By Marc Oliver Rühle
A photo like a nightmare!
You can literally feel the endless pain. It’s images like these that always make us shudder. We see a man in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, wearing only a bathrobe, mourning his wife. She was killed today by Putin’s rockets – like so many in this horror year.
The killing of civilians does not stop even today. The Kremlin despot ordered rocket attacks again even on New Year’s Eve. According to officials there, Ukraine has been heavily attacked by Russia from the air. Several regions of the country were therefore shot at on Saturday.
Russian terror from the air
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeriy Zalushnyy (49) said that a few hours before the turn of the year the Russian armed forces fired 20 rockets at Ukraine.
However, the Ukrainian air defense was able to intercept and destroy twelve of them. Six Russian missiles alone were intercepted over the capital Kyiv.
According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko (51), an elderly man was also killed in the attacks in Kyiv. Seven others were injured in two explosions in the Solomianskyj district, Klitschko said on the online service Telegram. One of the injured is in an “extremely serious” condition.
In total, Kyiv was rocked by at least ten explosions. The authorities had previously raised the air alarm and asked people to get to safety in shelters.
The woman is one of many civilian casualties this year in Ukraine
Photo: Reuters
New Year in the bunker
According to the authorities, several other regions were also attacked. Attacks were reported from the southern Mykolayiv region and from the Khmelnytskyi region in the west, among others.
According to Governor Vitaly Kim, at least two people were injured in the Mykolaiv region, one of them seriously. In the Khmelnytskyi region, governor Serhiy Gamalij called on people to stay in shelters because of the attacks on New Year’s Eve.
Russian propaganda from the top
︎ Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin (70) said in his New Year’s speech that Russia was “morally” and “historically” on the right side of the conflict. Russia is fighting in Ukraine to “protect our people in our own historical territories, in the new territories of the Russian Federation,” he added, referring to the Ukrainian territories declared annexed by Moscow.
︎ Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (67) said in a New Year’s message to soldiers that Russia’s victory in Ukraine was “inevitable”. “For the coming year, I would like to wish everyone good health, steadfastness, reliable and devoted comrades. Our victory is inevitable like the New Year,” he said.
This residential building in Kyiv was also hit
Photo: AFP
The Russian army had suffered a series of setbacks in Ukraine in recent months. In response, it stepped up its airstrikes, particularly on the neighboring country’s energy infrastructure. This repeatedly led to massive power outages.
Zelenskyy: Ukraine will never forgive
After today’s Russian terror on Ukrainian cities with new destruction, Head of State Volodymyr Zelenskyj (44) addressed the Russian people directly in his video message.
“A terrorist state will not be forgiven,” he said in his somewhat premature daily video appearance on Saturday afternoon. “And those who order such attacks and those who carry them out will not be forgiven, to say the least.”