces tried 9 times without success to expel Ukrainian forces from their positions.
On the other hand, Russia has officially deployed a battalion composed of Ukrainian prisoners of war on the front line in Ukraine, which also confirms countless clear Russian violations of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War.
This came in a statement issued by the Institute for the Study of War, and reported by the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform on Saturday. On December 28, Russian media reported that soldiers from the “Bogdan Khmelnitsky” battalion, composed of Ukrainian prisoners of war and affiliated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs “Cascade” of the Donetsk People’s Republic, participated in the first clash against Ukrainian forces, near “ Orozin in the western Donetsk region.
According to analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, the use of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Bogdan Khmelnytskyi battalion likely represents a violation of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, which prohibits the use of prisoners of war in military activities on the part of the authority that captured them, and stipulates that “it shall not be permissible in Whenever any prisoner of war is sent or interned in areas where he may be exposed to the fire of a combat zone, he shall not be employed in work of an unsanitary or dangerous nature.
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2023-12-31 13:40:08
