Russia, Ukraine exchange drone, missile strikes amid escalation

Russia and Ukraine exchanged drone and missile strikes on Monday, amid escalating tensions in the made of Vladimir Putin's threats against the West and the use of a latest-generation Russian ballistic weapon on Ukrainian territory.

Moscow thus claimed on Monday to have shot down eight missiles coming from Ukraine, as well as American-made aerial bombs.

“The air defense system shot down eight ballistic missiles, six American-made JDAM guided aerial bombs and 45 drones,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, without providing any details on the type of missiles or the targets.

But Russia struck Ukraine last week with a latest-generation intermediate-range ballistic missile (up to 5,500 km) without a nuclear warhead, the Oreshnik, and promised to increase this type of attack if kyiv continued to use Western missiles against Russian territory.

President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, has also threatened to strike countries supplying such weapons to the Ukrainians, saying that the conflict had taken on a “global character” through their fault.

Several Russian officials, including the president, have also raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons after kyiv struck military targets on Russian territory with American ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of several hundred kilometres. Russian doctrine on the matter has also been amended to facilitate the use of atomic bombs.

For its part, Ukraine, which is calling on the West to respond strongly against Russia, said on Monday morning that it had struck several military targets on Russian territory, without specifying what weapons had been used.

A civilian was killed in the Russian region of Belgorod, according to the authorities, in a Ukrainian drone attack.

Ukrainian explosive drones also struck a fuel depot in the Russian region of Kaluga during the night, according to a source in military intelligence who claimed significant “destruction.”

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The Russian governor of this region located south of Moscow limited himself to saying that the air defense had shot down eight drones in the suburbs of the city of Kaluga and that the “falling debris” from these devices had caused a fire, brought under control in a few hours, on the site of an “industrial enterprise”.

– Ukrainian cities hit –

Furthermore, new Russian attacks against Ukrainian urban areas left dozens of people injured on Monday, particularly in the city centers of Kharkiv (northeast) and Odessa (south).

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, pounded by the Russian army since the beginning of its invasion almost three years ago, 23 people were injured, including 14 hospitalized, during a morning attack, which damaged “more than 40 buildings”, according to the latest report announced by the regional governor.

In the Black Sea port city of Odessa, at least 11 people were injured in a missile strike, according to the regional administration.

Both sides are determined to show their strength and position themselves as deep uncertainty hangs over continued U.S. support for Ukraine, with Donald Trump returning to the White House in January.

Expressing concern about “escalation,” the team of the next U.S. president will work with the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden to reach an “arrangement” between Ukraine and Russia, Mike Waltz, the incoming White House security adviser, said Sunday.

In Europe as in Ukraine, the fear is to see the United States force kyiv to accept territorial concessions that would de facto constitute a military and geopolitical victory for the Kremlin, which would then have a free hand to impose, under threat, its domination over its neighbors.

It is in this context that an emergency NATO-Ukraine meeting is planned for Tuesday.

On the ground, Ukrainian forces have been struggling since the beginning of the year, giving up more and more territory in the East, facing a Russian army that remains, despite heavy losses, better equipped and more numerous.

Furthermore, Russia has, according to the West and Ukraine, received the support of some 10,000 North Korean soldiers, who could be sent to the front line shortly.

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