Russian Missiles On Civilian Sites in Kyiv

"Early this morning Russia launched a ballistic missile attack against the capital [Kyiv], killing a civilian and resulting in debris and fires around the city."

"[The United States and its partners were] surging security assistance and energy support [to the country] in response to these brutal attacks."

U.S. Ambassador Bridget A. Brink  

"[Several embassies housed in the same building were damaged in the 'barbaric' attack]."

"These are the embassies of Albania, Argentina, Palestine, North Macedonia, Portugal and Montenegro."

"Windows and doors were smashed in the premises."

Heorhii Tykhvi, Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman

 

"In response to the actions of the Kyiv regime, supported by Western curators, this morning a group strike with long-range precision weapons was launched against the SBU command post, the Kyiv Luch design bureau, which designs and manufactures Neptune missile systems, Olkha ground-based cruise missiles, and the positions of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system."

"The strike targets were achieved. All objects were hit."

Russia’s Ministry of Defense 

"More sanctions against Russia are needed."

"I would also like to thank all of our partners who are responding to this and other Russian attacks by being ready to provide more air defense systems."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A rescue worker walks by as firefighters work to extinguish a fire near the site of a building destroyed during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 20, 2024.  Thomas Peter/Reuters

Moscow claims its ballistic missile attack on Kyiv early Friday was a response to a Ukrainian strike on Russian soil with the use of American-made weapons. Shortly before sunrise three loud blasts were heard in Ukraine's capital city. According to the Ukraine air force, five Iskander short-range ballistic missiles fired at the city were intercepted. Heating to 630 residential buildings, 16 medical facilities, 30 schools and kindergartens and the city administration had their heating knocked out by the attack.

Falling missile debris was the cause of additional damage, while sparking fires in three districts. "We ask citizens to immediately respond to reports of ballistic attack threats, because there is very little time to find shelter", the air force stated. Russia regularly bombards civilian areas of Ukraine with the clear intention of unnerving Ukrainians while trying to destroy the power grid in Ukraine.

Ukraine, on the other hand, in its struggle to restrain Russia's larger military on the front line, has made an effort to strike Russian infrastructure that supports Moscow's war against Ukraine. Falling debris smashed into the city centre in Kyiv, damaging several dozen highrise office towers, as well as the city landmark of the Catholic Church of St. Nicholas along with the Kyiv National Linguistic University. So much for Russia claiming to aim for Ukrainian military installations.

 

Ukrainian officials said Moscow had launched a fresh attack on Kyiv. Reuters

 

Blast waves from an intercepted low-flying missile blew out windows at six embassies, according to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, among other damage caused. Air raid sirens rang out again about five hours on. Those sheltering at home in the early morning attack, felt the walls of their apartments shaking in the blasts, while outside fire engines and ambulances raced through city streets. One resident explained: "With the naked eye you could see that many buildings ... were damaged, with glass shards on the ground, far from the explosion epicentre", said Valeriia Dubova while sheltering in a packed subway station.

The strike, according to the Russian Defence Ministry, was  a response to Russia's Rostov border region being attacked by Ukraine making use of six American-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, and four Storm Shadow air-launched missiles courtesy of the United Kingdom. In that attack of two days earlier, Ukraine's aim was to target a Rostov oil refinery, part of its campaign to strike Russian infrastructure supplying Moscow's war plans.

 

A view shows buildings damaged during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 20, 2024.  State Emergency Service Of Ukraine via Reuters

 

Destroying Ukraine : Russia's Mission

A Ukrainian soldier takes cover during Russian shelling outside the city of Lysychansk on May 23.

"The decision to launch our special military operation was something that we were forced to do, they forced our hand. [The decision had been] difficult [but reaffirmed the Kremlin’s commitment to achieving its military goals]."

"All the missions we have set for ourselves and all the goals of the special military operation will be completed in full."

"This [inflation] has started long before our special military operation in the Donbas, and they’re blaming us. They made their prices soar and they’re blaming us."

"[The country -- Russia -- remains open for business] with those who want it.""The economic blitzkrieg against Russia was doomed from the beginning."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

President Putin also implored Russia's major businesses to keep working in Russia  Reuters

We are going to liberate all of the Donbas."

"Of course it is difficult to predict the withdrawal of our forces from the southern part of Ukraine because we have already experience that after withdrawal, provocations start."

Russian Ambassador to London Andrei Kelin

That's the Russian message to the world at large in a nutshell. It is Russia's right and obligation to de-Nazify Ukraine, to remove its fascist government, and all the reactions that have taken place, imposing sanctions on Russia, providing Ukraine with high-grade, powerful weaponry to counter Russia's superior military technology is gross interference and as such, inexcusable. As is Ukraine's reaction to the invasion, choosing to react through defensive conflict rather than sensibly surrendering to the inevitable. 

The destroyed bridge connecting the city of Lysychansk with the city of Syevyerodonetsk on May 22.

And if the world is aghast at Russia's 'scorched-earth' policy, it should be known that the vast infrastructure destruction, the flattening of towns, the ruination of civilian buildings and  homes and industries was brought on by Ukrainian stubborn intransigence, in countering Russia's humanitarian mission by its insistence on retaining territory meant for Russian occupation. Ukraine's incessant urging of its Western allies to continue sending it lethal weaponry goads the Kremlin to its commitment to liberate Ukraine; it must take responsibility for the duration of the war, as a result.

This Orwellian introversion of logic may appear puzzling to rational minds, but speculation that Vladimir Putin has become a monster of irrationality is beyond dispute to even the most casual of onlookers. Creating a mission of deliverance from a non-existent threat to Russia while its leader transforms his country into a lethal wrecking ball, flattening and destroying another country, killing tens of thousands of people and condemning the world community for its horrified reaction and support for Putin's victim, reflects his paranoia.

A man sits next to his horse during mortar shelling in Syevyerodonetsk on May 18.

Ukraine remains intent on its own mission, to protect its public, to defend its territory, to strike its enemy as hard as it can to impress upon Moscow that its viciousness has consequences that will threaten its own stability and longevity, not merely Ukraine's alone. Mr. Putin plays his trump card, the dependence of European countries in the West on his energy resources. That much of the impoverished world is also dependent on grains and edible oils for its existence and food security, now threatened by the Kremlin's blockading of Ukraine's shipping of those resources is another story.

At a Group of 20 meeting, Western diplomats urged Russia to allow Kyiv to ship blockaded Ukrainian grain to the hungry world awaiting relief from food shortages. Leaving Sergei Lavrov, Vladimir Putin's top diplomatic representative to strike back in angry denial. Russia's Ambassador to Britain hinted not of a pull-back from Ukraine's east and south now increasingly under Russian control, but the possibility of an increase in the severity and a possible widening of the conflict.

Ukrainian soldiers ride atop a self-propelled howitzer amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in the eastern Donetsk region on July 8.