UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – Localities and infrastructures in the region very often suffer from fires, often fatal, which Moscow attributes to the Ukrainian army.
Ukrainian shots at Belgorod, visit of the Russian defense minister to the operating room, Russian attacks on Western arms shipments… This Sunday, December 18, Le Figaro takes stock of the latest information on the war in Ukraine.
One dead and five injured in Russia’s Belgorod region
One person was killed and five others wounded in Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, on Sunday, the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. According to him, the shots were aimed at Belgorod, the region’s capital, wounding four people and a nearby district where, “unfortunately, there is one dead and one injured.”
Also readWar in Ukraine: Russia is discreetly developing its spy satellites
The windows of several buildings were smashed and 14 houses were damaged, Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Localities and infrastructures in the region very often suffer from fires, often fatal, which Moscow attributes to the Ukrainian army. The regional capital Belgorod was also directly hit several times. The governor announced in late November that a line of fortifications was under construction along the border, without giving details of its length and location.
The Russian Defense Minister visited the theater of operations in Ukraine
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited the area of the military operation in Ukraine to inspect Russian forces stationed there, the Russian military said in a statement on Sunday. Sergei Shoigu “inspected the Russian forces stationed in the area of the special military operation,” including going to the front to speak with soldiers, the statement said.
Military officials on the ground also provided him with reports on the current situation on the ground and the actions of Russian forces, according to the same source. The press release does not specify when this trip took place, but its announcement comes two days after a meeting between Vladimir Putin and leaders of Russia’s operation in Ukraine, including Sergei Shoigu.
Faced with a string of military setbacks this fall, Russia, which launched an offensive in Ukraine at the end of February, has since October opted for a tactic of massive strikes targeting Ukraine’s power grids and transformers, dumping millions of civilians in the midst of cold and darkness winter
Russia claims to have prevented foreign arms shipments
The Russian army on Saturday claimed it had prevented a shipment of foreign arms to Ukraine’s armed forces after massive strikes were staged in Ukraine the day before, which led to power outages across the country.
“On Friday, December 16, a massive attack using high-precision weapons was carried out against military command systems, the military-industrial complex and energy sites of Ukraine,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The goal is reached. All designated locations were attacked,” the same source said.
“As a result of the strike, a supply of foreign-made weapons and ammunition was prevented, an advance of reserves (Ukrainian Armed Forces) to combat zones was blocked, operations of manufacturing and repairing weapons (…) were suspended,” the statement said.
New Russian attacks kill five
Five people were killed in fresh Russian attacks in Ukraine on Saturday, a day after deadly bombings. The heaviest casualties from the new attacks were recorded in the central Dnepropetrovsk region, where four people were killed and 15 others injured, Ukrainian Vice President Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.
Also readHow Poland intends to create the largest land army in Europe
He added that Saturday’s shelling also left one dead and three wounded in the southern region of Kherson. For his part, its governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich, emphasized that a geriatric center in the village of Stepanivka had been hit, but without injuries.
Ukraine is striving to restore electricity supply
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv and fourteen regions were affected by power or water cuts. Measures to restore the power supply are being carried out across the country. “Our engineers and repair crews have already started work during the air raid and are doing everything possible to restore power generation and supply. This will need time. But it will be done,” said the Ukrainian President.
In Kyiv, metro service, which was halted on Friday to allow residents to seek refuge there, resumed early in the morning and water supplies were restored, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. “75% of the capital’s residents already have heating” and work is continuing to “stabilize the situation” in this area, he assured. According to regional governor Oleg Sinegoubov, power has also been restored in Kharkiv (east), Ukraine’s second largest city.