Lviv/Moscow, (EFE).- Ukraine today resisted the fifteenth air barrage in the last six months of a military campaign by Russia, which continues to fail to translate its military superiority on the ground a few days after the anniversary of the start of the conflict.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy reported that the new bombardment did not affect power generation or supply throughout the country, although Kiev expects Russia to insist on hammering its critical infrastructure in the coming weeks.
Planes, ships and drones
The Russian army used all its artillery potential to hit targets in the west, north and center of the neighboring country by land, sea and air, an attack that left at least four dead.
In this massive mixed attack, Russia used its artillery, the Black Sea Fleet and strategic aviation, whose Kh-22 cruise missiles aboard Tu-22M3 bombers remain undetectable by Ukrainian air defense.
“Another Russian missile attack. UAVs and missiles were launched overnight. Unfortunately, there are impacts in the north and west of Ukraine, as well as in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovogrado regions,” wrote the chief of staff of the Ukrainian Presidency, Andriy Yermak, on his Telegram account.
They also hit targets with greater or lesser success in the regions of Leopolis, bordering Poland, eastern Kharkov and southern Mykolaiv and Jerson.
The spokeswoman for the Southern Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Nataliya Gumenyuk, stressed that eight Kalibr cruise missiles fired from a frigate in the Black Sea were shot down.
“Unfortunately, some of the Kh-22 cruise missiles did hit their targets, hitting critical infrastructure facilities. Currently, there are no weapons capable of destroying that type of missile, ”he admitted.
shelling in sight
The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksy Danilov, announced that Russia plans a massive attack for February 24, when it will be one year since the Russian military intervention began.
“We are prepared for it. I think we already understand what attack it is after receiving 115-120 missiles in one day. We will also manage, ”he said.
In turn, Yermak stressed that Russia has changed its tactics a bit, since it carries out active reconnaissance and “uses false targets” in order to mislead enemy batteries.
Ukraine is not idle either. The governor of the city of Sevastopol, the main port on Ukraine’s annexed Crimean peninsula, denounced another Ukrainian drone strike on Thursday.
Putin will deliver his first state of the nation address in almost two years next week, so the Russian army could intersperse an attack during those days to lift the flagging morale of the Russian troops.
According to Ukrainian Military Intelligence, the ground shows how Putin has demanded concrete results from his generals, as Russian units carry out “desperate” raids into Donbas in an attempt to seize control of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions before from the end of March.
It is about “proving even something in a year of this shameful war,” said Andrei Yusov, a spokesman for the military intelligence service.
arms bleeding
Just as NATO recognized yesterday the need to supply more missiles to kyiv, which would be running out of ammunition, the West also today drew attention to the losses on the Russian side.
According to the British Ministry of Defense, the Russian army has lost some 130 aircraft in the last twelve months, although it would still have some 1,500 aircraft to its credit.
Meanwhile, the UK Defense Minister, Ben Wallace, assured that Russia has already lost two thirds of its tanks, either because they have been destroyed or are disabled.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Moscow has left 50% of its T-72B and T-72B3M tanks on the Ukrainian battlefield, to which must be added a large number of T-80s.
The powerful Russian military industry is unable to meet Defense orders, among other things, due to Western sanctions.
However, the deputy head of the Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev, assured that building and modernizing up to a thousand tanks “is on the agenda.”
