In the early morning of Friday December 29, Russia launched a large series of strikes on several cities across the whole of Ukraine, targeting in particular Kiev, the capital, as well as Kharkiv (north-east of the country), Dnipro ( east), Lviv (west) or Odessa (south). In an initial assessment, Ukrainian officials reported at least one dead and 15 injured, in kyiv and Kharkiv. “One person was killed in Kharkiv. Eight people were injured”, announced the governor of the region, Oleg Sinegoubov. kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that seven people were “currently hospitalized in the capital”. Finally, dn the northeast of the country, three people were injured in a strike on the town of Konotop, where an apartment building was notably hit. Follow our live stream.
Ukraine calls for “more aid and resources”. “We are doing everything possible to strengthen our air shield,” Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said Friday morning. “But the world must see that we need more help and means to stop this terror”he added, in a message published on the social network Telegram, calling for help from the international community.
The whole country on alert. A nationwide air alert was activated around 7 a.m. (local hour) while explosions were heard in kyiv where, according to its mayor, Vitali Klitschko, the “anti-aircraft defense is actively working.” On Thursday, Russian strikes left three dead and nine injured in two villages in the Zaporizhia region, in southern Ukraine, according to local authorities.
Ukrainian drone shot down in Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that it had destroyed a Ukrainian drone above the Kursk region, north of the Ukrainian border. MToday, Moscow confirmed that one of its ships had been damaged in an attack by kyiv in annexed Crimea.