Russia will continue to bombard Ukraine with missile terror in the new year. On Tuesday night, alarm sirens wailed almost everywhere in the country. At least four people were killed by multiple waves of Russian airstrikes. About 90 were injured, Ukrainian authorities said. This time the main target of the attacks was the capital Kiev. Kharkiv in the east was also hit.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Russian army deployed a total of 99 rockets and cruise missiles of various types. Of these, 70 projectiles were intercepted, including all ten hypersonic missiles of the type Kinschalsaid army chief Valery Zalushny. Also from the 35 ShahedAccording to Ukrainian information, all Iranian-made combat drones were shot down. However, this cannot be verified independently.
Around 40 people were killed last Friday night
In Kiev, there was damage and fires in eight of the ten city districts – mainly due to falling rocket debris. Residents reported loud explosions. There are power outages in several parts of the city, wrote Mayor Vitali Klitschko on the short message service Telegram. Civil infrastructure facilities were hit; a gas pipe was damaged. Problems with the water supply were also reported. 13 people were injured in a high-rise building when a rocket caused a fire, wrote Klitschko.
Russia has significantly increased its bombings in recent nights. On the night of last Friday, the invaders used an unprecedented number of missiles and drones in this war, a total of 150. Around 40 people were killed as a result.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia has had about 170 Iranians since December 31 Shahed-Combat drones and dozens of different missiles fired at Ukraine. “Our air defenders have been doing incredible work for the third day now,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
According to civilian Russian authorities, a Russian missile accidentally hit a village in the Voronezh border region. According to initial information, seven farms were damaged as a result, the region’s governor, Alexander Gusev, wrote on Telegram on Tuesday. There are no injuries. The incident occurred in the village of Petropavlovka, about 140 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory. Gusev spoke of the “accidental release” of the bullet. He did not provide any information about the type of weapon. Unauthenticated videos circulated on social media that allegedly showed severe damage to several houses in the village.
Russia is primarily attacking Ukraine’s critical infrastructure
The Russian air strikes are being closely monitored in EU and NATO member Poland. Two type fighter jets F-16 The Polish and American air forces were deployed on Tuesday for security reasons, an armed forces command said. Only on Friday, according to the Polish General Staff, a Russian missile entered Polish airspace for three minutes before leaving it towards Ukraine.
As was the case last winter, the target of the massive Russian attacks are transformer and distribution stations, substations and waterworks and other parts of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. This time, however, residential areas in cities are increasingly being shot at. The air strikes also target the morale and will to fight of the Ukrainian population and break support for the fight against the invaders.
One recently published survey but shows that at least the Russian attacks at the beginning of the war had the opposite effect. A total of 1,800 Ukrainians were surveyed in two waves in March and April 2022. The analysis of the surveys by a team of scientists led by Henrikas Bartusevičius from the Oslo Peace Research Institute and Florian van Leeuwen from Tilburg University in the Netherlands showed that Moscow’s calculations had not worked, at least until then.
Scientists have doubts about Russia’s strategy
According to the study, Ukrainians who were more affected by Russian violence were even more willing to resist the attackers, especially to take part in military fighting in defensive positions. According to the authors, the Russian strategy of targeting civilians is not only costly and prohibited under international humanitarian law, it is also unlikely to lead to the desired erosion of Ukrainian resistance. According to peace researchers, terror against civilians may even strengthen Ukrainian resistance.
However, after the failed counteroffensive last summer, Ukraine is currently in a difficult military situation; its troops have retreated into the defensive along the entire front. The mood in the country has also deteriorated significantly in recent months. Many people and especially many soldiers are exhausted after almost 700 days of war.
With material from dpa and Reuters.