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Date: 29 December 2023

Russia Launches Missiles in Biggest Air Attack on Ukraine Since Start of Full-Scale Invasion

Russia launched the biggest air attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion on the morning of December 29, 2023, with 110 missiles fired. Despite numerous shoot-downs, the scale of the attack overwhelmed Ukrainian air defense, resulting in considerable damage and casualties across the country.

SOURCE: state emergency service

Explosions were heard on the morning of December 29 in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and several other cities throughout Ukraine. A maternity hospital, educational institutions, a shopping center, high-rise buildings and private homes, a commercial warehouse, and a car park were damaged.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that all services are working in intensive mode and providing the necessary assistance to people. “Today, Russia launched almost everything it has in its arsenal: Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs,” the president said in a statement. Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson of the Air Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that during the massive Russian attack on Ukraine on December 29, Russia used all types of weapons except Kalibr.

The intense attack resulted in a violation of NATO airspace as well. The Polish Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces released a statement confirming that an unidentified airborne object entered Polish airspace from the Ukrainian border. The object was tracked by the country’s air defense radar system from the moment it crossed the border until its signal disappeared. Unlike an incident involving a missile that landed in the village of Przewodow near the Ukrainian border, there were no injuries reported in this case. The missile’s passing through the NATO airspace might be seen as a test for the alliance’s defense system, coinciding with recent government reshuffles in Poland. Ukrainian authorities

believe that the massive missile attack could be a tit-for-tat for the damage of the Russian landing ship Novocherkassk in the Crimean port of Theodosia.

References:

Iryna Balachuk, Russia launches 110 missiles but we will strike back – Zelenskyy, Ukrainska Pravda, December 29, 2023.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/12/29/7435051/

Niezidentyfikowany obiekt od strony ukrainy wleciał w polską przestrzeń powietrzną, Polish Press Agency, December 29, 2023.

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