DAccording to Kiev, the massive Russian rocket attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have led to power outages in large parts of the country. “Tonight there will be power outages in most regions of Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address on Thursday evening.

The situation is “particularly difficult” in the Kyiv region and in the capital itself, in the western region of Lviv and in the Odessa and Cherson regions in the south of the country. According to Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, three people were killed in Thursday’s rocket attacks. Six other people, including a child, were injured.

According to the Ukrainian government, with its rocket attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, Russia is ultimately harming itself and its citizens. “With every such missile attack, Russia is only driving itself deeper into a dead end” and is heading towards an international criminal tribunal, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in his daily video address on Thursday evening – just a few hours after the most recent Russian large-scale attack with cruise missiles and so-called kamikaze drones. Meanwhile, fighting continues on various sectors of the front in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy: Every attack brings Russia closer to the tribunal

The “status of the world’s greatest terrorist” will affect Russia and its citizens for a long time to come, said Zelenskyy. “And every missile only confirms that this all has to end with a tribunal, that’s exactly how it will be.” In his talks with other leaders, the Ukrainian president is trying to gain their support for an international criminal court modeled on the Nuremberg tribunal for to win over Nazi criminals. If Zelenskyj has his way, one day politicians and the military from Russia should also take responsibility for the war of aggression against Ukraine.

According to Zelenskyy, the latest Russian missile attack has again caused serious damage to the energy grid in large parts of Ukraine. Regarding possible further attacks, he warned: “This year has two days left, maybe the enemy will try again to make us celebrate the New Year in the dark.”

Kyiv: Want to participate in missile investigations in Belarus

After a missile was found on Belarusian territory, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense offered to cooperate in investigating the incident. A ministry statement released on Thursday evening said the agency was ready for an “objective investigation into the incident.” State media in the Belarusian capital Minsk had reported that a missile launched by the S-300 air defense system had fallen on Belarusian territory on Thursday morning.

The Ministry of Defense in Kyiv pointed out that Ukraine was attacked by a wave of Russian cruise missiles on Thursday. “Therefore, a provocation by the terrorist state of Russia cannot be ruled out, which has chosen a flight path for its cruise missiles in order to provoke their launch in the airspace over Belarus,” it said. That would be similar to what happened in November when a rocket fell on Polish territory.

Belarus is not directly involved in hostilities in Ukraine. However, ruler Alexandr Lukashenko has given Russian troops the military bases in his country for attacks on neighboring Ukraine.

Ukrainian army attacks positions near Berdyansk

According to the Ukrainian armed forces, they have attacked Russian bases in the vicinity of the industrial and port city of Berdyansk in the south-east of the country. The general staff in Kyiv announced that around 50 Russian soldiers were “liquidated”. The information could not be independently verified.

The military in Kyiv did not provide any information about the weapon systems used to attack Berdyansk. The city on the Azov Sea lies almost 100 kilometers behind the current front lines.

Heavy fighting shook the area around the front-line town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Thursday. The military leadership in Kyiv announced that advances by the Russian armed forces had once again been repulsed there.

The Ukrainian armed forces are likely to continue to receive important support in the form of arms and ammunition from the USA. On Thursday evening (local time), US President Joe Biden signed his government’s new budget law, which among other things provides for billions in aid for Ukraine. The budget, previously approved by both chambers of Congress, is worth $1.7 trillion, of which nearly $858 billion is for defense spending. Around 45 billion US dollars have been earmarked for supporting Ukraine.

Zelenskyj consultant: 15,000 missing in Ukraine

A good ten months after the start of the war, according to the Ukrainian presidential adviser Alona Verbytska, thousands of soldiers and civilians are missing in Ukraine. “Russia has currently confirmed 3,392 Ukrainian prisoners of war, but 15,000 people are currently missing in Ukraine, including many civilians,” she told the editorial network Germany (Friday). The fate of these people is completely uncertain, said Verbytska, who works as an ombudswoman for the rights of Ukrainian soldiers. “We don’t know what happened to them.”