As the world welcomed the new year, Russia and Ukraine remained entrenched in the spiral of intense mutual bombing with drones and missiles that began a week ago. This Tuesday, January 2, a Russian attack against the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv (northeast) caused at least four deaths and 92 injuries, according to Ukrainian authorities. In the first days of 2024, Russians and Ukrainians accuse each other of attacking residential areas and the civilian population in several cities.
The Russian attacks on these two days in 2024 occurred after the Ukrainian bombing of the Russian border city of Belgorod on Saturday, December 30, which left 25 dead and which was also attacked on January 2. The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, warned that the aggression would not go unpunished. “It was a direct attack against the civilian population. It was certainly a terrorist attack. It cannot be described in any other way,” the Kremlin chief said in a meeting with Russian soldiers on January 1.
When asked by a soldier what Russia’s response would be, if Russia had to attack, Putin said: “This is what we are doing. We are attacking with high-precision weapons the places where decisions are made, military concentrations, mercenaries and other similar centers, military targets, first of all. And they are sensitive attacks. We will continue to do so,” Putin said.
Russian forces repeated a large-scale attack, reaching several Ukrainian cities. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, it was directed against companies in the country’s military-industrial complex and warehouses with Western weapons.
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Army, Valeri Zaluzhni, counted “99 missiles of various types,” of which anti-aircraft defenses “were able to destroy 72,” he said on Telegram. Among the Russian projectiles, there were 10 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, three Kalibre cruise missiles and 59 cruise projectiles of the Kh-101, Kh-555 and Kh-55 types, Zaluzhni added. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that in Kyiv , its region and the city of Kharkiv caused at least four deaths and 92 injuries.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klichkó reported that there were two deaths in the Ukrainian capital. A woman who lived in one of the buildings on which fragments of missiles shot down by the Ukrainian defenses fell died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. According to the Ukrainian media Suspilne and the TSN television channel, in some areas of the capital there were cuts to electricity and running water supplies.
The head of the city’s military administration, Sergyi Popko, said Russian forces launched about 20 Iranian Shahed drones. Subsequently, Russian Tu-95MS fighter-bombers struck with cruise missiles, and finally, more than ten MiG-31K fighters launched “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles.
The missile systems worked. “But with such a massive missile attack on the capital, unfortunately, residential buildings are destroyed and infrastructure is damaged,” he said.
In Kharkiv, regional governor Oleg Sinegúbov reported the death of a 91-year-old woman after an attack with at least six missiles. There were 44 injured. Ukrainian authorities also reported attacks in the Vinitsa and Nikolaiv regions
Ukraine, for its part, counterattacked on January 2 by directing its attacks again against the Russian city of Belgorod, which is located about 80 kilometers from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Regional governor Viacheslav Gladkov said air raid alarms sounded twice over the city. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have repelled an attack with four Ukrainian missiles at 12:00. An hour later, five more projectiles were intercepted.
The Russian bombings are the response to the Ukrainian attack on Saturday the 30th against the Russian city of Belgorod, capital of the homonymous region bordering Ukraine, which left 24 dead and more than a hundred injured, according to Russian authorities.
This was, in turn, the Ukrainian retaliation to the large-scale attack that Russia carried out on the 29th against numerous Ukrainian cities, when 31 people died and more than 130 were injured, according to Kyiv’s accounts.
And the previous one occurred after Ukraine attacked the port of Feodosia, on the Crimean peninsula, on December 26, hitting the landing ship Novocherkassk, one of the crown jewels of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.