By Tony O’Reilly-
Russia fired several missiles into Ukraine early on Thursday, targeting energy infrastructure across the capital Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa in the west and other cities in one of its most serious aerial bombardments of late.
The city came under siege in a diversified attack that sparked mass panic as its already frightened and largely displaced residents ran for cover.
AD: Capeesh Restaurant
At least three people – including a 14-year-old girl – were taken to hospital following the explosions that hit the capital Kyiv, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko – a former heavyweight boxing champion.
The loud blasts reverberated throughout the cities of Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv and Zhytomyr.
The mayor of Kviv said on Thursday that 90% of his city was without power, while Mr Klitschko said that 40% of Kyiv had been left without power.
AD: Oysterian Sea Food Restaurant And Bar
Power cuts were also reported in the Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, in what has now become a way of life for Ukranians.
Thursday’s attack came hours after the Kremlin rejected Ukraine’s suggestion that peace talks could begin in 2023.
Lies And Deceit
Russia is notorious for lies and deceits, its credibility globally is next to zero. Putin has been accused of war crimes for the Ukraine war which has seen its soldiers needlessly kill innocent people.
The UK’s ambassador in Kyiv, Melinda Simmons, wrote on Twitter that the attacks proved “Russia does not want peace with Ukraine. Russia wants the subjugation of Ukraine”.
Senior Russian officials once claimed that Russian military forces pose no threat to Ukraine while inventing apparent pretexts for a potential invasion—such as accusing Ukrainians of “genocide” and claiming that U.S. military contractors are deploying chemical weapons to the Donbas.
The Russian leadership’s frequent lies are known in Russian as vranyo.
Analysts say Russian leaders are often not bothered that their lies can be seen through, but more concerned with deflecting blame for outrages in which its role has been exposed, such as the shootdown of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in July 2014, the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the city of Salisbury in the UK in March 2018, or the assassination attempt on opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Russia in August 2020.
The Kremlin is believed to consider itself as the ultimate orchestrator of its agenda, and considers the West to be hypocrites who cannot dictate to them.
Russia has several times warned NATO and its allies to stop supporting Ukraine with weapons and has accused the west of inflaming the war which began by an unprovoked attack. Several Russian oligarchs were heavily sanctioned by the West for their association with Putin’s regime.
NATO and its allies have provided necessary support to Ukraine, but critics say the seeming endless support from the Uk and the U.S is too much and at the expense of the well being of its own citizens at home. Endless strikes in various sectors of the Uk, like the Nhs, rail strikes, teachers and lawyer strikes, have all been cited as evidence that the Uk government’s financial support for the war may be excessive.
Some analysts say Russia’s latest attack is an expression of defiance in the face of support from the West which has seen its troop suffer heavy losses in the war i the last ten months.
Unprovoked Invasion
Russia invaded Ukraine in February in an unprovoked attack after denying it was planning the invasion.
Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine from the north, south and east in February 2022, telling the Russian people his goal was to “demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine”. His declared aim was to protect people subjected to what he called eight years of bullying and genocide by Ukraine’s government – claims which have no basis in evidence. It was framed as an attempt at preventing Nato from gaining a foothold in Ukraine.
Millions of people in eastern Ukraine have been severely affected by an ongoing conflict that began in 2014 when Crimea was annexed from Ukraine.
Prior to the recent escalation in conflict, the UN estimated that 2.9 million people in Ukraine already needed humanitarian assistance, and nearly 1.5 million people were internally displaced within Ukraine. Half were over the age of 60 – making it one of the ‘oldest’ crises in the world.
Ukraine’s military said 69 missiles were launched, with air defences intercepting 54 of them.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia attacked the country from “various directions with air and sea-based cruise missiles”.
Mr Podolyak said the strikes were “evil” and accused Moscow of seeking “to destroy critical infrastructure and kill civilians en masse”.
“Senseless barbarism. These are the only words that come to mind seeing Russia launch another missile barrage at peaceful Ukrainian cities ahead of New Year,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
Ukraine’s military said it had shot down 54 missiles out of 69 launched by Russia in an assault that began at 7am local time. Air raid sirens rang out across Ukraine and in Kyiv sounded for five hours – one of the longest alarms of the war.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, fire fighters worked to extinguish a large blaze at an electricity station.
Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, told the BBC that Russia would continue to launch attacks on civilian infrastructure for as long as it could.
“Continuing that thought, can they do this long?” he asked, “No, because there are not many missiles left.
“The defence industry is incapable of producing enough to provide that many missile strikes. This is another reason why they are now trying to find missile weapons in other countries of the world.”
In the southern central city of Zaporizhzhia, houses were damaged and a missile left a huge crater.
“The enemy placed a high stake on this attack, preparing for it for two weeks. Ukrainian air defence forces demonstrated an incredible level of skill and efficiency,” said Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on the Telegram messaging app.
“At the same time, there were hits and damage, in particular to energy facilities. In some areas, emergency shutdowns may be applied to avoid accidents in the networks. Our power engineers are already working to repair everything,” he added.
In the southwestern Odesa region, air defence units shot down 21 missiles, its governor Maksym Marchenko said. The fragments of one missile hit a residential building, though no casualties were reported.
Image: Evgeniy Maloletka
AD: Heritage And Restaurant Lounge Bar