Russia intensifies air attacks on kyiv | War in Ukraine

kyiv was targeted Wednesday morning by a Russian missile and drone attack, a first in more than two months. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians are losing ground on the front and fear losing U.S. support.

Furthermore, Ukraine claimed responsibility for the assassination in annexed Crimea of ​​an officer of the Russian Black Sea fleet, whom it accuses of having ordered deadly missile strikes on its cities.

The attack on kyiv comes the day US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised in Brussels a “firm” response to North Korea’s alleged involvement alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine.

Washington has corroborated Ukrainian claims that North Korean soldiers are now engaged in combat operations in the Russian region of Kursk, a small area of ​​which has been occupied by Ukrainian forces for three months.

The South Korean intelligence agency also confirmed them, assuring that North Korean troops […] are already engaged in combat operations in this part of Russian territory.

North Korean reinforcements

More than two and a half years after the start of the invasion, the Russian army now benefits from the reinforcement of nearly 11,000 North Korean soldiers, according to kyiv and the West, which the Kremlin has not formally denied .

Russia has significantly stepped up drone raids on kyiv, almost daily since the beginning of October, but this is the first time in more than two months that missiles have been fired at the same time.

Russian armed forces launched a combined missile and drone attack on kyiv. This is the first time in 73 days.

AFP journalists heard explosions in kyiv and saw dozens of its residents taking refuge in an underground metro station in the city center.

In total, six missiles and 90 drones targeted seven Ukrainian regions during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, only one of which is located on the front, underlined the Ukrainian Air Force, saying it had shot down two cruise missiles, two missiles ballistic missiles and 37 drones.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, for his part, reiterated that the Russian army was not striking as military targetsin response to a question about the increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine.

“Special operation” in Crimea

On the Ukrainian side, a source within the security services (SBU) claimed responsibility to AFP for the murder of a Russian officer in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow, as part of a special operation intended for liquidate a war criminal.

This soldier, killed in the explosion of a car bomb, had ordered the firing of cruise missiles from the Black Sea at civilian targets in Ukraine and constituted an absolutely legitimate targetcommented this source.

This assassination is the latest in a series of Ukrainian attacks against Russian soldiers and figures supporting the Kremlin, both in occupied Ukrainian areas and inside Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reacting to the night attacks against his country, once again denounced Russian terrorism and welcomed the response effective of anti-aircraft defense.

He expressed his gratitude towards its Western allies who have been supplying arms and ammunition for two and a half years.

Trump’s return worries

But this assistance seems threatened, with Ukrainians and Europeans fearing that the United States, with the return of Donald Trump, could interrupt aid to the Ukrainians at the very moment when they are having great difficulties on the battlefield.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose coalition government fell a week ago, assured Bundestag deputies that his country would not let Ukraine alone against Russia.

The German leader spoke during the day with Volodymyr Zelensky, recalling support unshakable from Berlin to kyiv, according to a press release from his services.

In eastern Ukraine, the Russian army, despite significant losses, conquered hundreds of square kilometers in October. It claimed Wednesday the conquest of the small village of Rivnopil, at the junction of the eastern and southern fronts.

According to kyiv forces, Russian troops attempted unsuccessfully on Wednesday to drill Ukrainian defenses in the Kupiansk area (east), just over 150 km north of the key area around the town of Pokrovsk, a target of Moscow’s army.