Aerial attacks over Russia and Ukraine
Moscow said on Thursday its air defences shot down Ukrainian missiles over Crimea and the Russian border city of Belgorod.
In Sevastopol, the largest city on the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula, one person was wounded by falling debris from an intercepted aerial attack, according to the regional governor.
More than 100 people were also evacuated from their homes in Crimea after another attack late Thursday due to unexploded shells, Mikhail Razvozhayev said.
Two men sustained shrapnel wounded in Belgorod during an attack at the same time, local authorities detailed.
On Saturday, 25 people were killed, including five children, in the city on the Ukrainian border. It was one of the deadliest strikes on Russian soil since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Traffic was suspended on the bridge connecting Crimea - which Moscow seized illegally a decade ago - and Russia. The bridge is a key supply link for Russia.
On Wednesday night, Russia fired two S-300 missiles at central Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which in the past week has come under almost daily aerial attack, detailed regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Both sides in the war have pounded each other with long-range aerial strikes as fighting along the front line has become largely deadlocked.
From rats the size of AK-47s to grimy mud, a Euronews report from December explored how winter was impacting soldiers and strategists in the Ukraine war. Read more on this story below.
Russia seeking missiles from other states
The US said on Thursday that Moscow has used missiles from North Korea to attack Ukraine and is trying to buy more from Iran.
Citing recently declassified intelligence, the White House said North Korean ballistic missiles had been fired by Russia into Ukraine on 30 December.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said overall Pyongyang has provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several ballistic missiles.
Though it has not been completed, Kirby said the US was "concerned" that Moscow was trying to negotiate a deal to purchase missiles from Iran.
He said negotiations were "actively advancing."
With Russia ramping up its missile and drone attacks during the winter, Ukraine has pleaded with its Western allies to keep supplying it with air defence weapons.
NATO and Ukrainian ambassadors are set to hold talks at Kyiv’s request in Brussels on 10 January and are expected to discuss the country’s needs, an alliance official said.
“NATO allies have already delivered a vast array of air defense systems to Ukraine and they are committed to further bolstering Ukraine’s defenses,” said NATO spokesman Dylan White.
Source: Dw
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