WAR IN UKRAINE: December 29, 2022
People in Kyiv sheltering in the capital’s metro system Thursday morning as a fresh wave of Russian missile attacks hit.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 309
In one of the largest Russian attacks on Ukraine in weeks, at least 69 rockets and several drones were fired Thursday morning at major Ukrainian cities - including Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa. The head of the Odesa regional military administration said 21 rockets were aimed towards the southern region. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia was attacking the country from "various directions with air and sea-based cruise missiles". It added that a number of Kamikaze drones had also been used, BBC reported.
In all, 54 of 69 missiles and 11 Iranian-built ‘Shahid’ drones were intercepted and downed by Ukrainian defense forces, officials said. One rocket reportedly landed on the territory of Belarus.
There is some damage to generation facilities and power grids due to a missile strike, - the Minister of Energy.
At least three people - including a 14-year-old girl - were taken to hospital after explosions hit the Kyiv, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said. Two homes were damaged by debris from an intercepted missiles. Kitschko warned residents of possible power and water outages. “There may be power outages in Kyiv. Charge your phones and other devices. Make a supply of water,” he said in a post on Telegram.
The mayor of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Andrij Sadoviy, said Thursday morning that some 90 percent of his city is without power and that electrical-power transit vehicles have stopped operating.
In Odesa Thursday morning, most of the southern port city was without power, water, heating and internet. The city is the anchor of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN. Without sufficient power supplies port operations could be severely hampered. Residents were seen rushing to buy essential supplies such as water.
Thursday’s attacks occurred just as people across many parts of the country were beginning to feel a sense of normalcy as the power supply became more reliable. That had brought a sense of relief to many small and medium-sized business, many of which cannot afford generators or who have seen a severe decline in foot traffic.
Zelensky to parliament: ‘Ukraine is on track to victory that all generations have dreamed of.’ On Dec. 28, President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered his annual speech to the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, during its last session this year. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that any peace plan should “take into account” Russia’s illegal “annexation” of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson oblasts, Russian news agency RBC reported on Dec. 28 - Kyiv Independent
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace announced that Britain will allocate 2.3 billion pounds to help Ukraine in 2023
Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom have formally triggered a process to hold Iran legally accountable for shooting down Flight PS752, nearly three years after 176 passengers died on board the downed passenger plane. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight shortly after takeoff in Tehran on Jan. 8, 2020. Two surface-to-air missiles hit the plane, killing all on board — including 55 Canadian citizens, 30 permanent residents and others with ties to Canada. On Wednesday, the International Coordination and Response Group, which was formed to coordinate efforts to seek accountability and reparations over the plane's downing, announced that ministers from Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the U.K. had requested Iran's regime submit to binding arbitration under an international dispute resolution process governed by the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation - CBC