On Saturday, December 17, Ukrainian authorities declared the country on an air alert and warned that a new round of Russian attacks was imminent. Fighting continued to rage near the city of Bakhmut, besieged by separatists.
Earlier, Russia launched missile strikes against several Ukrainian cities and regions in what was considered the “largest and most violent” attack since the war began. After this, Ukraine issued a warning that Russia would launch a new round of attacks.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces had repelled a Russian attack on more than 20 towns in the Donetsk region. About 25 other villages near the city of Bakhmut were heavily bombed by Russia.
The ministry confirmed that Russian forces fired some 163 missiles at Ukrainian territory in the past few hours, but its air defenses shot down many of them.
In addition, the Southern Combat Command also stated that Russia continued to shell infrastructure in the Nikolayev, Odessa, Zaporozhye and Dnipro regions, causing casualties and disrupting power and water supplies.
In Odessa, Ukrainian authorities said their air defenses shot down two Russian missiles fired into the area from the Crimean peninsula.
On the other hand, the leader of the Donetsk separatists stated that his forces, in cooperation with the “Wagner” organization, are about to further strengthen the siege of the city of Bakhmut. The Ukrainian army is sending a large number of reinforcements to the city. On the other hand, the battle in the suburbs is intensifying.
meeting with putin
Meanwhile, on Friday, December 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with leaders involved in the center of operations in Ukraine, aimed at understanding the ongoing fighting there.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that Putin was briefed on the work of the centers and held talks and individual meetings with the leaders. During the meeting, he said that he was willing to listen to their suggestions on the short-term and medium-term measures to carry out military operations in Ukraine.
In this context, the Russian Satellite News Agency quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that the Russian Armed Forces received a batch of new artillery reconnaissance systems called “penicillins”, and they have proven to be very effective in combat .
According to the same source, the “Penicillin” system effectively detected the location of the Ukrainian army cannons and determined their coordinates in order to destroy them immediately.
supply recovery
On the other hand, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko, said that water services for all residents of the capital have been restored. However, half of the city’s population still does not have access to central heating.
He also stressed that two-thirds of the capital was electrified. However, emergency power cuts are still being implemented, and the power shortage situation is “very serious”.
Kyiv was hit by Russian missiles on Friday, cutting off water, electricity and heating in most of its neighborhoods.