Vladimir Putin fired hypersonic missiles as part of Russia's latest wave of deadly airstrikes into Ukraine, regional officials said on Monday.
At least four civilians were reportedly killed and at least 30 injured in the attacks near battle fronts in the east and central and western parts of the country, which has been under attack by Russia since February 2022.
Ukraine said it destroyed 18 of the 51 rockets of various types fired.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces used sea- and air-launched precision long-range missiles, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, to attack what it called “facilities of Ukraine's military-industrial complex.”
Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defense reported that Russia is expected to lose a total of 500,000 soldiers by the end of this year.
It said the average daily number of Russian casualties in Ukraine rose by nearly 300 over the course of 2023, citing data from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
The increasing damage is due to Russian attacks on Avdiivka, a small eastern town on the edge of the currently occupied Donetsk region.
Vladimir Putin fired hypersonic missiles as part of Russia's latest wave of deadly airstrikes into Ukraine, regional officials said on Monday. Pictured: Flames can be seen in a destroyed building
Volunteers chat next to a damaged home at the site of a Russian missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Jan. 8, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine
People seek shelter in a subway station during an air raid alert in Kiev on January 8
The Defense Ministry said the increased casualty toll reflects how the quality of the Russian president's army has deteriorated following the partial mobilization in September 2022, in which Moscow called up 300,000 more soldiers.
The mobilizations turned Russia's arm into a “low-quality, high-quantity mass army,” the Defense Ministry said in its report.
It also reflects reports that Moscow is using the “human wave” tactic, sending thousands of poorly trained soldiers to their deaths to wear down Ukraine's defenses and look for vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
While Britain's Defense Ministry said it could not independently verify the methodology used by its Ukrainian counterpart, it previously said the figures were “plausible.”
John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, shows that Russia “continues to show no regard for the lives of its own soldiers and willingly sacrifice them in pursuit of Putin’s goals.”
In its report, Britain's Ministry of Defense said it would likely take Russia five to 10 years to rebuild a “highly trained, experienced standby force.”
Neither side made much progress in 2023 as Ukraine's much-vaunted counteroffensive failed to achieve the successes Kyiv had hoped for.
This was largely due to Russia strengthening its defenses and laying huge minefields across hundreds of kilometers of Ukraine, which formed the front line of the war.
Meanwhile, Russia appears to have adopted an attrition tactic, attempting to wear down Ukraine's armed forces with overwhelming numbers – while carrying out devastating airstrikes on critical infrastructure during the cold winter months.
This was evident again on Monday in strikes across the country.
Western officials and analysts had previously warned that Russia was ramping up its cruise missiles to prepare for a winter bombing strategy as bad weather kept the 930-mile front line largely static after 22 months of war.
Unlike last winter, when Kremlin forces targeted Ukraine's power grid, Russia is now targeting Kiev's defense industry, they say. But the almost daily bombing raids repeatedly hit civilian areas. Monday's attacks hit a number of urban areas across Ukraine, including homes and a shopping center.
Britain's Ministry of Defense attributes Russia's rising casualty toll to its attacks on Avdiivka, a small eastern town on the edge of the currently occupied Donetsk region (pictured).
The average daily number of Russian casualties in Ukraine has increased by almost 300 throughout 2023.
If numbers continue as they are next year, Russia will have lost over half a million personnel in Ukraine.
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/m4SV6XMRMS
— Ministry of Defense 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 6, 2024
Monday's attacks hit a number of urban areas, including homes and a shopping center, across Ukraine, and the latest attacks by Putin's forces were under nationwide airstrike warning.
Russia fired 51 missiles of various types and eight Shahed drones into Ukraine, said Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
The Ukrainian Air Force intercepted 18 of the cruise missiles and all of the drones, he said.
The attacks come less than a week after Kiev warned that it only had enough ammunition to withstand some stronger attacks amid intense Russian bombardment.
“The enemy fired dozens of rockets at peaceful cities and villages in Ukraine,” said Oleksiy Kuleba, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian presidential office.
He added that at least 33 were injured.
In the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, a woman died in a rocket attack outside the town of Kryvyi Rih and 24 people were injured in an attack on the town of Novomoskovsk.
A building was seen in flames in the city of Dnipropetrovsk.
Three administrative buildings, two gas stations, a five-story building and cars were also damaged, and a minibus was overturned by a blast wave.
Among the wounded in the city's latest brutal Putin attack were five children – boys aged four and eight and girls aged 11, 16 and 17.
In Kryvyi Rih itself, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, more than 20 houses and a shopping center were damaged in the attack, said regional governor Serhii Lysak.
At least four rockets hit Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, wounding one person, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. A woman rescued from the rubble of a building later died, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. More people could be trapped, he said.
Authorities in the Khmelnytskyy region of western Ukraine said two people died when at least six explosions were heard during the morning rocket attack.
In Zaporizhzhia, a large southern city on the Dnipro River, two people were injured in a rocket attack on a residential area, regional governor Yuri Malashko said.
Two people injured in a Jan. 2 attack died Monday, officials said.
Investigators stand next to a car destroyed by a Russian missile in Zaporizhia on January 8
A local woman stands next to a damaged residential building at the site of a Russian missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on January 8
Police officers work at a Russian missile attack site in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on January 8
Ukrainian emergency service workers help a wounded man after a residential building was severely damaged in a Russian missile attack near Kryvyi Rih on January 8
A destroyed house is seen on January 8 near Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine
Meanwhile, Russian troops carried out 131 artillery strikes on the Kherson region, killing two people and wounding five, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
Kherson and the surrounding region have been in the spotlight again and again since Russian forces withdrew from the city to the eastern side of the Dnipro in autumn 2022.
Separately, the Ukrainian military said Russian forces had made unsuccessful advance attempts in several areas along the front line over the past day, including around Lyman in the Kharkiv region and in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
In the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, a Russian warplane accidentally fired a bomb on the town of Rubizhne, said Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the region's Moscow-appointed government.
The bomb, a FAB-250 carrying a high-explosive warhead, caused no injuries, Pasechnik said.
The incident came six days after Russia accidentally dropped ammunition over the village of Petropavlovka in the Belgorod region, which has been repeatedly attacked by Ukraine.
Last April, another bomb accidentally dropped by a Russian warplane caused a massive explosion in the city of Belgorod, injuring two and frightening residents.
Ukraine reported that Monday's attacks included Kh-101/555 cruise missiles fired at least 10 times from Tu-95 strategic bombers over the Caspian Sea.
Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were fired from MiG-31K fighter jets.
S-300/S400 ballistic missiles were fired from occupied Crimea and the Russian Belgorod region.
Kh-22/32 supersonic missiles were used by Tu-22M3 bombers over the Kursk and Voronezh regions of Russia.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities are evacuating children from the border town of Belgorod, which has come under heavy attacks from Ukraine.
The region's governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said he posted a video to highlight the move to other Russian regions.
Oleh, a soldier with the 61st Mechanized Brigade Infantry Battalion, plays with dogs in a trench at a position near the front line in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Jan. 6
“In the last 24 hours we have received 1,300 requests to send children from Belgorod to remote school camps in other regions [away from the war zone],' he said. “I called my fellow governors from Voronezh, Kaluga, Tambov and Yaroslavl regions. They are all ready to help us.
“Now we have already sent our specialists to look at the place where the children will be accommodated.”
Adults are also calling for rescue from a town just 25 miles from the border with Ukraine.
“About 300 residents of Belgorod who decided to temporarily evacuate are currently being accommodated in emergency shelters in Stary Oskol, Gubkin and Korochansky district,” Gladkov said.