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Ukraine Says Most Missiles In 'Massive' Russian Attack Destroyed, As Fighting In East 'Deadlocked' [1]
["Rfe Rl'S Ukrainian Service"]
Date: 2022-12
A fresh wave of Russian strikes pounded cities throughout Ukraine early on December 29, wounding several people in the capital, including a young girl, and leaving the western city of Lviv almost without electricity, but the Ukrainian military said it had managed to neutralize most of the missiles, avoiding much larger damage.
Air-raid alarms could be heard across the country, and presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych wrote on Facebook that more than several waves of missiles were incoming.
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Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported three victims from the Russian missile attack.
"At the moment, there are three victims in Kyiv. Including a 14-year-old girl. Everyone was hospitalized," he wrote on Telegram.
Rescuers continue search and rescue operations.
Klitschko warned of potential electricity cuts and called on residents to stock up on water.
Besides Kyiv, the wave of strikes also targeted Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, and the Black Sea port city of Odesa.
Most of Lviv, where Russian attacks are still rare, was left without power, Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said there were numerous explosions in the city.
Power cuts were also instituted in the Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, with the aim of reducing potential damage to the power infrastructure.
"The enemy is attacking Ukraine from various directions with air and sea-based cruise missiles from strategic aircraft and ships," Ukrainian air defense said on social media, describing the attack as "massive."
"According to preliminary data, 69 missiles were launched in total. Fifty-four enemy cruise missiles were shot down," Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valeriy Zaluzhniy said.
Presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak had earlier said that more than 120 missiles had been fired.
Overnight, Russian kamikaze drones targeted infrastructure in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, but most of them were downed by the Ukrainian military, the General Staff said on December 29.
"The Russian occupiers once again struck the energy infrastructure of Kharkiv, using 13 Iranian Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles in the attack. Ukrainian defense shot down 11 of these drones," the General Staff said in its morning report.
Five drones were shot down in the Dnipropetrovsk region, it said.
Shelling on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhya overnight damaged electricity lines and gas pipelines and damaged houses.
As heavy fighting in the Donbas region continued without significant advances on either side, the Ukrainian military said Russian forces rained scores of missile and rocket salvos along the whole front line in the east, while attempting to push ahead with their stalemated offensive in the Bakhmut and Avdiyivka areas of Donetsk.
Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told the BBC that the fighting in the east is deadlocked, as neither Ukraine nor Russia can make significant advances.
"The situation is just stuck," Budanov said in an interview. "It doesn't move."
Russians continue to pound Bakhmut, but elsewhere they appear to be on the defensive.
The onset of the cold season has also slowed down the pace of Ukraine's ground operations across the 1,000-kilometer front line.
"We can't defeat them in all directions comprehensively. Neither can they," Budanov told the BBC. "We're very much looking forward to new weapons supplies, and to the arrival of more advanced weapons."
Budanov added that Russia had suffered very significant losses, but Ukrainian forces still lacked the resources to move forward in multiple areas.
The claims could not be independently verified.
With reporting by Reuters, BBC, dpa, and TASS
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[1] Url:
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-front-russia-deadlocked/32198333.html
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