Russia launches a new massive wave of strikes against Ukraine

Mike Brest

December 16, 10:50 AM December 16, 10:50 AM

Russian forces launched their latest barrage of missiles across Ukrainian territory, damaging Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in several regions on Friday.

Ukraine’s ministry of defense said it had destroyed 60 of the 76 air and sea-based cruise missiles fired at targets across the country from Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, as well as in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the central city of Kryvyi Rih. Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, and Sumy all reported strikes.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said “nine power generation facilities” were damaged in Friday’s attacks. The damage will lead to “restrictions of electricity production at nuclear generation facilities,” he added.

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At least two people were killed, and eight more were injured, when a residential building was hit by one of the strikes in Kryvyi Rih, officials said, according to the Washington Post. Most of the missiles had been targeted at Kyiv.

White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told reporters on Friday that the attacks hit “largely civilian infrastructure.” Kirby said Russia is “again trying to put fear into the hearts of the Ukrainian people and to make it that much harder on them as winter is now upon them.”

The United States announced late last month that it would provide more than $53 million to Ukraine to support efforts to repair the destroyed critical infrastructure that Russia has spent weeks deliberately targeting. Kirby said that the first tranche had “arrived in Ukraine.”

“It includes the kinds of equipment that they need to make emergency repairs, such as relays, and bus bars, and surge arresters, disconnectors, [and] circuit breakers, that kind of thing,” he said. “So this first tranche is really designed to assist them with emergency repairs, but it's just the first tranche. There will be more coming in, in coming weeks, to fulfill that pledge of more than $50 million.”

Kirby did not announce new military aid despite reports that the administration is finalizing plans to send Ukraine the Patriot missile defense system. While the highly sophisticated U.S. system that is designed to track and intercept incoming ballistic and cruise missiles would help Ukraine, it would also likely take weeks or months of training in a third country before Ukrainians would have the system on the battlefield.

Russian strikes caused ‘widespread impact’ on Ukraine’s power grid, US says

Mike Brest

October 31, 02:45 PM October 31, 02:45 PM

The barrage of Russian strikes across Ukraine has had a “widespread impact" on the power grid, a senior U.S. military official said.

The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity Monday afternoon, declined to provide percentages regarding the damage and noted that the department is still gathering information on the latest strikes that took place on Monday.

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"In terms of the infrastructure, by virtue of the electrical grid being impacted, we are seeing impacts in terms of water supply systems, water treatment, things like that, which is affecting access to water among the civilian population," the official added.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said there had been strikes on 18 targets in 10 regions, making it the most significant and widespread missile campaign since a barrage roughly two weeks ago, according to the Washington Post.

DOD officials could not provide information about the latest strikes but spoke broadly about what they had seen recently.

“We’re still kind of gathering information on the latest strikes,” a senior defense official added. “And I don't have anything more than what you're seeing in media reporting regarding the most recent strikes. When it comes to the question of the power grid and repairs for Ukraine's critical infrastructure. I can tell you that that is a topic that we're talking a lot about inside of the U.S. government.”

Monday’s barrage came in response to an incident this weekend in which Ukrainian drones swarmed Russian warships in the port of Sevastopol, which is in Russian-occupied Crimea. The defense officials did not provide additional information regarding the attack.

Over the last couple weeks, Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukraine's power grid, which they argue are legitimate military targets, despite that there are parts of the country where civilians are without power or water as a result.