Not even 24 hours have passed since the lightning bolts launched by Vladimir Putin with the promise of “wiping out” the enemy and missiles rain down on Ukraine again, with a massive attack, the third in a row, marking another day that begins with the death count . There are 5 civilian victims across the country, 115 injured. The capital Kiev is shaking again, Mayor Vitali Klitschko gives an account of it in real time, when that all too familiar roar of explosions above condominiums had recently echoed. Trusting in anti-aircraft fire and in the hope that the debris from the destroyed missiles will cause as little damage as possible.
But then the images reappear of new buildings scratched by the fire of war, of civil infrastructures affected while 250 thousand remain without electricity in the capital and surrounding areas where the winter is already harsh. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is the first to point the finger at Moscow which “is deliberately targeting critical infrastructure and residential neighborhoods,” he wrote on social media, calling the barrage of missiles a “very dangerous attack that killed and injured innocent people.”
The update of the death toll and the resulting condemnation is rapid: «Russia is once again trying to throw Ukraine into darkness with a large-scale attack on civilian infrastructure», writes the Ukrainian Prosecutor General on Andriy Kostin. «Investigators are documenting these barbaric war crimes. – he adds – Residential buildings, gas pipelines and energy plants in the Kiev, Kharkiv and Kherson regions, as well as in the capital, were damaged. Russia's war against civilians is a blatant act of terrorism. This is a stark warning to the world: only decisive action can prevent terrorists from repeating their atrocities.”
The flurry of attacks therefore reignites fears beyond Ukraine's border, with neighboring Poland – a NATO member – sending four F-16s to its eastern border “to ensure the security of Polish airspace”. They are two pairs of fighters and an Allied tanker. A scenario that is an opportunity to strengthen Kiev's appeals to the international community, Europe and the USA in particular, to provide, and quickly, other weapons, other ammunition, and not cease that political support at risk of “fatigue war” after almost two years of war.
Foreign Minister Dmyrtro Kuleba then asks partner countries to accelerate combat drones and long-range missiles with a range of over 300 kilometers, as well as returning to focus on the transfer of frozen Russian assets. Zelensky spoke clearly about this in his first interview of the new year given to the Economist: the speed of any success will depend on the military assistance that Ukraine receives from its Western partners. In particular, he asked for the supply of Taurus, German-made long-range cruise missiles that could allow Kiev to destroy the Kerch bridge, effectively isolating the Crimean peninsula from Russia. Because in 2024 Crimea and the related battle in the Black Sea will become “the center of gravity” of the war against Russia, the Ukrainian leader explained to the weekly which describes the 'commander in chief' of Ukraine as “irritated: not by the successes of enemy (he sees none) nor by the lack of progress of his army on the battlefield”, but “exasperated by the hesitations of some allies and the detachment of some of his compatriots”.
Isolating Crimea and weakening Russia's military potential in that area “is extremely important for us, because it is a way to reduce the number of attacks from this region,” he said. A successful operation would set an “example for the world.”
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