Ukraine War
Ukrainian Boy Pulled From Debris After Recent Russian Attack
(CTN NEWS) – KYIV – After a Russian missile attack destroyed an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih in the country’s centre, rescue workers found a toddler’s body in the wreckage during a morning search on Saturday.
The missile was one of 76 launched by Russia on Friday in its latest attack on Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure.
As part of Moscow’s plan to keep Ukrainian civilians and soldiers in the dark and cold this winter, 16 missiles, according to Ukrainian authorities, managed to evade air defenses.
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Kryvyi Rih’s governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, said on the social media platform Telegram that “rescuers retrieved the body of a 1-1/2-year-old boy from under the rubble of a house damaged by a Russian rocket.”
According to police, the strike left 13 people injured, including four children, and left four individuals dead.
Reznichenko claimed that Russian forces continued to pound the cities and towns of Nikopol, Marhanets.
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And Chervonohryhorivka, located across the Dnieper River from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, damaged power lines and homes.
By Saturday morning, Ukraine’s military command reported that Russian forces had launched over a hundred additional missiles since the barrage the previous day.
It was not specified how many of those the air defenses may have prevented.
One of the largest attacks on Kyiv since Russia started the conflict by assaulting Ukraine on February 24 was the onslaught that struck various areas of central, eastern, and southern Ukraine on Friday.
Ukrainian soldiers fire a Pion artillery system at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/LIBKOS)
According to authorities, over 40 missiles were fired toward Kyiv on Friday, and almost all of them were intercepted by air defenses.
According to regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych,
A 36-year-old man was murdered, and a 70-year-old woman was injured in a Russian strike on Saturday in Kherson, where Ukraine seized control last month in a huge setback for Russia
Utility workers in Ukraine have once again been forced to work quickly to repair broken water and power networks as Russia targets essential services for citizens as winter hardships set in.
According to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko’s report on Saturday, two-thirds of the households in the nation’s capital have already been reconnected to electricity, and all have access to water.
The subway system, which had been used as a refuge the day before, has also resumed operations.
Kyiv subway temporarily stops operations, stations used as bomb shelters.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that residents will be informed when the subway resumes work. pic.twitter.com/6Ttb8xWbNl
— The New Voice of Ukraine (@NewVoiceUkraine) December 16, 2022
A day after the attack, half of the Kyiv province, which encircles but does not include the Ukrainian capital, was still without electricity, according to Regional Governor Oleksiy Kuleba.
He also said that because rain and snow made power lines icy, efforts to restore power were more difficult.
Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv province, announced on Saturday that all of the region’s electricity has been restored, including in the second-largest city in the nation, Kharkiv.
A woman crosses the street during snowfall, as power outages continue in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Ukrainian authorities reported explosions in at least three cities Friday, saying Russia has launched a major missile attack on energy facilities and infrastructure. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Ten S-300 missile attacks on Friday knocked out the electricity.
A total of 596 miners in Kryvyi Rih were eventually rescued after becoming trapped underground due to missile attacks, according to the mayor late on Friday.
On Saturday in Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry denounced the fresh measures that the European Union had passed the day before.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the ministry, attacked the EU’s ninth round of sanctions as “illegitimate unilateral restrictive measures” and referred to a ban on broadcasts by four significant Russian TV networks as “authoritarian.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, and Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov attend the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the joint staff of troops involved in Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, at an unknown location, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Zakharova argued that by permitting EU members to “offer limited exemptions” for Russian exporters of food and fertilizer, the EU acknowledged that its “restrictive measures have been damaging world food security.”
Russia’s legislative parties and various Russian army divisions are the targets of the most recent round of sanctions. Sanctions against the energy and mining industries are also a part of the package, along with a ban on supplying aviation engines to Russia.
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On Saturday, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a meeting the day before with the heads of the armed services, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
Additionally, he had conversations with branch-specific commanders.
An official from the Moscow-installed administration of the southeast Ukrainian province of Zaporizhzhia claimed on Saturday that construction of a protective dome over the spent-fuel storage facility at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had started.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the joint staff of troops involved in Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, at an unknown location, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
According to Vladimir Rogov, the dome would defend against improvised explosive devices and shell fragments transported by drones.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, owned by Russia, has been regularly attacked; its six reactors have been offline for months.
To prevent any nuclear accidents, the International Atomic Energy Agency recently announced plans to post nuclear safety and security experts at Ukraine’s nuclear power reactors.
A permanent team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog has already been sent to the Zaporizhzhia plant.
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