=Russian missiles killed at least one person and damaged energy infrastructure across Ukraine, officials said, as they reported a massive Christmas attack. Air raid sirens wailed across Ukraine on Wednesday morning as the air force said Russian Kalibr cruise missiles had been launched from the Black Sea.
Ukraine is facing its worst winter of the nearly three-year war as Moscow steps up its aerial bombardment and its troops advance along front lines in the east.
On Wednesday morning, the governor of Kherson region said one person had been killed and three others wounded in the past 24 hours. In Dnipropetrovsk region, where winter temperatures hover around freezing, the governor said Russia had targeted the power grid. “The enemy is trying to destroy the region’s energy system,” Serhiy Lysak wrote on Telegram. “Stay safe until the airstrikes are lifted. Be careful!”
A search and rescue operation after the Christmas Eve strikes found that a 43-year-old man had been killed and 17 others were injured, Serhiy Lysak said. A “large-scale rocket attack” also hit the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Wednesday, according to Mayor Igor Terekhov. “Kharkov is under massive rocket attack. A series of explosions were heard in the city and there are still ballistic missiles heading towards the city,” Terekhov wrote on Telegram. The regional governor counted seven Russian strikes and said at least three people were injured.
Struggle for supremacy
Since the start of the war in February 2022, Russia has inflicted severe damage on Ukraine’s power grid, repeatedly bombing it, causing regular power outages. Ukraine has regularly appealed to its allies for more robust air defense systems to thwart Russian attacks on the war-torn country’s energy system. Last month, Washington allowed Ukraine to use long-range American missiles against military targets in Russia, prompting fiery rhetoric and promises of retaliation from Moscow. In November, Russia fired nearly 200 missiles and drones targeting Ukraine’s energy grid, with President Volodymyr Zelensky claiming “cluster munitions” were fired in what he called a “disgusting escalation” nearly three years into the war.
Both sides are scrambling to gain the upper hand before Donald Trump takes office as US president in January. The Republican has pledged to bring the conflict to a swift end, without offering specific terms for a ceasefire or peace deal. Moscow's army claims to have captured more than 190 Ukrainian villages this year, while Kiev is struggling to hold the line amid shortages of manpower and ammunition. The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that its forces shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight. | BGNES, AFP
