Zelensky is in awe of the Ukrainian army entering Kherson
Kremlin actions on Thursday and Friday: Russia’s attack on Ukrainian civilians is viewed as a Russian problem, not a political threat
But Russia has plenty of weaponry and tens of thousands of newly mobilized troops to send into battle, and its campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure has left power and water supplies hanging by a thread in many regions. Ukraine is slowly receiving advanced air defenses from Western donors but has a huge area to defend.
Russia continued to destroyUkrainian civilian targets with missiles and artillery on Thursday and Friday, often far from any combat.
“This is a Russian region,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, told reporters on Friday. “It has been legally fixed and defined. There can’t be any changes here.
New conscripts will be sent across the whole of the front line in an attempt to haltUkrainian advances while rebuilding ground forces decimated during eight months of war. The deployment of Russian men to front line areas through the fall had been predicted by military analysts, with high numbers of casualties expected. Russian forces are attacking in the east, but on defense in the south.
The Ukrainian State Emergency Service reports that at least 19 people have died and 105 have been injured in Russian missiles across the country on Monday.
Hours before the strikes, the president of Ukraine announced that the country’s military had regained control of three villages that were illegally annexed by Russia.
The state of affairs at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility after Vladimir Putin’s decree and the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency
A 3-year-old girl was taken to a hospital for treatment after being rescued from multi-story buildings according to the governor.
The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog is expected to visit Kyiv this week to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia facility after Putin signed a decree Wednesday declaring that Russia was taking over the six-reactor plant. Putin’s decree was considered to be ” null and void” by the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine. The operator of the plant said that it would continue to operate.
The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency will talk to the Ukrainians about the Russian move. He will discuss efforts to set up a safe zone around the facility which has been damaged by the fighting and seen staff, including its director, kidnapped by Russian troops.
On Thursday, more than 40 leaders from around the world are gathering in the Czech Republic for a meeting called the “European Political Community” aimed at boosting security and prosperity.
A Redux: The Last Days of the Kherson War, Resolving the Misfortune of the Ukrainian Army During the Occupation
In a message on the Telegram messaging app, the Ukrainian president said that it was a historic day. “We are returning to Kherson. Our defenders are on the approaches of the city. But special units are already in the city.”
The army has degraded in quality and capability. The composition of Russia’s military force in Ukraine — as much of its prewar active duty personnel has been wounded or killed and its best equipment destroyed or captured — has radically altered over the course of the war. The Russian military leadership is likely to not know how this undisciplined force will react when faced with cold, exhausting combat conditions or rumors of Ukrainian assaults. The forces in the Kharkiv region abandoned their positions in panic, as evidenced by the recent experience.
The Russian troops left behind their bodies when they retreated from the city in a matter of days. Some of them were lying by the road leading into the city.
During the occupation and the battles to get it back, there was considerable damage to the place. Mykola, a 71-year-old man who gave only his first name, was among about 100 residents who lined up for aid on Wednesday.
Zelensky’s Bombing of the Zaporizhzhia Bridge: “We don’t have anything to show for it”
“We want the war to come to an end, the pharmacy and shops and hospitals to start working as they used to,” he said. “Now we don’t have anything to show for it.” Everything is destroyed and pillaged.
Zelenskyy said in his evening address that the war he launched Feb 24 had already been lost when he switched to Russian.
The barrage continued on a day when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to human rights activists in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, an implicit rebuke to Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, for his invasion of Ukraine.
There were 13 two-story buildings, three four-story buildings and a children’s clinic that were damaged. Russian people confirm their status as terrorists every day.
The huge bridge linking Russia with the peninsula of the same name was bombed on Saturday by what Russian authorities claimed was a truck bomb. The Russian prestige was dealt a blow after the road and rail traffic on the bridge were temporarily halted.
The route has taken the truck to several countries, including Krasnodar, a region in southern Russia.
Recent fighting has focused on the regions just north of Crimea, including Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented the latest attack in a Telegram post.
It was the enemy that hit the critical infrastructure facility. Shell fragments damaged residential buildings and the place where the medical aid and humanitarian aid distribution point is located,” Yanushevych later said in a Telegram video on Thursday.
Mucola Markovich said there was one explosion and then another. In a flash, the fourth-floor apartment he shared with his wife was gone.
The Moscow-Donetsk Bridge and the War Between Russia’s Armed Forces: A Memorandum of Ingrid Warhawks
About 3 kilometers (2 miles) away in another neighborhood ravaged by a missile, three volunteers dug a shallow grave for a German shepherd killed in the strike, the dog’s leg blown away by the blast.
Abbas Gallimov, a political analyst and former speechwriter for Putin, said the Russian president’s response to the bridge explosion was not enough to appease angry war hawks. The attack and response, he said, has “inspired the opposition, while the loyalists are demoralized.”
They see that when authorities say that everything is going according to plan and we’re winning, that they are lying, and it demoralizes them.
Putin personally inaugurated the new bridge in May of last year by driving a truck across it as a symbol of Moscow’s claim to the peninsula. The bridge, the longest in Europe, is vital to sustaining Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine.
Crimea is a popular vacation resort for Russians. There were hours of long traffic jams on Sunday when people tried to drive to the bridge.
The region of Donetsk. The General Staff said in its daily report that Russian forces had used air strikes to support troops on the ground in Bakhmut and that nearly a dozen settlements were hit by fire.
Ukrainian Defense Forces in Kyiv: A “Measurement of the State of Emergency” after a Russian Shelling Deceleration
— The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, meanwhile, said that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s biggest, had been reconnected to the grid after losing its last external power source early Saturday following shelling.
Russia is targeting Ukraine’s power systems so they can’t keep providing power to people during the winter.
There was a lack of electricity in four regions, impacting critical infrastructure. The authorities requested that people who may have electricity use it for emergency needs. The subway operations in the city were temporarily suspended. The region of Khmelnytskyi, which lies west of Kyiv, has “no electricity supply, electric transport does not work, water supply is suspended, traffic lights do not work,” according to the region’s head. Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that the government was doing everything they could to quickly restore electricity. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said “preliminary data shows most of the energy facilities will be reconnected today. Tomorrow the rest will start working.
The US and NATO countries have been grappling in recent months with how to help Ukraine defend itself against relentless Russian strikes, which have, according to Ukrainian officials, destroyed about half of the country’s energy infrastructure.
Unverified video on social media showed hits near the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and close to Maidan Square, just a short stroll from the Presidential Office Building. Five people were killed as a result of strikes on the capital, according to Ukrainian officials.
The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was upset with the missile strikes that were launched across the country by Russia. Russia’s attempt to dominate Ukraine by taking it into the cold will fail.
At least 10 people are dead and dozens are injured after Russian rockets exploded in Kherson on Christmas Eve. Zelensky characterized those attacks as a way to kill.
In Kyiv, Ukraine Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko says that at least two museums and the National Philharmonic concert halls sustained heavy damage. A strike damaged the passenger terminal of the country’s National Railway and caused delays during the morning rush hour.
“This happened at rush hour, as lots of public transport was operating in the city,” said Ihor Makovtsev, the head of the department of transport for the Dnipro city council, as he stood by the wreckage. He added that the bus driver and four passengers had been taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
Viktor Shevchenko: “It’s not that bad for Russia,” Vladimir Zelenskyy told the Ukrainian media after the Nov. 11, 2015, the day after the Soviet Revolution
“It’s difficult for me to find any logic to their so-called artillery work because all our transportation is only for civilian purposes,” Makovtsev said.
Viktor Shevchenko looked out from the old windows on his first floor balcony next to the bus stop. Shattered glass covered the ground below. He said he had been watering the plants on his balcony just minutes before the blast, but went to his kitchen to make breakfast.
“The explosion blew open all of my cabinets, and nearly knocked me to the ground,” he said. “Only five minutes before, and I would have been on the balcony, full of glass.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine said that missiles and drones are attacking his country. “The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us. The occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of future generations. And we will get victory.”
“We warned Zelenskyy that Russia hadn’t really started yet,” wrote Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a loyalist to Putin who repeatedly has attacked Russia’s Defense Ministry for incompetence in carrying out the military campaign.
The Kerch Bridge Bombing: An Addendum to the Attack on an Autocratic Manifesto in Ukraine, as Informed by CNN
Editor’s Note: Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) is a global affairs analyst. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a regular contributor to CNN Opinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. There is more opinion at CNN.
Recent days show that sites beyond the current theater of ground fighting are not immune to attacks. It remains unclear exactly how the Kerch bridge bombing was carried out – and Kyiv has not claimed responsibility – but the fact that a target so deep in Russian-held territory could be successfully hit hinted at a serious Ukrainian threat towards key Russian assets.
The area around my office remained quiet between air raid sirens as of noon, with reports of missiles and drones being shot down. (Normally at this time of the day, nearby restaurants would be heaving with customers, and chatter of plans for upcoming weddings and parties).
Energy infrastructure facilities were damaged as the result of the attack and an explosion occurred in one city district, the mayor said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether that was caused by drones or other munitions. Emergency power cuts were underway in the capital and a 19-year-old man was hospitalized with a stab wound.
Vehicles in the city center have their horns raised as people on the sidewalks shout ‘Glory to Ukraine’. In one, Ukrainian soldiers drove slowly past a crowd as people reached out to touch the soldiers through the open windows.
Millions of people will spend the majority of the day in bomb shelters at the request of officials as businesses have been asked to shift work online as much as possible.
With many asylum seekers returning to their home country, the attacks may cause another blow to business confidence.
The only bridge linking the mainland of Russia and the annexed peninsula of Crimea is used by Putin as a symbol. That the attack took place a day after his 70th birthday (the timing prompted creative social media denizens to create a split-screen video of Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President”) can be taken as an added blow to an aging autocrat whose ability to withstand shame and humiliation is probably nil.
The reaction among Ukrainians to the explosion was instantaneous: humorous memes lit up social media channels like a Christmas tree. Many shared their sense of jubilation via text messages.
Putin never sat still because he was consumed by pride and self-interest. He responded in the only way he knows how, by unleashing more death and destruction, with the force that probably comes natural to a former KGB operative.
It was also an act of selfish desperation: facing increasing criticism at home, including on state-controlled television, has placed Putin on unusually thin ice.
The Chief of the Main Intelligence branch of the Defense Ministry, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, has told a Ukrainian journalist that he wants to enter the region by the end of the year.
Ten months into Russia’s war on Ukraine, Zelensky spoke of endurance and pushing through to the end, while acknowledging that “freedom comes at a high price.”
What is crucially important now is for Washington and other allies to use urgent telephone diplomacy to urge China and India – which presumably still have some leverage over Putin – to resist the urge to use even more deadly weapons.
Anything short of these measures will only allow Putin to continue his senseless violence and further exacerbate a humanitarian crisis that will reverberate throughout Europe. A weak reaction will be taken as a sign in the Kremlin that it can continue to weaponize energy, migration and food.
The outcome of the Russian-Russian war on reconstruction after the Osiniya shooting and its impact on the energy, water and energy infrastructure
Furthermore, high tech defense systems are needed to protect Kyiv and crucial energy infrastructure around the country. The need to protect heating systems is urgent as winter nears.
Turkey and the Gulf states which receive a lot of Russian tourists need to be pressured in order for the West to further isolating Russia with trade and travel restrictions.
Critical and civil infrastructure was hit in 12 regions and the capital, where more than 30 fires broke out, the emergency services said, adding the blazes have been put out.
With the cold months nearing and likely bringing a slowdown in ground combat, experts say the next weeks of the war are now expected to be vital, and another potential spike in intensity looms over Ukraine as each side seeks to strike another blow.
For the first time in the war, there is a real danger of a new phase. “This is now the third, fourth, possibly fifth different war that we’ve been observing,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme.
Giles said that anything that could be described as a victory for the Ukranian people is more plausible now. Russia is likely to respond further.
Over the summer there was a suggestion that the war could be better if Ukraine could seize ground than if it could defend territory.
The Ukrainian flag is raised in Kherson, and missile strikes are coming from the Russian frontline in the wake of the Ukrainian War on December 14th
“The Ukrainian flag is raised in Kherson city. The Ukrainian flag will be on all buildings in Kherson. This is what we have dreamed of from the first days of occupation,” said Serhiy Khlan, a member of Ukraine’s Kherson regional council.
“The Russians are playing for the whistle – (hoping to) avoid a collapse in their frontline before the winter sets in,” Samir Puri, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the author of “Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine,” told CNN.
“If they can get to Christmas with the frontline looking roughly as it is, that’s a huge success for the Russians given how botched this has been since February.”
Landing a major blow in Donbas would send another powerful signal, and Ukraine will be eager to improve on its gains before temperatures plummet on the battlefield, and the full impact of rising energy prices is felt around Europe.
There are so many reasons why a country such as Ukraine should get things done quickly. There are always going to be tests of resilience for Ukrainians and the Western world after the winter energy crisis in Europe.
NATO leaders have vowed to stand behind Ukraine regardless of how long the war lasts, but several European countries rely heavily on Russian energy, which is causing a cost-of-living crisis that threatens public support.
Experts think it isunlikely that Russia will form a recurrent pattern of bombardment and estimates the military reserves of either army is murky.
“We know – and Russian commanders on the ground know – that their supplies and munitions are running out,” Jeremy Fleming, a UK’s spy chief, said in a rare speech on Tuesday.
That conclusion was also reached by the ISW, which said in its daily update on the conflict Monday that the strikes “wasted some of Russia’s dwindling precision weapons against civilian targets, as opposed to militarily significant targets.”
According to the Ukrainian military, the majority of cruise missiles fired at Ukraine on Thursday were intercepts, with the defense forces shooting down 54 of them. The Ukrainian air defenses destroyed the missiles, according to the boxer.
“The barrage of missile strikes is going to be an occasional feature reserved for shows of extreme outrage, because the Russians don’t have the stocks of precision munitions to maintain that kind of high-tempo missile assault into the future,” Puri said.
A psychological impact could be caused by any further involvement in the war. He said people in the West and in Ukranian mind are focused on fighting one army. Inside Russia, Belarus joining the invasion “would play into Putin’s narrative that this war is about reuniting the lands of ancient Rus states.”
“The reopening of a northern front would be another new challenge for Ukraine,” Giles said. He said that if Putin wanted to take control of that area, it would be a good idea to give Russia a new route into it.
In the past two months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accomplished one of his main objectives, by flipping the narrative of the conflict, showing that military aid from the US can help the country win the war.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that Ukraine needed “more” systems to better halt missile attacks, ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
The NATO allies’ air defense systems shot down many of the incoming missiles this week, he said.
The IRIS-T has arrived from Germany and the NASAMS from the United States. , Bronk said.
Ukrainian Attacks in the Decay of the Novikov-Burgaria Ising Superproton and Russia’s Armed Forces
Giles said that there are many things Russia can do to make the war personal, including trying to force pressure on governments in Europe to end their support for Ukrainians.
That’s not to say mobilized forces will be of no use. They may be able to ease the burden on Russia’s exhausted professional army by being used in support roles. They could also fill out depleted units along the line of contact, cordon some areas and man checkpoints in the rear. They aren’t likely to become a capable fighting force. There are signs of discipline problems among soldiers who have been mobilized.
If that was the case, Mr. Putin will have more power than before to act against Ukraine. The attacks of the past week — particularly striking critical civilian infrastructure — could be expanded across Ukraine if missile supplies hold out, while Russia could directly target the Ukrainian leadership with strikes or special operations.
Two men shot at Russian troops preparing to deploy to Ukraine, killing 11 people and wounding 15 before being killed themselves, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Oct. 15.
However, Ukrainian officials have not commented on the explosions in Crimea or in the Donetsk People’s Republic and CNN is unable to verify the cause of the blasts or the extent of the damage.
French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu: “Massive, Forced Deportations of Ukrainians” during the Counteroffensive by Ukraine
Zelenskyy accused Russia of including convicts “with long sentences for serious crimes” in its front-line troops in return for pay and amnesty — something Western intelligence officials have also asserted.
The areas around the city of Nikopol have been calm in the third night since the Russians started shelling. Russian forces are in control of Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is located across the Dnieper River.
France pledged air-defense missiles and stepped up military training for Ukraine in order to put to rest any doubts about its support. Up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers will be embedded with military units in France, rotating through for several weeks of combat training, specialized training in logistics and other needs, and training on equipment supplied by France, the French defense minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said in an interview published in Le Parisien.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, accused Moscow of conducting “Massive, forced deportations of Ukrainians,” which it said likely was ethnic cleansing.
Russian authorities said that several thousand children from the southern region occupied by Moscow were placed in rest homes and children’s camps during the counteroffensive by the Ukrainians. The original comments by Russia’s deputy prime minister were reported by RIA Novosti on Friday.
Russian authorities have previously admitted to placing children from Russian-held areas of Ukraine, who they said were orphans, for adoption with Russian families, in a potential breach of an international treaty on genocide prevention.
Last month, the occupation authorities ordered the evacuation of civilians from the west side of the river. They sent thousands of them eastward, to territory held by Russia, which has blocked routes into Ukrainian-controlled areas. The government installed in Moscow also quit, according to residents and Ukrainian officials.
— A Russian commander wanted for his role in the downing of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine in 2014 has been deployed to the front, according to social media posts by pro-Kremlin commentators. Posts by Maksim Fomin and others said Igor Girkin, also known as Strelkov, has been given responsibility for an unspecified Russian front-line unit.
Girkin has been on an international wanted list over his alleged involvement in the downing of Kuala Lumpur-bound flight MH17, which killed 298 people. The verdict in the Dutch court in which he is accused of murder is expected in November.
Moscow’s battlefield failures has been lashed out at in recent posts by Girkin. Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency said Sunday it would offer a $100,000 reward to anyone who captures him.
Russian missile strikes hit several regions as air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine. At least six people were killed and a man was injured in the attacks.
Kamikaze drones are small, portable weaponry systems that can be fired at a distance and are hard to detect. They can be easily launched and are designed to hit behind enemy lines and be destroyed in the attack.
Nuclear deterrence and annexation of Crimea: the 13th session of the UN General Assembly gathered in Kiev on Oct. 12
Nuclear deterrence exercises will begin on Monday. NATO warned Russia against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, but insisted the “Steadfast Noon” drills were an annual training activity.
Russian agents detained eight people on Oct. 12 suspected of carrying out a large explosion on a bridge to Crimea, including Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian citizens.
The UN General Assembly deplored Russia’s illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine. The 13th session of the UN General Assembly saw four countries vote in favor of Russia, while a further 35 didn’t vote at all.
You can find past recaps here. You can find more of NPR’s coverage here. NPR has a State ofUkraine podcast that can be listened to throughout the day.
Videos shot by the Ukrainian drones showing Russian infantry being struck by artillery in poorly prepared positions has supported the assertions, along with reports of soldiers telling relatives about high casualty rates. The videos have not been independently verified and their exact location on the front line could not be determined.
Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander of the Ukrainian military, said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday that Russian forces had tripled the intensity of attacks along some parts of the front. He did not say what the time frame was or where the attacks were coming from.
When the first Ukrainian long range strike on Russian military targets happened, a former defense minister who now advises the president said, “if somebody attacks you, you fight back.”
An assessment from the Institute for the Study of War said that the increase in infantry in the east didn’t result in Russian gaining new ground.
The assessment said that seeking a quick advance, the Russian Army was “wasting the fresh supply of mobilized personnel on marginal gains” by attacking before massing sufficient soldiers to ensure success. The attacks have been directed at several towns and villages, including Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
Detailing the ongoing battle in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry also claimed that its forces had inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainian troops in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, killing more than 200 Ukrainian troops. It said Russian forces had successfully targeted US-made equipment and brought down one MiG-29 fighter aircraft over Donetsk, as well as a number of drones.
Earlier, Russia claimed that more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a Russian strike in Kramatorsk carried out in “retaliation” over the Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Makiivka last week, according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.
With Russian and Ukrainian forces apparently preparing for battle in Kherson, and conflicting signals over what may be coming, the remaining residents have been stocking up on food and fuel to survive combat.
While state media in Russia said that Ukrainian shelling had damaged the power lines, Yaroslav Yanushevych, the exiled Ukrainian head of the Kherson regional military administration, blamed Russian troops.
The Russian forces have also placed mines around water towers in Beryslav, Mr. Yanushevych said, referring to a town less than 50 miles from Kherson city and just north of a critical dam near the front lines of the fighting.
Some 250,000 people lived in the city before the war. Ukrainian activists estimate that there are up to 60,000 people left, but they can’t tell you how accurate that is.
The loss of Kherson would be Russia’s third major setback of the war, following retreats from Kyiv, the capital, last spring, and from the Kharkiv region in the northeast in September. Kherson was captured by Russia earlier this year, and it is a major part of Russia’s attempt to control the south of the Black Sea.
Ukrainian forces swept into the key city of Kherson on Friday as Russian troops retreated to the east, delivering a major victory to Kyiv and marking one of the biggest setbacks for President Vladimir Putin since his invasion began.
Even as its soldiers fled, the Kremlin said that it still considered Kherson — which President Vladimir V. Putin illegally annexed in September — to be a part of Russia.
Footage of the jubilant scenes emerged hours after Russia announced it had withdrawn from the west bank of the Dnipro River in the strategic southern region of Kherson, leaving the regional capital of Kherson and surrounding areas to the Ukrainians.
The civilians descended on the central square, hugging newly arrived Ukrainian soldiers, snapping selfies with them, and waving Ukrainian flags.
Oleh Voitsehovsky, the commander of a Ukrainian drone reconnaissance unit, said he had seen no Russian troops or equipment in his zone along the front less than four miles north of Kherson city.
“The Russians left all the villages,” he said. “We looked at dozens of villages with our drones and didn’t see a single car. We can’t see how they are leaving. They retreat quietly at night.
Several explosions and chaotic and confusing are what residents of Kherson claim were the hallmarks of the final hours of the Russian occupation.
Serhiy, a retiree living in Kherson who asked that his last name not be published for security reasons, said in a series of text messages before Ukrainian soldiers swept in that conditions in the city had unraveled overnight.
“At night, a building burned in the very center, but it was not possible even to call the fire department,” he wrote. There was no phone signal, no electricity, and no heating.
Implications of the Dnieper River for U.S. forces in Kherson city, as seen by CNN and FOYN
They will be planning false-flag operations in the city. “There is a lot of work ahead on demining and clearing the city.” Residents of Kherson city with whom CNN has spoken in recent weeks confirmed that many Russian soldiers were using civilian clothing.
The east bank will make it easier for Russia to replenish its troops. Any attempt by Ukrainian forces to cross the Dnipro would be costly to the point of prohibitive, as Russian forces are well dug in along a stretch of the river. Civilians were removed from their homes close to the river because of the appearance of trenches on satellite imagery.
The president of Ukraine uploaded a video of celebrations in Kherson city where a crowd was waving flags and chanting ZSU, the Ukrainian acronym for the armed forces.
Russian forces have retreated from the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, which they annexed in September in violation of international laws.
The move of Russian military units to the left bank of the Dnieper River was completed at 0500 in the Kherson direction. The ministry uses the Russian spelling for the river on its official Telegram channel.
Ukraine has not reported any incoming fire from the east bank Friday but said a missile attack on the city of Mykolaiv, close to the border with Kherson, killed seven people early Friday.
Earlier Friday, the Ukrainian military’s southern operational command said Russian forces had been “urgently loading into boats that seem suitable for crossing and trying to escape” across the river.
The destruction of the main conduit over the Dnipro River in the Kherson region and the “beginning of the end of the war”
The main conduit over Dnipro in the Kherson region was destroyed Friday, as shown in images and video on social media.
Alexander Kots, a reporter for the Russian pro-government tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda embedded with Russian forces, posted a video on his Telegram channel standing on the crossing, showing the entire center section of the bridge destroyed. “Behind me are the two collapsed spans of (the) bridge,” Kots said. “They were likely blown up during the withdrawal of the Russian group of forces from the right bank to the left,” or western bank to eastern bank.
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian and Russian forces traded fire on Monday from across the broad expanse of the Dnipro River that now divides them after Russia’s retreat from the southern city of Kherson, reshaping the battlefield with a victory that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, declared marked “the beginning of the end of the war.”
A video circulating on social media on Friday, geolocated and authenticated by CNN, showed Ukrainian forces being greeted by residents on the main highway in Tyahinka. The village is just 14 miles (20 km) west of the hydroelectric dam and bridges that stretch across the Dnieper river at Nova Kakhovka.
One video showed a Ukrainian flag flying over a World War II memorial, while another showed residents tearing down a propaganda billboards with a young girl holding a Russian flag, which read: “Russia is here forever.”
The scenes of people greeting Ukrainian troops across the region were in sharp contrast to claims by Russian-appointed officials in Kherson six weeks ago that 87% of voters there supported integration into the Russian Federation, in a referendum widely condemned by the international community as a sham. Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions in September.
On the way out of Kherson, officials in the city warned that Russian troops could turn the region into a “city of death,” while an official in the south warned residents against returning to recently liberated areas because of the threat of mines.
“There are a lot of mines in the liberated territories and settlements,” Vitaliy Kim, head of Mykolaiv region military administration, said on Telegram. “Don’t go there for no reason. There are casualties.
The First Day of the Russian Revolution: The Battle of Kherson, the South of Ukraine, in the Light of the Victory of President Zelensky
“This is a subject of the Russian Federation,” Dmitry Peskov said during a regular briefing with journalists. “It has been legally fixed and defined. There can’t be any changes here.
The residents of Kherson have had to suffer curfews, shortages of goods, partisan warfare, and an intense campaign to become Russian citizens in order to remain in the town.
The depth of their suffering has yet to come into focus. Residents told journalists about friends being kidnapped, children illegally deported, and relatives being tortured and killed. When Russian left other parts of Ukraine, there were signs of human rights abuses.
The withdrawal has been lamented by some in Moscow. Some people who were critical of the Defense Ministry have accepted the move. Kadyrov said that it was difficult to choose between saving a thousand soldiers and the sake of loud statements and saving the lives of soldiers.
Surovikin said that the withdrawal would protect the lives of civilians and troops – who have faced a punishing Ukrainian counteroffensive that targeted Russian ammunition depots and command posts, hampering their supply lines.
President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Friday as “a historic day” for Ukraine. “We are returning the south of our country, we are returning Kherson,” Zelensky said.
Success in Kherson could also allow exhausted Ukrainian units some respite and allow a focus on the fighting in Luhansk and Donetsk where fierce fighting continues.
Ukranian authorities also have a massive task of reconstruction ahead in Kherson, where Russian forces destroyed critical infrastructure and left a huge number of mines behind.
There is a critical dam located on the east bank of the Dnipro river in the Kherson region city of Nova Kakhovka. The dam is important to the country because it is used to store water for the nuclear power plant and to supply water for the eastern bank of the river.
Events in Kherson and Kharkiv have shown that the Ukrainians possess tactical agility that seems alien to the Russian way of war, as well as far superior battlefield intelligence.
The Dnipro has become the new front line in southern Ukraine, and officials there warned of continued danger from fighting in regions that have already endured months of Russian occupation.
Fears that the Russian Army might retaliate for the loss of the city with a bombing of the eastern bank were alleviated through the afternoon after shelling in a southern district of the city.
Mortar shells struck near the bridge, sending up puffs of smoke. Near the river, rounds were fired with loud booms. It wasn’t possible to assess what had been hit.
Beltings and thefts at the hands of Ukrainian soldiers in Kherson, Ukraine: President Zelensky tells a jubilant crowd of residents
The head of the Kherson region military administration asked the population of the city to evacuate while Ukrainian troops hunted down and killed Russian soldiers left behind in the city.
The mines are dangerous. Four people, including an 11-year-old, were killed when a family driving in the village of Novoraysk, outside the city, ran over a mine, Mr. Yanushevich said. Railway workers were injured trying to restore service after lines were damaged. And there were at least four more children reportedly injured by mines across the region, Ukrainian officials said in statements.
The deaths underscored the threats still remaining on the ground, even as Mr. Zelensky made a surprise visit to Kherson, a tangible sign of Ukraine’s soaring morale.
“We are, step by step, coming to all of our country,” Mr. Zelensky said in a short appearance in the city’s main square on Monday, as hundreds of jubilant residents celebrated.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/14/world/russia-ukraine-war-news/kherson-residents-describe-beatings-and-thefts-at-the-hands-of-russian-soldiers
Russians do not roam around in Kherson City: a case study of the Ukrenergo shutdown of a nuclear power plant
One resident said thatOccupants robbed local people and exchanged items for homemade spirits in Oleshkan, a town across the river from Kherson City. They get drunk and even more aggressive. We are so scared here.” She asked that her surname be withheld for security.
“Russians roam around, identify the empty houses and settle there,” Ivan, 45, wrote in a text message. He lives south of Kherson city in Skadovsk and asked that his name not be used because he was worried about his safety. “We try to connect with the owners and to arrange for someone local to stay in their place. Russians don’t take it because it is not abandoned.
In a statement, the energy company Ukrenergo said that the three nuclear power plants — Rivne, South Ukraine and Khmelnytskyi — were disconnected from the grid as a safety measure.
The company said the nuclear reactor were not reconnected to the national grid after the brief emergency shutdown.
Vitaliy Kim, the military administrator in the south of Mykolaiv, said that a nuclear plant had been cut from the grid, which meant a risky shutdown of the reactor there.
Ukrainian officials stress that the power cuts have the cascading effect of turning off the heat and water in many cases. And with temperatures often below freezing, the water in pipes could freeze, adding further complications.
The U.S. can not afford to send cluster bombs to warzones in Ukraine, but the problem will remain with the United States
President Maia Sandu wrote on Facebook that there was not enough trust in the Russian regime that left them in the dark and cold.
Ukraine is preparing for winter. In a Tuesday night video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there are now 4,000 centers to take care of civilians if there are extended power cuts.
He said they would provide heat, water, phone charging and internet access. Many will be in school buildings.
Neither the US nor Ukraine are signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, production, and stockpiling of such cluster bombs because of the potential risk to noncombatants. In 2016 the US phased them out because they contained hundreds of smaller explosives that were often left behind on the battlefield, posing a danger to civilians.
Senior Biden administration officials have been fielding this request for months and have not rejected it outright, CNN has learned, a detail that has not been previously reported.
Cluster munitions are imprecise by design, and scatter “bomblets” across large areas that can fail to explode on impact and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines. They also create “nasty, bloody fragmentation” to anyone hit by them because of the dozens of submunitions that detonate at once across a large area, Mark Hiznay, a weapons expert and the associate arms director for Human Rights Watch, previously told CNN.
If the stockpiles go dangerously low, the Biden administration won’t take the option off the table. Sources say that the proposal has not received a lot of attention because of the restrictions that Congress has put on US ability to transfer cluster munitions.
Those restrictions apply to munitions with a greater than one percent unexploded ordnance rate, which raises the prospect that they will pose a risk to civilians. President Joe Biden could override that restriction, but the administration has indicated to the Ukrainians that that is unlikely in the near term.
The United States and Ukraine agree that there will be no American weapons used in strikes on targets in Russia. The Biden administration has vowed to avoid American involvement that could escalate to direct confrontation with Russia. The American officials said they will not object to the Ukraine hitting back with its own weaponry.
The Defense Ministry prefers to wait until an agreement is made with the supplier before publicly stating that they received requests for particular weapons systems.
The US used the alternate warhead M30A1 instead of the dual-purpose improved conventional weapons known as DPICMs. 180,000 small steel fragments from the M30A1 scatter on impact, so no unexploded bombs can be left on the ground. Ukrainian officials say that the US’s DPICMs are more beneficial to the Ukrainian military on the battlefield than the M30A1.
Putin’s “Theory of the Heroes of Russia”: The Ukraine’s Airfield is Not Nearly a Drone Target
Speaking after an awards ceremony for “Heroes of Russia” at the Kremlin, he addressed a group of soldiers receiving the awards, clutching a glass of champagne.
Putin asked “Who is not supplying water to Donetsk?” at the awards ceremony. Not supplying water to a city of million is an act of genocide.”
The reference to Kursk appears to reference Russia’s announcement that an airfield in the Kursk region, which neighbors Ukraine, was targeted in a drone attack. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has offered no comment on recent explosions, including in Kursk, which are deep within Russia. The targets are not within the reach of the country’s declared drones.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-12-08-22/h_aea9d9149a72232d60137554cc312f1e
Water and Power Outages in Donetsk: Comment on “Two years of conflict between Russia and Russia’s military and civilians”
He ended his apparent off-the-cuff comments by claiming there is no mention of the water situation. No one has said anything about it. At all! There was complete silence. He said so.
Local Russian authorities in Donetsk — which Putin claimed to annex in defiance of international law — have reported frequent shelling of the city this week.
There were reports of blasts in Simferopol at 9 p.m. local time on Saturday, and there were social media footage and footage of the attack on Melitopol.
The missile attack on Melitopol had destroyed a recreation center where people, civilians, and military personnel were eating dinner, according to Yevgeny Balitsky, Russia’s acting governor.
According to the head of the city administration, Ukraine fired Grad missiles at 5:54 a.m. local time on Sunday near the Kalininsky districts.
The unofficial Crimean media portal “Krymskyi veter” said an explosion at a Russian military barracks in Sovietske had set the barracks on fire and there were dead and wounded.
Sergey Aksenov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, said on Telegram: “The air defense system worked over Simferopol. All services are working as usual.
The news comes after reports said that 1.5 million people in the Odesa region of Ukranian have no power because of Iranian-made drones.
He said “Ukrainian sky defenders” had shot down 10 of the 15 drones, but the damage was still “critical” and he suggested it will take a few days to restore electricity supply in the region.
“In general, both emergency and stabilization power outages continue in various regions,” Zelensky said. The power system is not in a normal state right now.
Kiev Action Against Russian Invasion and Implications for Security and Security in the Rho Dialogue of Ukraine with the Odesa Dispatch
“This is the true attitude of Russia towards Odesa, towards Odesa residents – deliberate bullying, deliberate attempt to bring disaster to the city,” Zelensky added.
Ukraine on Saturday received “a new support package from Norway in the amount of $100 million” that will be used “precisely for the restoration of our energy system after these Russian strikes,” Zelensky added.
Ukrainian authorities have been ramping up raids on churches accused of links with Moscow, and many are watching to see if Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of banning the Russian Orthodox Church.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store are going to be in Paris to have dinner with the French President.
Also in France, on Tuesday, the country is set to co-host a conference with Ukraine in support of Ukrainians through the winter, with a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Fans, friends and family are celebrating the return of the basketball player following her release from a Russian prison. Meanwhile, some Republican politicians have been complaining about the prisoner swap and other U.S. citizens still held by Russia.
New measures targeting Russian oil revenue took effect Dec. 5. They include a price cap and a European Union embargo on most Russian oil imports and a Russian oil price cap.
On December 11th, President Zelenskyy had a phone call with President Biden and the leaders of France and Turkey, in an apparent effort to keep the peace after the Russian invasion.
Shelling and rocket attacks in the Donetsk city of Kyiv left by the Ukrainian forces on Sunday, Nov. 14 with the help of the Energy Security Project
Ukrainian forces have unleashed the biggest attack on the occupied Donetsk region since 2014, according to a Russia-installed official, in the wake of heavy fighting in the east of the country.
Ukrainian and pro-Russian accounts say that the strike took place at a school for Russian conscripts on Sunday, New Year’s Day.
“Forty rockets from BM-21 ‘Grad’ MLRS were fired at civilians in our city,” he said Thursday, adding that a key intersection in Donetsk city center had come under fire.
Four people were killed in the shelling and rocket attacks that continued in the southern city of Kherson, which was liberated by Ukrainian forces in November, according to the region’s military administration. The body of a man was found in one apartment that was engulfed in flames, the office said. Basic services are still not being restored.
“One of (the victims) was a volunteer, a member of the rapid response team of the international organization. During the shelling, they were on the street, they were fatally wounded by fragments of enemy shells,” he added.
The strikes in Kherson left the city “completely disconnected” from power supplies, according to the regional head of the Kherson military administration, Yanushevych.
The U.S. government gave equipment and generators to operate heat supply stations and boiler houses in the city of Kyiv, according to the mayor.
The Energy Security Project gave four excavators and over 130 generators. All equipment was free of charge.
Infrastructural damage during a rocket attack in Kyiv’s Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia, Ukraine
“The Ukrainian side needs to take into account the realities that have developed over all this time,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday in response to Zelensky’s three-step proposal.
“And these realities indicate that the Russian Federation has new subjects,” he said, referring to four areas Russia has claimed to have annexed, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
Denys Shmyhal, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, said at the meeting that they had a goal of leaving Ukrainians without light, water and heat.
“This reminds of the events of December 5, so there may be some deja vu, some repetition of this situation, after which [the Russians] launched a massive missile strike,” the spokesperson said. Take it into account and don’t forget to take the shelter since we should be prepared for this.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said explosions had hit the city and that three districts had been struck in the onslaught of rockets, disrupting water supplies across the capital. He suggested that residents prepare a stock of drinking water and not to leave shelter as the attacks continued.
At least 10 missiles struck various targets in Kharkiv region, in the north, damaging energy facilities and a hospital, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional military administration. The power was going back on in the city after being out much of the day. “There is a colossal infrastructural damage,” Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said, instructing residents to use so-called “invincibility points” – makeshift centers offering relief from power outages – to collect food and hot drinks, and recharge cellphones.
The southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia was hit by more than a dozen missile strikes, according to Oleksandr Starukh, chief of the regional military administration, but it was unclear what had been targeted.
The Engels air base, which houses Russia’s long-range, nuclear- capable bomber, was slightly damaged by a drone attack in early December. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
During the air attacks in Ukraine on Friday, an supersonic plane capable of carrying a Kinzal hypersonic missile was also seen in the sky over Belarus, according to the Ukrainian armed forces. It was not clear from their statement if a Kinzal was used in the attacks.
Kirby said that Russia’s defense industrial base is being taxed. They are having trouble keeping up with that pace. We know that he’s (Russian President Vladimir Putin’s) having trouble replenishing specifically precision guided munitions.”
The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot, the US’ most advanced ground-based air defense system, to Ukraine, according to two US officials and a senior administration official. Ukraine’s government has long requested the system to help it defend against repeated Russian missile and drone attacks. It’s the most effective long-range defensive weapons system sent to the country and officials say it will help secure airspace for NATO members in eastern Europe.
He did not say what the next security assistance package for Ukraine would be, but he did say that more air defense capabilities should also be expected.
U.S. president Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks of the power of God in Ukraine: “It is our turn to do good, and we are going to do well, for God is our strength”
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian shells pummeled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55 in the city that Moscow’s troops were forced to abandon last month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just back from his quick trip to Washington, posted photos of the wreckage on his social media accounts. The destruction came as Ukrainians were getting ready to start celebrating Christmas and many Orthodox Christians will be having their traditional celebration on January 7.
Zelenskyy explained that it was not sensitive content but the real life of Kherson. The images showed cars on fire, bodies on the street and building windows blown out.
Earlier Saturday, the Donetsk regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said two people were killed and five wounded in shelling there over the past day. There were two deaths in a town west of a city controlled by the Russians.
Five people were wounded in the Monday morning shelling of a Ukraine-controlled area of the southern Kherson region, its Ukrainian Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevich said on Telegram.
There were no details of casualties for Stepne, the settlement on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Ukrainians to have “patience and faith” in a defiant Christmas address after a deadly wave of Russian strikes pounded the southern city of Kherson.
He told the nation to stand firm, even though there was a lot of bad news, including a bleak winter for energy, the absence of loved ones, and the threat of Russian attacks.
“There may be empty chairs around it. And our houses and streets can’t be so bright. And Christmas bells can ring not so loudly and inspiringly. Through air raid sirens, or even worse – gunshots and explosions.”
He said that despite resisting evil forces for hundreds of days and eight years, we now have another powerful and effective weapon. The spirit and consciousness are held together by the hammer and sword. The wisdom of God was expressed in the wisdom of God. Both courage and bravery. Virtues that incline us to do good and overcome evil.”
Even if the internet or communication services go down, the country will still sing Christmas carols louder and hear the greetings of family and friends in their hearts, he said.
The only way to hug each other tightly in darkness is by finding each other. We’ll give each other a big hug if there’s no heat.
Zelensky concluded: “We will celebrate our holidays! As always. We will smile and be happy. As always. The difference is one. We will not wait for a miracle. After all, we create it ourselves.”
One branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox church announced last month that it would allow its churches to celebrate Christmas on December 25. Many younger Ukrainians are going to observe the holiday on December 25, in order to move away from Russia and towards the Western world.
“The terrorist country continues bringing the Russian world in the form of shelling of the civilian population. Kherson. In the morning, on Saturday, on the eve of Christmas, in the central part of the city,” he said.
He wrote on Telegram Saturday that they are not military facilities. This is not a war according to the rules. It is terror, it is killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure.”
Crime against crime: Ukrainian forces deliberately slow down the advance in the Bakhmut district of Nikopol, Ukraine, citing a think tank
KYIV, Ukraine — President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia is ready for talks to end the war in Ukraine even as the country faced more attacks from Moscow — a clear sign that peace wasn’t imminent.
He said that “it’s not us who refuse talks, it’s them” — something the Kremlin has repeatedly stated in recent months as its 10-month old invasion kept losing momentum.
The think tank cited Russian military bloggers, who it said have recently acknowledged “that Ukrainian forces in the Bakhmut area have managed to slightly slow down the pace of the Russian advance around Bakhmut and its surrounding settlements.”
A total of 16 people have been killed, according to the official, including three emergency workers killed in the process of demining the Berislav district of the region. Yanushevich said that 64 more have been wounded.
The city of Nikopol was hit by heavy weaponry overnight in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. There were no casualties reported.
Three Russian servicemen were killed Monday after a Ukrainian drone was shot down by air defenses as it approached a military airfield in Saratov Oblast, deep inside Russian territory, according to Russian state news agencies, citing the defense ministry.
Law enforcement agencies are now investigating the incident at the airfield, said Saratov Oblast Governor Roman Busargin on Monday. The comments, posted on his official Telegram channel, came after reports circulated of an explosion in the city.
What Russia is doing,” Ukraine’s Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat told the Ukrainian media on Monday night: “There is no need for a drone to attack you, but you are fighting back”
He added that there were “no emergencies in the residential areas of the city,” and that no civilian infrastructure had been damaged. He said that the government would help the families of the servicemen.
In comments Monday, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat did not claim direct responsibility for the drone, but did suggest the attack was the “consequence of what Russia is doing.”
On Monday, the South of Ukraine’s security and defense forces warned of a possible Russian strike similar to one that took place in the region earlier this month.
Earlier this month, CCTV footage appeared to show an explosion lighting up the sky in Engels. At the time, Gov. Busargin also reassured residents that no civilian infrastructure was damaged and that “information about incidents at military facilities is being checked by law enforcement agencies.”
In Ukraine, the night from Sunday into Monday appeared unusually quiet. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region told Telegram that the Russian forces didn’t shell the area for the first time in weeks.
Missiles that are launched from the airfields hit in the attacks could be destroyed before they can be deployed, because strikes could destroy them on the ground.
Mr. Zagorodnyuk, clarifying that he did not speak for the government and could not confirm the strikes, added: “You cannot consider, this person will attack you because you are fighting back. There is absolutely no reason for someone to avoid doing this.
The explosion of the Kramatorsk missile target in Kyiv, Ukraine, claimed by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba
The Kinzhal is the most sophisticated missile in the Russian arsenal and can only be shot down, Mr. Budanov said.
Several residential buildings in the capital Kyiv were destroyed, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the lead for disaster response in the Ukrainian presidential office.
The air defense systems shot down 21 cruise missiles near Odesa, said Maksym Marchenko, regional administrator for that region along the Black Sea. Missile strikes left the city without water or electricity.
Sergei Lavrov told Russian media that Moscow would continue with its objectives in Ukraine, with perseverance andpatience.
Kovalchuk said that she didn’t want the Russians to ruin her celebrations. “I’m more worried that most likely there will be no electricity on New Year’s Eve and the holiday will have to be spent in the dark. She told CNN that she began to prepare herself for a scenario in which the power would be out and she didn’t want to stop them.
After the sirens gave the all clear, life in the capital went back to normal, Hryn said: “In the elevator I met my neighbors with their child who were in hurry to get to the cinema for the new Avatar movie on time.” Parents took their children to school and people went to work, while others continued with holiday plans in defiance.
A CNN team had just arrived at the scene and heard the first incoming strike on Kramatorsk. CNN saw the second attack, with two impacts about one minute apart. Two women jumped from a car and ran yelling, while other people took shelter. Shrapnel flew off the CNN vehicle.
Senseless barbarism. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said those were the only words that came to mind watching Moscow launch a fresh wave of attacks on Ukrainian cities ahead of the New Year, adding there could be “no neutrality” in the face of such aggression.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed that a wave of missile attacks against Ukraine on Thursday, believed to be one of the biggest barrages yet in the war, “neutralized'” all their assigned targets.
Ukrainian officials say that both Russian and Ukrainian forces are in a bad shape in the city. CNN could not confirm Russia’s claims.
The ministry didn’t claim any territorial advances against Ukrainian forces, which added credibility to the reports that the sides are in a stalemate.
There was no claim by officials that a large number of soldiers from the Ukrainian army died in a Russian attack last week.
Sixty-three Russian servicemen died in the attack and it was one of the worst episodes of the war for Moscow, said the Russian defense ministry on Monday.
Russian senator Grigory Karasin said that those responsible for the killing of Russian servicemen in Makiivka must be found, Russian state news agency TASS reported Monday.
The chief commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Ukrainians sent a greeting and a message of congratulations to the people who were brought to occupy the Makiivka. “Santa packed around 400 corpses of [Russian soldiers] in bags.”
Daniil Bezsonov, a former official in the Russia-backed Donetsk administration, said on Telegram that “apparently, the high command is still unaware of the capabilities of this weapon.”
Bezsonov hoped that those responsible for using this facility would be reprimanded. “There are enough abandoned facilities in Donbas with sturdy buildings and basements where personnel can be quartered.”
A Russian propagandist who blogs about the war effort on Telegram, Igor Girkin, claimed that the building was almost completely destroyed by the secondary detonation of ammunition stores.
Most of the military equipment, which stood not far from the building without any visible camouflage, was destroyed. “There are still no final figures on the number of casualties, as many people are still missing.”
Speaking about the war effort under the nickname Colonelcassad, Boris said that incompetence and an inability to grasp the experience of war continue to be a serious problem.
Even though several months of war have passed, some conclusions haven’t been made, which may have caused the unnecessary losses, if the precautions relating to dispersal and concealment had been taken.
The Russian-Ukraine Donestk Attack: 760 Dead and 176 Kiloparsecs After the Full-Scale Ukrainian Invasion
Russian forces lost 760 people on Sunday, and continue to attempt offensive actions on Bakhmut, according to the general staff.
The strike, using a U.S.-supplied precision weapon that has proven critical in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, delivered a new setback for Russia which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of “energy terrorism” as the aerial bombardments have left many people without heat amid freezing temperatures. Moscow is using the winter to demoralize the Ukrainian resistance.
The full-scale invasion of Moscow by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops on Feb. 24 went wrong, putting pressure on the Russian leader. He said in his New Year’s address to the nation that 2022 was “a year of difficult, necessary decisions.”
TheWest condemns Putin’s claim that he had no choice but to deploy troops into Ukraine because it was a threat to Russia’s security.
The official said the Russian forces attacked the city of Beryslav, and the market was likely hit by a tank. The wounded are being evacuated to Kherson and three are in serious condition.
Ukrainian Air Force Command said that 39 Iranian-made Shahed drones, two Russian-made Orlan drones, and a X-59 missile were shot down overnight.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/02/1146556299/russia-ukraine-donestk-attack
U.S. troops are banned from using cell phones in the wake of a Russian drone attack on a village in Kyiv, eastern Ukraine
A blistering New Year’s Eve assault killed at least four civilians across the country, Ukrainian authorities reported, and wounded dozens. The fourth victim, a 46-year-old resident of Kyiv, died in a hospital on Monday morning, Klitschko said.
Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz stated on Monday morning that a Ukrainian drone hit the energy facility in the Bryansk region. The village lost power as a result.
A CNN team on the ground has seen no indication of any massive casualties in the area. There is no unusual activity in and around Kramatorsk, including in the vicinity of the city morgue, the team reported.
A Reuters reporter in Kramtorsk also reported no signs of a significant Russian strike on two college dormitories that Russia claimed had been housing hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers.
Russian soldiers were using cell phones in defiance of the ban, which allowed Ukraine to monitor and determine their locations, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
After the strike, a rare public blame game unfolded between the Russian government and some pro-Kremlin leaders and military experts, as Moscow blamed its own soldiers for their cell phone use.
The leader of the self-declared “Donetsk People’s Republic” in eastern Ukraine disagreed with an influential military post that dismissed the account and pointed to conflicting accounts of Moscow’s response to the attack.
A fresh barrage of missiles ripped through the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine Thursday, sending flames and thick plumes into the air as screaming civilians scrambled to find shelter.
Rescue workers searched through piles of rubble to try and locate survivors in the aftermath of Wednesday’s attack, which damaged eight apartment buildings. Authorities also evacuated people to a local school for shelter.
Russian forces in the vicinity of the Kramatorsk border. A report of the attack on a civilian population in the area of Seredyna-Buda
“A country bordering absolute evil. A country that has to overcome it is trying to eliminate the chance of tragedies happening again. We will definitely find and punish all the perpetrators. They do not deserve mercy.”
Moscow’s attack in Kramatorsk came after a top Kyiv official said Russia is gearing up for a “maximum escalation” of the nearly years-long war in Ukraine.
“These will be defining months in the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an interview broadcast Tuesday.
Kharkiv, Sumy and Luhansk regions: Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said two civilians were killed in Dvorichna, a village east of the city of Kharkiv. Russian forces are in positions on the east bank of the river.
“The occupiers continue to shell the border of Sumy region with mortars” 12 times on Wednesday evening in the area of Seredyna-Buda — which is right near the Russian border — according to Operational Command North. There were no casualties reported.
According to an account of troops in the 46th brigade on the Telegram, Russia had reached a highway northwest of the city and fighting was continuing there.
