New assessment after the Russian strikes. The massive Russian strikes, which occurred during the night from Thursday to Friday, left at least 30 dead and 160 injured, the Ukrainian authorities announced in a new report. The bombings hit essential infrastructure, industrial, military and civilian installations, the Ukrainian General Staff said in a report.
“Massive attack”. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russia fired nearly 160 devices, including cruise missiles and Shahed explosive drones. The anti-aircraft defense managed to shoot down 88 missiles and 27 drones. “Russia has used almost every type of weapon in its arsenal,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said. “This is the most massive missile attack,” excluding the first days of the war, assured air force spokesperson Yuri Ignat.
The Ukrainians strike in turn. The day after the Russian strikes, a Ukrainian attack on a residential building left one dead in Belgorod, announced the governor of the region Vyacheslav Gladkov. The Russian Defense Ministry also indicated that anti-aircraft defense systems had destroyed 13 missiles over this region. 32 Ukrainian drones were also neutralized in the areas of Bryansk, Kursk and Orel, north of the Ukrainian border, as well as Moscow.
UN condemnation. “Unfortunately, today’s appalling attacks are only the latest in a series of increasingly frequent attacks by the Russian Federation,” UN Under-Secretary-General Mohamed said on Friday. Khiari, during an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Friday in New York. “The Secretary-General unequivocally condemns, in the strongest terms, these appalling attacks perpetrated today against towns and villages in Ukraine,” he added, recalling that “the attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure are violations of international humanitarian law.
Biden’s call. US President Joe Biden urged Congress on Friday to “act without further delay” after the “massive bombings” in Ukraine, with negotiations still slipping on the validation of a gigantic aid package to kyiv. “Unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the much-needed weapons and air defense systems to Ukraine to protect its people,” warned the leader in a press release.
The UK sends weapons. The United Kingdom announced on Friday the sending of around 200 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine to strengthen its defenses, after the wave of Russian strikes on several cities in the country, calling on its allies to “redouble their efforts” to support Kiev militarily.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is “testing Ukraine’s defenses and the West’s resolve…and today’s dispatch of an air defense package sends an irrefutable message that, in the face of Russian barbarity, the “The United Kingdom remains absolutely committed to supporting Ukraine,” British Defense Minister Grant Shapps said in a statement.