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Russian drone attack on Dnipro in early January
Photo: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine / REUTERS
On Tuesday night, Ukraine was again attacked by Russia with drones and missiles. There was an air alert in many places. According to the air force, Shahed drones targeted the Dniepropetrovsk region in the east of the country and the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions in the south.
The mayor of Dnipro, Boris Filatov, wrote on Telegram that the city's civilian infrastructure was attacked. According to local media, electricity and water supplies were interrupted in some parts of Dnipro.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed how such critical infrastructure could be best protected in a first meeting with the new military leadership. Among those present at the meeting was Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky, who was appointed commander-in-chief last week, as Zelensky said in his evening video address on Monday. It was also about the situation on the front in the east and south of the country, he added.
After almost two years of Russian war of aggression, Zelenskyj dismissed Valeriy Saluschny, who was very popular with the people, as the previous commander of the armed forces on Thursday. The two have recently been repeatedly said to have a severely broken relationship of trust. Syrsky's previous position as commander of the land forces was taken over by former Deputy Defense Minister Olexander Pavlyuk. Zelensky also exchanged several other high-ranking military officers, including those in territorial defense and the airborne troops.
Kremlin denies Starlink use
Meanwhile, Russia rejected allegations about the alleged use of the US Internet service Starlink in the frontline area. The necessary equipment that tech billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company operates is not officially certified in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax agency. "Accordingly, it (the system) cannot be used in any way," he added. Musk also emphasized once again that no Starlink equipment is officially being sold to Russia.
However, it is said from Ukraine that this is not necessary at all: Starlink terminals end up in Russian hands unofficially as contraband via third countries, explained the spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence service, Andriy Yussov. The day before, his agency had announced that, thanks to intercepted Russian conversations, there was evidence that enemy soldiers in occupied areas were using Starlink.
czl/dpa/Reuters