40% of Kyiv residents are deprived of electricity due to the Russian strikes

Moscow rains dozens of missiles on Kyiv and major Ukrainian cities

Rescue workers at the site of an apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile strike on the outskirts of Kyiv.

EPA

Yesterday morning, Russia rained dozens of missiles on the capital Kyiv and the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, and other cities in Ukraine, which announced that its air defenses managed to shoot down all the Russian missiles that targeted Kyiv, according to what the head of the military administration in the city announced.

In detail, the Ukrainian authorities said that Russia launched dozens of missiles yesterday morning, targeting the capital, Kyiv, the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, and other cities.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter, "Insensitive barbarism, these are the only words that come to mind when you see Russia launching another salvo of missiles at peaceful Ukrainian cities before the start of the new year."

And the Ukrainian military announced that it shot down 54 of the 69 missiles launched by Russia in an attack that began at seven in the morning local time.

Sirens sounded across the country and in Kyiv for five hours, in what is one of the longest warning periods since the start of the war.

"This morning the Russians launched cruise missiles from the air and sea, and anti-aircraft guided missiles at our country's energy infrastructure," wrote the commander of the Ukrainian forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, on Telegram, yesterday.

The bombing followed an attack on Wednesday night by suicide "kamikaze" drones.

The authorities also announced attacks in several parts of southern and western Ukraine.

Explosions were reported in several regions, including Poltava, Odessa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Lviv.

Ukrainian air defenses were activated to counter the missiles.

This comes in the wake of the Kremlin's rejection of a Ukrainian peace plan, and its insistence that Kyiv must recognize Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

And the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, announced via “Telegram” that 16 missiles had been shot down over the capital.

He said that 40% of the capital's residents do not have electricity due to the recent wave of Russian missile attacks.

Klitschko said the water supply and heating were working normally.

For his part, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said that officials are clarifying the targets that were bombed, and whether there were any victims after the Russian missiles caused a series of explosions.

And the mayor of Lviv, Andrei Sadovy, indicated via “Telegram” that electricity was cut off from 90% of the city in western Ukraine, in addition to stopping electric public transport from working.

Kyrilo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, announced that Russian bombing hit a maternity ward in a hospital in the southern city of Kherson on Tuesday, without hurting anyone.

Zelensky is pressing hard to advance a 10-point peace plan, which includes Russia's commitment to respecting Ukraine's territorial integrity and withdrawing all its forces.

However, Russia rejected it the day before yesterday, and confirmed that Kyiv must accept Russia's annexation of the four regions, which are Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhya in the south.

It also says that Ukraine must acknowledge the loss of Crimea on the Black Sea, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that there can be no peace plan that “does not take into account the current reality regarding Russian lands, by annexing the four regions to Russia.” ».

The RIA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying that Zelensky's plan to expel Russia from eastern Ukraine and Crimea with the help of the West and force Moscow to pay compensation to Kiev is an "illusion".

Tass also quoted Lavrov as saying that Russia will continue to enhance its combat power and technological capabilities in Ukraine.

For its part, the Russian air defenses shot down an “unidentified object” near Saratov, 500 km from the Ukrainian border, three days after a drone attack attributed to Ukraine, which resulted in three deaths at an air base in the region, as announced yesterday by the region’s governor, Roman. Busargin.

"An anti-aircraft defense system has been activated on the territory of the Engels district," Busargin said.

"An unknown object was destroyed... and there is no threat to the safety of the population," he added.

The Engels military base located in this area was attacked by a drone on Monday, the second in December.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news