RICHARD PENDLEBURY says Ukrainian families join call to ‘hold out’ against Putin’s winter attack as Russian missiles continue to rain down on Kyiv
- Kyiv has been hit by Russian rocket attacks as the deadliest attack took place in the city of Dnipro
- A nine-story apartment building partially collapsed after being hit by a missile
- At least five people were killed and 27 injured, including six children
- Rescuers struggled to extricate at least 20 survivors from the rubble
The icy calm of the freezing fog in Kyiv was shattered without warning by the first of two waves of Russian missile attacks on the city center yesterday.
I heard three or four loud explosions in quick succession, apparently from a neighborhood near the hotel where I was staying. Shortly thereafter – and with a delay – air-raid sirens began to sound again for the first time in more than a week.
The city’s missile warning mobile app also urged people to return to emergency shelters. Thus began the recent coordinated Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure — power plants and water supplies — in cities and towns across the country.
The deadliest strike took place in downtown Dnipro. A nine-story apartment building partially collapsed after being hit by a missile. At least five people were killed and 27 injured, including six children.
Rescue workers clear the rubble after a Russian missile struck a multi-story building in Dnipro, Ukraine, Saturday January 14, 2023, leaving many people under the rubble
Harrowing images from the scene show an entire block being obliterated into a mountain of brick and mortar
Video footage from social media showed victims apparently trapped in smoking debris and screaming. Rescuers struggled to extricate at least 20 survivors from the rubble. The search for more victims continued as darkness fell and the temperature dropped.
According to a military spokesman, the morning strikes were launched “from the north” – Belarus.
The sudden arrival of the missiles, before a warning could be issued, initially suggested they were nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles. Last night, Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Saluzhnyi revealed they contained S-400 missiles, 25 of which were shot down.
The second wave of cruise missile attacks in the afternoon appeared to have come from Russian naval vessels in the Black Sea and 17 long-range Tupolev bombers launched from Russia. The last air alert in Kyiv only ended at 5:20 p.m.
Infrastructure targets were also hit in the cities of Lviv in the west and Kharkiv in the north-east, affecting heating, water and electricity supplies in those regions.
The mayor of Kyiv, former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, said there had been strikes on both sides of the Dnipro River. Ukrainian air defense systems were active over the city throughout the day.
Fragments of a rocket fell on a non-residential area in the Holosiivskyi district and caused a fire in a building. Officials said 18 homes in the Kyiv region were damaged in the rocket attack.
Rescuers clear rubble with many people under the rubble in the southeastern city of Dnipro
Having failed or failed on the battlefield, the Kremlin’s aim was to make this bitter winter so miserable for Ukrainians that it pressured the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to seek an unfavorable end to the war on a negotiated basis.
Since October, when the weather began to worsen, there have now been 12 mass attacks using cruise and ballistic missiles and Iranian-made suicide drones against critical infrastructure.
The results are devastating in the short term, with millions of homes being denied access to lights, heating and water for up to a week at a time while engineers struggle to repair damage.
In cities like Kyiv, domestic power supplies are only working at a fraction of their capacity before the Kremlin blitz. The fragile resources must be carefully managed by the authorities, hence regular controlled power outages, sometimes prolonged by new Russian attacks.
Yesterday morning’s attacks led 11 Ukrainian regions to declare further emergency power cuts to conserve energy.
“Today the enemy again attacked the country’s power plants and power grids,” said Energy Minister German Galushchenko. “Emergency shutdowns will be implemented in most regions.
“The next few days will be difficult. Energy workers are already working to restore power.
‘Let’s hold on! Every day brings victory closer!’
Allies shipped more than 300,000 generators to Ukraine last month. The units are now a familiar sight and sound on sidewalks outside of offices and businesses as the country follows the Energy Secretary’s exhortation to “hang in there”.
DESPAIR: A couple comfort each other after being evacuated from the bombed Soledar