New Russian strikes killed five people on Saturday in Ukraine, where the authorities were trying to restore electricity as quickly as possible after the massive missile strikes the day before which caused power cuts.
The heaviest human toll of the new attacks was recorded in the central region of Dnipropetrovsk: four people were killed there and 15 others injured, said deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential cabinet Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
He added that Saturday’s shelling had also left one dead and three injured in the southern region of Kherson, whose eponymous town was taken over more than a month ago by the Ukrainian army.
Its governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich, for his part stressed that a geriatric center had been hit in the village of Stepanivka, but without causing any casualties.
“The enemy continues to concentrate its efforts on conducting offensive actions in the directions of Bakhmout [dont les Russes cherchent depuis l’été dernier à s’emparer, NDLR] and Avdiïvka”, in the eastern region of Donetsk, noted in the evening the staff of the Ukrainian forces.
The Kremlin for its part announced on Saturday that Vladimir Putin had met the day before with those responsible for the military intervention in Ukraine, asking the commanders what were their “proposals” on the continuation of the operations.
75% of Kyiv residents have heating
In kyiv, metro traffic, interrupted on Friday so that the population could take refuge there, resumed early in the morning and the water supply returned, said its mayor Vitali Klitschko.
“75% of the inhabitants of the capital already have heating” and work continues to “stabilize the situation” in this area, he further assured.
Electricity has also been restored to Kharkiv (east), Ukraine’s second largest city, according to regional governor Oleg Sinegoubov.
In Kramatorsk, on the other hand, “the supply of water and heating has stopped”, lamented the mayor of this eastern city in the afternoon.
The national company Ukrenergo, which had imposed emergency cuts following the attacks, for its part noted that, despite improvements, the energy deficit remained “significant”.
Some 74 missiles – mostly cruise missiles – were fired by Russia on Friday, 60 of which were shot down by anti-aircraft defenses, according to the Ukrainian military.
Military sites targeted, according to Moscow
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that kyiv and fourteen regions in total were affected by power or water cuts following the bombardments.
“All their targets today are civilians. The Russian strikes mainly affect energy and heating supply facilities,” said the Ukrainian President.
The Russian army, for its part, claimed on Saturday that it had also targeted important targets for the Ukrainian defense the day before.
“A massive strike with high-precision weapons was carried out on Friday, December 16 against military command systems, the military-industrial complex and energy sites of Ukraine,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“Following the strike, a delivery of foreign-made arms and ammunition was prevented, an advance of reserves [en hommes des forces ukrainiennes] to combat areas has been blocked, the operation of arms manufacturing and repair companies […] has been suspended,” he continued.
Faced with a series of military setbacks this fall, Russia opted from October for a tactic of massive bombardment to destroy electricity networks and transformers, plunging millions of civilians into cold and darkness in the midst of winter.
Putin-Lukashenko summit on Monday
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, condemned this new “example of the blind terror of the Kremlin”, “cruel and inhuman attacks” against the population which “constitute war crimes”.
The EU has also approved new sanctions against Russia, in particular the ban on exporting drone engines there.
These “illegitimate unilateral restrictive measures” will not achieve their objective, the Russian Foreign Ministry reacted on Saturday.
On Monday, Vladimir Putin is due to meet his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in Minsk for a summit intended to further strengthen their alliance.
Belarus, Russia’s only ally in this war, allowed the use of its territory for the Russian assault on kyiv at the start of the invasion on February 24.
According to Mr Lukashenko, “the political-military situation [autour de leurs] country” will be mentioned during the meeting, even if the discussions will be “above all [consacrées] to the economic sphere.
In an interview published on Thursday, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny, said he was convinced that Russia would attempt a new attack on kyiv in the first months of 2023.