Russia fired scores of missiles into Ukraine early on Thursday (December 29), targeting Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv, and other cities in a massive aerial bombardment, Ukrainian authorities said as quoted by Reuters.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down 54 missiles out of more than 69 launched by Russia in an attack that began at 7 a.m. local time. Air raid sirens rang out across the country and in Kyiv sounded for five hours – in one of the longest alarms of the war.
Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the missiles were fired at “critical and energy infrastructure facilities in the eastern, central, western and southern regions.”
The attacks followed an overnight assault by ‘kamikaze’ drones. Russia has mounted numerous waves of air strikes in recent months on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, leaving millions without power and heat in freezing temperatures.
The latest blitz came hard on the heels of the Kremlin’s rejection of a Ukrainian peace plan, insisting that Kyiv must accept Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
