‘A Real Horror To Be Left Without Everything’ – War in Ukraine Update for Jan 3

Overview:

• Kremlin claims Ukrainian missiles kill one, injure five, in Russian region
• Destroyed apartment building in the capital yields 49 victims, two dead
• Yermak and Sullivan have first conversation of 2024, after strikes across Ukraine
• AFU has its hands full repelling Russian advances in the Donetsk region
• Moscow makes some gains in Luhansk

At least 43 hospitalized, two killed, by airstrike in Solomianski district of Kyiv

The number of people who were caught in the rubble of a Kyiv residential apartment building destroyed in Russian airstrikes early Tuesday morning has risen to 49, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko reported in the afternoon.

“The number of victims in the house in Solomianskyi district has increased to 49. There are two dead. 43 people have been hospitalized,” Klitschko posted on social media.

AFP quoted one of the residents, Galyna Solovyova, 79, who suffered a head wound in the strike: “It’s a real horror to be left without everything,” she said. “And we don’t know about the neighbors. They’re people we know. How are they?”

The mayor added that emergency crews continue to search for survivors in the debris of the building, one of the many targets of Moscow’s deadly airstrikes on Jan. 2. Official estimates peg the number of Russian missiles and drones launched at Ukrainian cities at 99, killing at least five and injuring about 100.

One Ukrainian military expert described the nationwide attack as the “world’s largest combined missile attack using hypersonic weapons.”

Kremlin claims Ukrainian strikes on Russian region kill one, injure five

Russian authorities on Tuesday said that Ukrainian airstrikes in the border region of Belgorod killed one person and injured five others, the AFP reported. Moscow claimed its air defenses intercepted nine of the missiles aimed at Russian territory: four over Belgorod and five elsewhere.

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Russia Strikes Ukraine With Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, Air Force Reports

If this information is confirmed, it would be the first time such a weapon had been used since Russia invaded in February 2022.

“Four missiles were destroyed over the Belgorod region by air defense systems on duty,” the Russian army said, claiming that Ukraine fired “Vilkha” ballistic missiles, which reached their targets at about noon, local time. 

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov claimed Ukraine also struck border villages with artillery fire and drones, AFP reported. The governor's claims could not be independently verified.

Kyiv Post’s source among the special services said that “Ukraine will continue to adequately respond to the terrorist missile attacks of the Russian invaders by striking at the military facilities of the aggressor state.”

The source also noted that the damage to Russia’s civilian infrastructure is only the result of Russian air defense operations.

“All the damage to the occupiers’ civilian infrastructure is the result of incompetent actions of their air defense,” the source added.

Zelensky’s office speaks with Washington after Russian airstrikes pummel Ukrainian cities

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak spoke with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan over the phone on Tuesday, after Moscow’s forces once again killed civilians and wounded many dozens in the most comprehensive Russian missile strike since the full-scale invasion began.

“During the first conversation in 2024, the parties discussed the consequences of Russia’s recent massive shelling of Ukraine's territory with the use of various types of missiles and Shahed-type kamikaze drones. Andriy Yermak informed [Sullivan] about the performance of Ukraine’s air defense forces, which shot down the vast majority of enemy aerial targets, including Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles,” the president’s office reported.

According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), US-provided Patriot missile systems intercepted 10 of 10 hypersonic Kh-47M2 missiles aimed at the capital on Tuesday: not the first time that the American-made air defense systems have shot down incoming, hypersonic Kinzhals in Ukraine.

The parties also “coordinated steps to implement the plans for cooperation in 2024 in all areas, including national security,” state news agency Ukrinform reported.

Operations: Donetsk region

The General Staff of the AFU reported on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops have been busy defending against attacks by Russian forces on the Avdiivka and Bakhmut fronts.

In the Bakhmut sector, the AFU reportedly repelled five attacks near Bohdanivka, Klishchiivka, and Andriivka, where the Russians unsuccessfully tried to improve their position, the AFU said. More than 10 towns and cities came under artillery and mortar fire, including Bohdanivka, Ivanivske, Kalynivka, Klishchiivka, Andriivka, Stupochky, in the Donetsk region.

Meanwhile, Kyiv’s troops allegedly repelled four attacks near Novobakhmutivka, Berdychi, Avdiivka and another 14 attacks in the Pervomaiske and Nevelske areas of the Donetsk region. Moscow’s forces, with significant air support, unsuccessfully targeted about 10 settlements, including Keramik, Stepove, Avdiivka, Tonenke, Pervomaiske, and Nevelske of Donetsk region, the AFU claimed, saying its forces were subjected to multiple artillery and mortar attacks in the area.

Operations: Kreminna area

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on Tuesday wrote that Russian forces recently made marginal gains southwest of Svatove and in the northwest environs of Kreminna.

Geolocated footage published on Tuesday seems to show that Moscow’s troops advanced west of Karmazynivka (11 km southwest of Svatove) and Ploshchanka (15 km northwest of Kreminna).

A Russian blogger claimed othat Russian forces made some gains near Synkivka and captured one unspecified position on the east bank of the Oskil River, but the ISW said it had not observed evidence for this claim.