NO NEW YEAR GIFTS: RUSSIA AND UKRAINE EXCHANGE STRIKES

On New Year’s eve, the attacks of both warring sides in Ukraine intensified. On the morning of December 29, Russian troops launched another massive missile strike on the territory of Ukraine. Ten critical infrastructure facilities in ten Ukrainian regions were damaged as a result of attacks, a spokesman for the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said. Energy facilities, air defense systems and industrial zones in both the western and eastern regions of the country were hit. Shortly before that, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation hit several military targets kamikaze UAVs “Geranium-2”. During the massive Ukraine intensified. On the morning of December 29, Russian troops launched another massive missile strike on the territory of Ukraine. Ten critical infrastructure facilities in ten Ukrainian regions were damaged as a result of attacks, a spokesman for the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said. Energy facilities, air defense systems and industrial zones in both the western and eastern regions of the country were hit. Shortly before that, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation hit several military targets kamikaze UAVs “Geranium-2”. During the massive attack in Ukraine, a missile crossed the airspace of Belarus. It was shot down by air defense forces. Its fragments were found in an agricultural field near the village of Gorbakh in the Brest region. The wreckage belongs to a S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile fired from the territory of Ukraine. Minsk is considering two versions of the fall of a missile fired from the territory of Ukraine: an “unintentional launch” and a provocation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On the night of December 30, the strikes on the territory of Ukraine continued. Russian Geranium-2 UAVs targeted the city of Kiev. According to the local reports, the administration building in the Goloseevsky district was damaged during the attack. In his turn, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the destruction of seven kamikaze drones by air defense forces. According to him, two were shot down while approaching the Ukrainian capital, five more were destroyed over Kiev. However, Mr. Klitschko’s statements often exaggerate the victories of Ukrainian forces. The armed forces of Ukraine continue their attempts to hit targets on the territory of Russia. On December 29, another attack by a Ukrainian drone failed in the Saratov region, where a long-range aviation airfield is located. Russian air defenses shot down the UAV. As a result, the debris only damaged the fence of a private house, a car and a garage. After the incident, false reports about the evacuation of residents of the city have been actively spread on social networks again. The local authorities refuted again such reports. In the Russian Bryansk region, Ukrainian forces targeted the village of Klintsy with a drone, but the air defense shot down the uav. Border villages of the Belgorod and Kursk regions also remain under fire of Ukrainian artillery. Massive shelling of civilian facilities in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics continued. At night, the Ukrainian military struck at the city of Alchevsk in the LPR with American missiles. Ukrainian Nazis fired 12 missiles from the HIMARS MLRS. Himars missiles of the Ukrainian military also fired at the hotel “Victoria” in the Kiev district of Donetsk. The number of casualties was not immediately revealed.