There are live updates of the war in Ukraine

Ukrainian Air Force and Interior Minister says Attacks on Kyiv are a result of a “Russian” Attack on the United States

There were attacks on Kyiv, and they appeared to be part of a larger assault. The Ukrainian Air Force said it had destroyed 37 Iranian-made kamikaze drones and three cruise missiles in south and east of the country early Monday. The attacks in the east targeted crucial infrastructure.

Several residential buildings have been damaged. He said 18 people were extricated from the rubble of one building and rescuers were looking for two more. The streets in the central part of the city are closed due to emergency services responding.

Anton Gerashcenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Internal Ministry, reported attacks on infrastructure near the city’s main rail station, but lines were operating as normal midmorning Monday.

“”The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us. The President of Ukraine wrote that the occupiers will get fair punishment and that they will get victory.

The chief-of-staff of Zelenskyy called on the west to give Ukraine more air defense systems. He said they had no time for slow actions.

The Ukrainian Air Force said it had shot down 30 out of 35 drones launched from Sunday night into Monday, but those that got around air defenses damaged power systems and civilian targets.

After commenters criticized him for having confirmed a Russian strike, he removed the picture of the shrapnel from his post.

Kamikaze Drones and Missiles as a Threat to Ugly Russian War II: The Ukrainian Civil Aviation System in Kryvyi Rih

European Union foreign ministers are scheduled to meet today in Luxembourg. Before the meeting was to take place, Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, told reporters that the bloc would look into “concrete evidence” of Iran’s involvement in Ukraine.

Kamikaze drones, or suicide drones, are small, portable aerial weapon systems that are hard to detect and can be fired at a distance. They can be easily launched and are designed to hit behind enemy lines and be destroyed in the attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that there was no need for more massive strikes. However, a series of Russian attacks over the weekend killed 11 civilians – eight in the eastern region of Donetsk, two in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and one in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

Denys Shmyhal said that the goal was to leave Ukrainians without light, water and heat.

Millions of Ukrainians have been without critical services such as heat, water and electricity in the freezing winter due to Russian attacks on the energy grid. Repeated missile and drone attacks since October, which have damaged or destroyed civilian infrastructure, are part of a strategy by the Kremlin to terrorize Ukrainians and is in violation of the laws of war, according to experts.

Sections of the Ukrainian railway system in Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk region were out of power following the strikes, and back-up diesel locomotives were replacing some services. The energy minister said there were nine power-generating facilities damaged in Friday’s attacks.

Residents bundled in winter coats, hats and scarves gathered in Kyiv’s underground stations as the sirens wailed. Huddled on escalators, their faces were lit by their phones as they scrolled through updates.

At least two people are dead after a missile slammed into a three-story residential building in the center of the city of Kryvyi Rih. According to the deputy head of the presidential administration, there may be people under the rubble.

Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the regional military administration said that at least 10 missiles hit targets in the north of the region. After being without power for most of the day, power was started to come back on in Kharkiv city. Ihor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv, said that there is a lot of infrastructure damage, so the people should use makeshift centers to get food and drinks.

Oleksandr Starukh, the chief of the regional military administration, said that the southeastern region had been hit by more than a dozen missile strikes.

Four people died as a result of the shelling and rocket attacks in the southern city of Kherson, which was liberated by Ukrainian forces in November. Shelling also set a multi-storey apartment building ablaze, and the body of a man was found in one apartment, the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s Office said. Basic services are still not being restored.

The director of the Energy Industry Research Center said in a television interview that power reductions had been put in place in order to protect the grid. He added that, in spite of this, the result of the attacks Friday morning would be “unpleasant.”

Three servicemen were killed by debris at the base that houses Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers, which have been involved in strikes on Ukraine, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

An MiG-31K, a supersonic aircraft capable of carrying a Kinzal hypersonic missile, was also seen in the sky over Belarus during the air attacks on Friday in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Their statement did not say if a Kinzal was used in the attacks.

Kirby said they know 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 would be the most effective long-range defensive weapons system sent to the country and officials say it will help secure airspace for members of the North Atlantic Treaty and America (NATO) in eastern Europe.

He wouldn’t elaborate on the next package, but said that there will be additional air defense capabilities for Ukraine.

On Tuesday, about 70 countries and international organizations pledged more than $1 billion to help repair Ukraine’s infrastructure. Last week, the Pentagon announced that an additional $275 million in security assistance for Ukraine had been approved, including weapons, artillery rounds and equipment to help Ukraine boost its air defense. In November, the US announced a $53 million package to support repairs to Ukraine’s power system.

The damage caused by a Russian-made self-detonating drone in the Sea of Azov by an air-borne and missile attack on Ukraine in the lead up to Christmas

The Iranian-made, self-detonating Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 drones were launched from the “eastern coast of the Sea of Azov,” the Air Force said in a statement on Facebook.

Popko added that two areas in central and western Kyiv bore the brunt of the damage. A road in Solomyanskyi was damaged and fragments of a drone landed on a high rise residential building in Shevchenkivskui district.

According to the Ukrainian President, the electricity had been restored to over nine million people, but large-scale power cuts remained in some areas.

Zelensky thanked everyone who carries out the repair works. “It is not easy, it is difficult, but I am sure: we will pull through together, and Russia’s aggression will fail.”

The repeated attacks come as Ukrainians far from the eastern and southern frontlines of the ground war seek for some semblance of normality in the run-up to Christmas.

The mayor of the city said on Telegram that a Christmas tree was installed and decorated in the center of the city with energy-saving garlands and will be powered by a generator.

The tree of Sophia Square will be decorated with a combination of blue and yellow balls and white doves. Flags of countries that are supporting Ukraine will be placed at the bottom.

Ukrainian children are asking St. Nicholas for air defense and weapons for “victory for all Ukrainians,” Zelensky said in his virtual address to the Joint Expeditionary Force leaders’ summit on Monday.

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that three Russian servicemen were killed when the Ukrainian drone was shot down deep inside Russian territory.

The Russians didn’t shell it for three weeks in Ukraine, and the Dnipropetrovsk region of Nikopol

The governor of Saratov Oblast said on Monday that law enforcement agencies are investigating the incident at the airfield. The comments were posted after the reports of an explosion.

He said that there were no emergencies in the city’s residential areas and that no infrastructure had been damaged. He said the government would provide assistance to the families of the servicemen.

The Russians were incorrect in their belief that the war would not affect anyone in the back of Russia. Therefore, as we see, such things are happening more and more often, and let’s hope that this will only benefit Ukraine,” said Ihnat.

Also on Monday, a spokesperson for South of Ukraine’s Security and Defense Forces warned of a possible retaliatory Russian strike, referencing a similar incident earlier this month in the same region.

Earlier this month, CCTV footage appeared to show an explosion lighting up the sky in Engels. Gov. Busargin reassured residents that no civilian infrastructure was damaged and that information about incidents at military facilities was being checked by law enforcement agencies.

The night from Sunday into Monday was quiet in Ukraine. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region said on Telegram that the Russians didn’t shell it for the first time in weeks.

Since Russian began shelling the areas around the city of Nikopol in March, this is the third quiet night. Nikopol is located across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under control of the Russian forces.

Ukrainian-controlled areas of the neighbouring Kherson region were shelled 33 times over the past 24 hours, according to Kherson’s Ukrainian Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevich. There were no casualties.

Urban disasters in Ukraine: a Ukrainian air defense system shot down near the Black Sea and destroyed buildings, according to Kyrylyo Tymoshenko

Several residential buildings in the capital Kyiv were destroyed, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the lead for disaster response in the Ukrainian presidential office.

An explosion near a playground rattled the windows of nearby homes. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko urged residents to charge their electronic devices and fill water containers in case of shortages.

Ukrainian air defense systems shot down 21 cruise missiles near Odesa, said Maksym Marchenko, the regional administrator for that region along the Black Sea. The city was without water or electricity after successful missile strikes.

Ninety percent of Lviv, a city near the Polish border, lost power, according to Mayor Andriy Sadovyi. The outage forced diesel generators to kick in to power emergency services. Public transportation stopped working.

In separate comments to Russian media Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Moscow would continue to pursue its objectives in Ukraine with “perseverance” and “patience.”

Air Force Detection of Russian Flare Balloon Launches in Kyiv City: “Air Defense is In Action against All Air Targets”

“There were six enemy air targets detected in the Kyiv city airspace. Those were balloons that are moving with the wind,” the Kyiv city military administration said on Telegram, adding that the balloons could have been carrying reconnaissance devices.

They use balloon targets as false targets to attempt air defense against them. The Air Force spokesman said that they needed to deplete their air defense and distract them.

“The air defense was in action against all air targets. The military administration said that most of the explorers were arrested. The goal of the balloon launch is to detect and exhaust our air defenses.

According to Ihnat, Russian balloons even flew into some other countries and caused a closed airspace in Moldova on Tuesday. CNN cannot independently verify those claims.