Russia and Ukraine Exchange Long-range Attacks

FILE PHOTO: Servicemen of a combat UAVs company of the Ukrainian 92nd Ivan Sirko Separate Assault Brigade warm up inside a dugout as they fly with a Vampire combat drone over positions of Russian troops near the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 16, 2023. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia/File Photo

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian air-launched missiles over Crimea, as both sides in the war pounded each other with long-range aerial strikes while fighting along the front line remained largely deadlocked.
One person was wounded by the falling debris of a downed aerial target in Sevastopol, a major port and the largest city on the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula, regional Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev said.
Russian military bloggers posted video of air raid sirens wailing in Sevastopol during the day, and traffic was suspended on the bridge connecting the peninsula, which Moscow seized illegally a decade ago, with Russia's Krasnodar region. The span is a key supply link for Russia.
On Wednesday night, Russia fired two S-300 missiles at central Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which in the past week has come under almost daily aerial attack, according to regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.
One person was killed in Russia’s morning missile attack on Kropyvnytskyi, a city in central Ukraine, regional Gov. Andrii Raikovych said on Telegram. An energy facility was damaged in the attack, which also targeted an industrial area, The Associated Press quoted him as saying.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted two Shahed drones over the Khmelnytskyi region, in west-central Ukraine, which hosts an important air base at Starokostiantyniv.
Russia fired more than 500 drones and missiles in five days at Ukrainian targets between Dec. 29 and Jan. 2, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region during that period killed 34 people and wounded scores of others, city officials said. Six people were reported killed in a Russian aerial attack on Kharkiv on Jan. 2.
With Russia ramping up its missile and drone attacks during the winter, Ukraine has pleaded with its Western allies to keep supplying it with air defense weapons.
NATO and Ukrainian ambassadors are set to hold talks at Kyiv’s request in Brussels on Jan. 10 and are expected to discuss the country’s needs, an alliance official said.
“NATO allies have already delivered a vast array of air defense systems to Ukraine and they are committed to further bolstering Ukraine’s defenses,” said NATO spokesman Dylan White.
The announcement of the comes a day after NATO said that it would help buy up to 1,000 Patriot missiles so that its member countries can better protect their territory. The move could allow the allies to free up more of their own air defense systems for Ukraine.
Also Thursday, the Ukraine Security Service, known as SBU, claimed Russia was planning more cyberattacks on Kyivstar, the country's biggest telecom provider, after an attack last month knocked out phone and internet services to its customers.
“The enemy planned to deliver several consecutive strikes (on Kyivstar) to keep people disconnected for as long as possible,” said Illia Vitiuk, the head of cybersecurity department in SBU, in a statement on Telegram.
Vitiuk alleged the attack was the work of Sandworm, a regular unit of Russian military intelligence that has targeted Ukrainian telecommunication operators and internet service providers, the statement said.
The cyberattack mostly affected civilians but didn’t have “a serious effect” on military communications because soldiers use various communication algorithms and protocols, according to the statement.
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the Security Service says it has thwarted nearly 9,000 cyberattacks on state resources and critical infrastructure in Ukraine.