Kyiv suffers largest ever drone attack by Russia leaving five wounded
Russia will have sustained more than half a million personnel killed and wounded in its invasion of Ukraine by 2025 if casualties continue at the current rate, the UK believes.
According to the latest Defence Intelligence update, the average daily number of the country’s troops injured or dead has risen by almost 300 per day over the course of 2023 compared to last year.
This comes as Ukraine has carried out a major air offensive on Russia’s border regions, a day after Moscow launched its biggest wave of airstrikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions since the war began.
The estimated number of civilians killed in co-ordinated air attacks across in an 18-hour onslaught has risen to at least 30.
More than 144 people were injured and an unknown number were buried under rubble, the officials said. A maternity hospital, apartment blocks and schools were among buildings damaged.
Within hours, the UK announced it was sending Kyiv hundreds of defence missiles, ministers condemning Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “barbarity”.
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Poland resumes search for suspected Russian rocket
Poland has renewed a search operation for elements of a suspected Russian rocket on Saturday, which it said had violated the country’s airspace on Friday morning.
“We inform that on December 30…a ground search will be carried out in the Lublin Voivodeship for possible elements of the object that violated Polish airspace yesterday,” the Polish army’s operational command wrote on social media platform X.
“The aim of the search is to definitively confirm that no element of the object remains on Polish territory.”
Polish military officials said on Friday that the object had left the country’s airspace within three minutes of entry from the direction of its border with Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian side and allies have initially confirmed our radar records that the object had left Polish territory,” a spokesperson for the operational command told Reuters.
Holly Evans30 December 2023 10:50
Latest pictures from Russia show alleged drone attacks
A damaged car in Russia’s border regions after Ukraine launches drone strikes
(via REUTERS)
A view shows a damaged car after Russia downs 32 Ukrainian drones
(via REUTERS)
A view shows a damaged house following what was said to be Ukrainian forces’ shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict
(via REUTERS)
Holly Evans30 December 2023 10:20
Moscow downs 32 Ukrainian drones after 30 civilians killed
Thirty-two Ukrainian drones have been detected over Russia, Moscow officials said, a day after an 18-hour aerial barrage across Ukraine killed at least 30 civilians.
Drones were seen in the skies over Russia’s Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, and Kursk regions, the country’s defence ministry said in a statement.
It did not report any casualties and said all of drones were destroyed by air defences.
Cities across western Russia have come under regular attack from drones since May, with Russian officials blaming Kyiv.
A shopping centre was heavily damaged in airstrikes across Ukraine
(via REUTERS)
Holly Evans30 December 2023 09:34
Rescuers pull elderly man from rubble of Kharkiv building after Russian airstrike
Rescuers pull elderly man from rubble of Kharkiv building after Russian airstrike
Rescue workers in Ukraine pulled an elderly man from under the rubble of a building in Kharkiv that was destroyed in a massive Russian aerial barrage. Video shared by Ukraine’s State Emergency Service showed the man pinned down by large boulders of the collapsed building in the country’s second-largest city. Rescuers worked to free the man from the rubble and later transported him into an ambulance. Russia launched 122 missiles and 36 drones against Ukrainian targets, officials said on Friday 29 December, killing at least 18 civilians across the country.
Holly Evans30 December 2023 09:00
Russia claims to have destroyed 13 Ukrainian rockets in major air offensive
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its anti-aircraft units destroyed 13 Ukrainian rockets over the southern Belgorod region on Friday and the regional governor said one person was killed and four injured in the incidents.
A ministry statement said units in Belgorod region had thwarted “an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack”, with 13 rockets taken down.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod Region on the Ukrainian border, said a man had been killed when a house was struck.
Four people were being treated for injuries. Ten private homes sustained damage and the water supply in the city of Belgorod was disrupted, Gladkov said.
Holly Evans30 December 2023 08:31
UN calls emergency meeting: ‘Attacks against civilians are unacceptable’
The meeting was called at 9pm UK time on Friday after Ukraine requested an urgent session to address missile and drone strikes by Russia.
“Once again, Ukrainians are forced to spend the holidays seeking shelter, clearing the rubble, and burying the dead, amidst freezing temperatures,” said Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary-general at the UN department of political and peacebuilding affairs, while briefing members.
Read the full article here
Holly Evans30 December 2023 07:47
Ukraine launches attacks on Russian border regions after Putin’s ‘barbaric’ aerial bombardment
The Ukrainian armed forces posted a video on Telegram depicting the sky above Belgorod, showing at least one building on fire.
Belgorod’s governor said at least one person was killed and 10 homes were damaged, while the water supply to the city of Belgorod was disrupted. Russia’s defence ministry said 13 Ukrainian rockets were intercepted.
Read the full article here
Holly Evans30 December 2023 07:24
Putin’s efforts ‘desperate and futile’, UN Security Council told
UN Security Council members including the United States, France and Britain condemned Moscow’s prolongued and devastasting overnight bombardment of Ukrainian towns and cities.
At an emergency meeting of the council, Britain’s ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward said the attacks were “a desperate and futile attempt by Russia to regain momentum” in its war.
“They will not succeed,” she said.
Jane Dalton30 December 2023 07:00
Ukrainian hackers ‘claim strike on Russian ship killed 74 soldiers’
A Ukrainian hacker group has claimed the Russian Black Sea Fleet said Ukraine’s strike on the Russian Novocherkassk ship killed 74 and injured 27 Russian soldiers, The Kyiv Independent reports.
Cyber Resistance said it intercepted an email from the Black Sea Fleet giving the figures.
It was the destruction of the vessel that reportedly prompted a furious Vladimir Putin to retaliate with the widespread overnight bombardment in Ukrainian towns and cities.
Jane Dalton30 December 2023 06:01
World must react to act of terror, says Zelensky
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, urged the world to react to “this latest act of terror”.
In his nightly address he said more than 100 private houses had been destroyed or damaged, along with 45 multi-storey buildings, schools, two churches, hospitals, a maternity ward and numerous commercial storage units.
“It is crucial for the world to react to this latest act of terror,” he said.
“Many leaders today have already declared their support for Ukraine and Ukrainians, and I am grateful to each one. Especially to those who have assisted our country with air defence.
“Our anti-aircraft defence forces have done a lot today, considering that Russian terrorists deliberately tried to bypass our defences. We will continue to strengthen our air defence and work towards pushing the war back to these human scum where it came from – home to Russia.”
Jane Dalton30 December 2023 05:01