Usually, Vladimir Putin tries to “time” the shelling of Ukraine to some events. Recently, the Russian army carried out a massive attack on occupied Donetsk, which the Russian media called “the largest in 8 years” and blamed, as usual, the Armed Forces of Ukraine for it. The European Parliament also recognized the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people, which greatly irritated Russia. Therefore, on the morning of December 16, air—raid sirens were sounded in all cities of Ukraine. The Russian army launched a massive attack on the cities of Ukraine, while using all types of weapons: cruise missiles of various modifications and kamikaze drones to hit Ukrainian cities in the deep rear and S-300 and Iskander missiles to hit frontline cities and cities bordering Russia.
As of 9 a.m., the Russian army, using aviation and the navy, fired 72 missiles over the territory of Ukraine. Infrastructure facilities were affected in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, Kherson and Kremenchuk. In addition to the blackout, cellular communications, the Internet, and water supply are disrupted at least in 6 regions. In five regions, there are serious problems with the operation of the railway. In the city of Kryvyi Rih, the Russians hit a residential building. At the moment, there are two dead, at least five wounded, among them two children.
This time, the Russian troops aimed the missiles mainly at the heat supply facilities of the cities of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is not capable of conquering Ukraine, so he decided to make the life of civilians unbearable, because in the coming days the cold is expected in Ukraine. More than 90 % of missile and artillery strikes in Ukraine hit civilian objects. Russia deliberately inflicts the most massive strikes during severe frosts in order to cause the greatest possible damage and suffering to the civilian population of Ukraine.
Russia once again demonstrated its military impotence and final transition to terrorism. Every day Russia’s actions become more and more pathetical and criminal. Russia can only fire missiles from afar, killing civilians and disrupting electricity, so Ukraine needs accelerated supplies of Western weapons, namely air-defence and missile-defense systems. The West should help Ukraine give a worthy response to the most totalitarian state in the world.