Ukrainian air force warns threat of Russian missile strikes still remains
The Air Force is always ready for missile strikes by the Russian Federation (Photo:Police of the Kyiv Oblast)
Russia still plans to attack Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, so the country must always be ready for another massive missile attack, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on Ukrainian national television on Dec. 12.
“We must always be ready since the enemy has not abandoned his plans,” Ihnat said.
“Yes, we see that the Russian strategic and long-range aircraft – Tu-95, Tu-160, Tu-22M3 – have been redeployed. The threats still exist. Still, they need certain breaks to accumulate and plan those strikes. We’ll prepare and meet those strikes, as the Air Force constantly does.”
As reported earlier, Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo has suffered over UAH 70 billion ($1.9 billion) in losses as a result of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid.
According to Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the situation at Ukraine’s thermal power plants remains the most following the Russian attacks.
Russia carried out its last mass missile attack on Ukraine on Dec. 5. Following that attack, Ukraine’s Air Force reported that the defenders of Ukraine shot down over 60 of more than 70 missiles fired by the Russian military.
However, the missiles that found their targets did damage to energy facilities in Odesa, Vinnytsia, Kyiv and Mykolaiv oblasts. Moldova’s Interior Ministry stated that a Russian missile also fell near the Moldovan border town of Briceni, but did not explode.
Russia is carrying out a campaign to destroy civilian energy, heat and water supply systems in Ukraine. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said on Dec. 8 that Russia was attacking critical infrastructure in Ukraine in revenge for Ukraine’s attack on the “Crimean bridge.”
The Crimean bridge is a road/rail bridge illegally constructed by Russia between mainland Russia and Ukraine’s Crimea, part of the country currently under Russian military occupation.
Ukraine considers the bridge to be a legitimate military target, as it is used to transfer troops and military equipment from Russia into Ukraine, which Russia then uses to attack southern Ukraine.
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