AFP – General Kyiv attacked by drone ahead of Putin’s visit to Belarus 12/19/2022 08:38

The Ukrainian capital was the target of a drone attack on Monday (19), which damaged “critical” infrastructure in the city, just hours before the scheduled meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.

Before the meeting, the Russian military announced that the Moscow army will participate in “tactical exercises” in Belarus – in October the countries announced the creation of a joint force of thousands of soldiers.

In addition, Russia also announced that from this week several warships will participate in joint exercises with the Chinese Navy; this is another indication of the rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing vis-à-vis Western countries.

During the night, the Ukrainian capital was again bombed by Russian drones.

The military command of Kyiv said in a statement on social media, “During the weather alert, we recorded 23 enemy UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in the skies of the capital. Air defense destroyed 18 unmanned aerial vehicles.”

He added that Russian forces had used bombing munitions known as “Shahed”, which had hit the Ukrainian capital in recent weeks.

At 01:56 local time, the Kyiv municipal government issued an airborne alarm. The second siren at 5:24 in the morning was canceled half an hour later.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed that there were explosions in the capital’s Solomiansky and Shevchenkivskyi districts, and that many critical infrastructures were “damaged”.

After the attack, Ukrainian electricity operator DTEK announced the emergency cuts.

“During the night, enemy aircraft tried to attack electrical installations, which caused a difficult situation for the system (…) and emergency cuts in Kiev and 10 other regions of the country,” said operator Ukrenergo.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the country has been regularly bombed.

The attacks intensified from October after Moscow suffered a series of military defeats.

Since then, Russia has chosen to bomb the country’s power plants and infrastructure on a massive scale, leaving millions of Ukrainians without light and water on the eve of winter (northern hemisphere).

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Monday that it had shot down four US-made HARM missiles on its territory in the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine.

Dating in Belarus

France and the European Union (EU) said Russia’s attacks on civilian infrastructure constitute a war crime. The head of EU diplomacy described the actions as “barbaric”.

Russia’s defense ministry said the attacks were aimed at the Ukrainian Armed Forces and energy facilities in order to prevent the “transfer of foreign-made weapons and ammunition”.

According to the Kremlin, while Moscow was bombing Kiev, Putin was meeting with the commanders in charge of the military operation in the former Soviet republic to hear proposals for future action.

Ukrainian authorities fear a new attack in the first months of 2023.

In his daily speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized that “protecting the border with Russia and Belarus is a constant priority. We are ready for all possible scenarios.”

According to the Interfax agency, Putin will hold a meeting with Lukashenko in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, where Moscow troops should participate in military exercises. This will be the first visit of the Russian president to the country in three years.

In October, Belarus announced the creation of a joint force with Russia, and thousands of Belarusian soldiers were sent to the former Soviet republic.

However, the Belarusian president has stated several times that his country does not intend to send troops to Ukraine.