The situation at a glance: A major Ukrainian city is struggling with the consequences of drone attacks

After an unprecedented wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, people in the western city of Ternopil continue to struggle with the consequences. According to official information, parts of the city are still without electricity and the hot water supply is cut off due to winter temperatures around freezing point. Germany announced that it would once again provide funds to repair Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Ukraine and its allies are worried about a new Russian missile.

Zelenskyj: Far from real peace

Russia hit Ukraine with an unprecedented number of drone attacks on Tuesday night. According to Ukrainian air defense, the country was attacked with 188 drones and four Iskander-M ballistic missiles. According to the Ukrainian news portal Ukrainska Pravda, it was the largest number of drones launched by Russia in one night to date.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that repairing the consequences of drone attacks in the Ternopil region would take time. “Almost 200 Russian drones against Ukraine in one day are almost 200 proofs that Russian aspirations are extremely far from any idea of ​​real peace,” the head of state emphasized in his evening video speech. Ukraine has been resisting a Russian invasion for more than two and a half years.

Power supply problems in Ternopil

Over 200,000 people live in the large city of Ternopil, a good 150 kilometers from the EU border. “Part of the city is without electricity today,” said Mayor Serhij Nadal in a video distributed on Telegram in the evening. In some parts of the city there is only electricity for two hours every eight hours. The water supply and sewerage system are now fully functional again, but there is no hot water. The operation of the district heating systems must partly be maintained using generators. Emergency generators are used to operate hospitals, schools and kindergartens.

Deaths in Sumy and Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka

According to official information, at least two people were killed in a Russian attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy. “There is probably another person under the rubble,” said Zelensky. A car repair shop was hit, and another building and a kindergarten were also affected.

According to Zelenskyj, Sumy was said to have been shot at with multiple rocket launchers. “Protection against this is only possible in reality through the destruction of Russian weapons and Russian launch pads on Russian territory,” he said. That’s why it’s so important to be able to attack targets in Russia.

Sumy is just over 30 kilometers from the embattled Russian border region of Kursk. The leadership in Kiev has only recently had permission from its allies to use more long-range Western weapons systems from the USA, Great Britain and France against targets on Russian territory.

According to Russian information, the Ukrainian military is said to have attacked an S-400 anti-aircraft position and an airfield in the Kursk region with US-made ATACMS missiles. The Defense Ministry in Moscow admitted on its Telegram channel that at least three of the long-range missiles in the attacks could not be intercepted.

Meanwhile, at least four people are said to have been killed by mortar fire in the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. Another seven were injured, the Moscow-appointed governor of the region, Vladimir Saldo, said on Telegram. Russia and Ukraine blamed each other. The information provided by both warring parties cannot be independently verified.

Ukrainian troops push back Russians near Kupyansk

According to their own statements, the units of the Ukrainian army in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine managed to push back Russian soldiers who had advanced into the city of Kupyansk. “Everything there is under the control of our armed forces,” the spokesman for the army group responsible for the section, Nazar Voloshyn, assured on news television. Russian advances on the Ukrainian-controlled western bank of the Oskil River also failed. Drones are primarily used to destroy Russian technology.

Almost two weeks ago, according to military observers, a Russian unit made a surprise advance into the eastern suburb of Kupyansk. The Ukrainian military did not confirm this. The front line still runs just under two kilometers north of the traffic junction. Kupyansk was already occupied by Russia from February to September 2022.

Germany wants to give Ukraine more millions

The federal government is making additional money available to repair the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. The total of 65 million euros will flow into the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, as the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) announced. This has been funded by many international donors since 2022.

NATO and Ukraine talk about new Russian missile

Representatives of the 32 NATO states and Ukraine have meanwhile exchanged information about a new Russian medium-range missile. According to alliance circles, the discussions at ambassador level in an unscheduled meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council were, among other things, about what options there were to defend against the weapon. In particular, US missile defense systems of the Patriot and THAAD types are being discussed. Ukraine does not yet have the latter.

The Russian armed forces used the experimental medium-range missile called Oreshnik for the first time on Thursday in an attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Russia claims they fly at hypersonic speeds and cannot be intercepted. Experts doubt at least the second point. It is assumed that the rocket could theoretically also be equipped with nuclear explosive devices.