This Friday, Russia launched a new massive attack against Ukraine with drones followed by cruise and ballistic missiles aimed at energy infrastructure, transportation networks and key facilities in the country. Moscow lashes out at the invaded country when the energy networks are already severely affected and the snow and ice have brought temperatures well below zero. No injuries have been reported, while damage assessment continues.
“Another Russian missile attack on Ukraine. Cruise missiles, ballistic missiles. According to preliminary reports, there were 93 missiles. In particular, there was at least one North Korean missile. We managed to shoot down 81 missiles, of which 11 cruise missiles were shot down thanks to our F-16s. The Russians also used almost 200 drones in this attack. One of the largest-scale attacks against our energy sector,” reported the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, on his social networks.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sibiga has urged Western partners to accelerate the delivery of air defenses to the country, specifically 20 air defense systems, including NASAMS, HAWK or IRIS-T. “Russia intends to deprive us of energy. We, on the other hand, must deprive it of the means of terror,” declared the minister.
“The enemy continues his terror. “Energy throughout Ukraine is again under massive attack,” German Galushchenkosaid, the energy minister, wrote on Facebook. Specialists assess the damage from attacks that have left half of the residents of the Ternopil region without power. “Due to the massive missile attack on energy facilities, the scope of consumption restriction measures has increased,” reported Ukrenergo, the national energy company.
This Friday is the 12th attack of this nature so far this year. The last one was recorded just two weeks ago, on November 28. On that occasion, it used 91 missiles and 97 bomb drones and left a million consumers without electricity.
The attack was initiated, as usual, by a swarm of kamikaze drones that began on Thursday afternoon and extended into the early hours of Friday. Around seven in the morning, anti-aircraft alerts began to sound again throughout the country with the beginning of missile launches. Almost three hours later, the threat was ended.
Moscow also threatens to reuse the experimental ballistic missile it launched on November 21 against Dnipro. The vector, named Oreshnik, is a variation of the RS-26 Rubezh, an intercontinental missile. Since Monday there was a rumor that the launch could be imminent and that this time it would be directed towards the country’s capital or the west, as a message to the West. The Ukrainian attack on Taganrog and the possibility of Russian retaliation revived the warning message from US intelligence during the week.
Russia intensifies its offensive against Ukraine just over a month before the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, arrives at the White House with the intention of closing the conflict. The question is how. According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in his meeting with Zelensky last Saturday in Paris, Trump told him that kyiv’s entry into NATO was ruled out, but that he wanted to see a strong and well-armed Ukraine at the end of the confrontation.
The Republican magnate also expressed that Europe should play a leading role in the defense of Ukraine and that he hoped that European troops deployed in the country would perform peacekeeping functions. He did not reject the possibility that the United States would support these efforts, but according to the American newspaper’s sources, he did rule out the participation of his country’s troops. Emmanuel Macron, who was present at the meeting between both leaders, has begun a diplomatic effort in search of support for this hypothetical deployment, while European partners look for formulas to support Ukraine.
