Published January 11, 2024
Russia began the new year with a barrage of air attacks, including the heaviest night of missile strikes since the war began, as Ukraine battles to meet an evolving threat with its limited supply of Western defense systems.
Russia’s January attacks have employed the full gamut of its aerial arsenal: cruise missiles, ballistic missiles from near the Russian-Ukrainian border, hypersonic missiles and slower drones, all sometimes used to hit the same target, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told CNN in Kyiv.
International analysts say the onslaught of Russian missiles, stockpiled for months, aims to overwhelm Ukraine’s limited missile defense.
This approach has had some success. According to the Ukrainian authorities, Ukraine only managed to shoot down 18 of the 51 missiles fired at the country on January 8.
New tactics have also come into play.
Some changes are simple: Russia has started painting its Iranian-made drones black, camouflaging them against the night sky.
Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
Ukrainian firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire after a missile strike in Kyiv on January 2, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Others are more sophisticated: The Russians have moved the engine exhausts on some drones from the rear to the front, in an effort to confuse anti-air batteries using thermal sights, members of one Ukrainian unit told CNN.
With Ukrainian media reports of jet-powered drones replacing Russia’s slower propeller-powered models, officials have acknowledged it’s a threat that’s on their radar.
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SOURCE: www.edition.cnn.com
RELATED: Russia-Ukraine war – live: Hotel strike injures 13 in Kharkiv as Putin’s exhausted troops ‘hit own towns’
British MoD claims likelihood of Russia accidentally bombing Moscow-held territories has increased
Published January 11, 2024
A Russian strike on a hotel in Kharkiv has injured 13 people as it has been claimed Vladimir Putin’s exhausted troops have been hitting their own towns.
Two Russian missiles struck a hotel late on Wednesday in the centre of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on Telegram. Kharkiv’s prosecutor’s office said that among the 13 wounded is a 35-year-old man who was seriously injured and two Turkish journalists covering the war.
Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has claimed Russian forces have been accidentally bombing territories in their own country, or in occupied Ukraine. In its latest intelligence update, the MoD said the likelihood of these accidents had increased due to “inadequate training and crew fatigue”.
It comes as Ukrainian shelling injured three people in the Russian region of Belgorod late on Monday and air defences downed 10 RM-70 Vampir rockets, Russian officials and the defence ministry said.
Belgorod has come under repeated attack from Ukrainian forces in recent weeks. A missile and drone attack late last month killed 25 civilians, including five children.
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SOURCE: www.independent.co.uk
RELATED: Russian missiles hit Ukraine hotel, 11 injured – regional governor
Rescuers stand at the site in the aftermath of a Russian missile strike on a hotel in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in this handout image released January 11, 2024. State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
Published January 8, 2024
Two Russian missiles struck a hotel late on Wednesday in the center of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, injuring 11 people, one person seriously, the regional governor said.
Pictures online showed many windows blown out and balconies destroyed with large piles of rubble in the street below. Emergency teams made their way through gaping holes in the facade to sift through rubble inside.
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on Telegram that the strike at about 10.30 p.m. local time involved S-300 missiles in the city’s Kyiv district.
“Nine of those injured have been taken to medical facilities,” Synehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “One of them, a 35-year-old man, is in serious condition.” Visiting Turkish journalists were among the injured, he wrote.
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SOURCE: www.newsinfo.inquirer.net
