In New Year’s Address, Putin Praises Military As Ukraine Invasion Approaches Second Anniversary

Aerial attacks continued overnight between Russia and Ukraine but appeared to have abated early on December 30, one day after Russia carried out its most intense bombardment of Ukrainian military and civilian targets in the 22-month-long war, sparking international outcry and condemnation at a special meeting of the UN Security Council.

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Ukrainian officials said the death toll had climbed to at least 39, with 159 injured in the massive Russian air attacks on Kyiv and other targets throughout Ukraine with hypersonic and other missiles and drones on December 29.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials called it the heaviest bombardment since the unprovoked full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a 16th body had been found at a bombed-out warehouse in the capital. He also declared January 1 a day of mourning in the city.

U.S. and European governments joined together to condemn the Russian air attacks at a special UN Security Council meeting late on December 29 requested by Kyiv.

Permanent council member China avoided condemning the attacks but called for peace, while Russia’s UN envoy blamed the civilian casualties on Ukrainian air defenses.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Russian air attacks on Ukraine through a spokesperson. Stephane Dujarric said in a statement for Guterres that “Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law, are unacceptable and must end immediately.”

“Today, millions of Ukrainians awoke to the loud sound of explosions. I wish those sounds of explosions in Ukraine could be heard all around the world,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in conjunction with the Security Council gathering.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya told the council that Russia’s forces had only attacked military targets and said civilians were killed by Ukrainian air defenses.

Hours after the Security Council meeting, the Ukrainian General Staff said early on December 30 that there had been dozens of Russian missile and drone attacks on military and civilian targets in the past 24 hours.

Later, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry claimed that Ukrainian strikes had killed at least 18 people, including two children, in the city of Belgorod, which lies about 30 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

Russia claimed another 111 people were injured in the attack on the city. Unverified footage showed burnt-out cars, damaged residential buildings, and debris strewn across streets in Belgorod.

The Russian Defense Ministry had accused Ukraine of attacking Belgorod and other nearby regions with 32 drones overnight.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted military or government-related sites in Russian regions close to the border in part as it seeks to bring the war home to Russia.

The December 30 attack on Belgorod appears to be one of the biggest to date

As usual, Kyiv did not officially comment on the Belgorod attack but government soures told media that it targeted military sites. The sources said the civilian damage was caused by Russia’s anti-missile defenses.

RFE/RL was not immediately able to determine the cause of the civilian damage in Belgorod.

Russia, which has been accused of extensive war crimes in Ukraine and continues to bombard civilian infrastructure, called for a meeting of the UN Security Council to raise complaints about the Belgorod strike.

Zelenskiy’s office said early on December 30 that the Ukrainian president made a surprise visit to a forward control post in Avdiyivka, the scene of months of intense ground fighting in the eastern Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces continue to try to surround Avdiyivka.

Ukrainian officials said late on December 29 that search-and-rescue operations were continuing in many places struck in the missile and drone barrage earlier in the day.

They have reported that 158 Russian missiles of varying sophistication and attack drones were fired and said Russia appeared to throw “everything they have” into the attack.

Power was cut in four northern and southern regions as a result of the attacks, which reportedly hit a maternity ward and education facility as well as residential buildings and infrastructure.

The intense attack comes with U.S. and other Western assistance at risk despite Kyiv’s pleas. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on December 29 that there can be “no talk of a truce” under current conditions.

The United States and its NATO allies were consulting Warsaw after Poland reported an air intrusion during the Russian flurry, with indications reportedly suggesting a possible Russian missile was to blame.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he talked with President Andrzej Duda about the “missile incident” and said the alliance “is monitoring the situation & we will remain in contact as the facts are established.”

A Russian charge d’affaires who was summoned to the Polish Foreign Ministry said Warsaw did not show evidence of a missile entering its airspace.

Hundreds of Polish troops resumed their search in what the army said was an effort “to definitively confirm that no element of the object remains on Polish territory.”

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said in its regular daily assessment that the massive air attack “appears to be a culmination of several months of Russian experimentation with various drone and missile combinations and efforts to test Ukrainian air defenses.”

It predicted that “Russia will continue to conduct strikes against Ukraine at scale in an effort to degrade Ukrainian morale and Ukraine’s ability to sustain its war effort.”

With reporting by Reuters