Ukraine Daily

Friday, December 30

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Rescuers clear debris of homes destroyed by a missile attack in the outskirts of Kyiv, on Dec. 29, 2022, following a Russian missile strike on Ukraine. (Photo by GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Air defense downs 5 Russian drones over Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration reported that five Shahed-type drones were spotted over Kyiv overnight on Dec. 30. Air defense downed all the targets. One of the drones’ loitering munition packages hit and damaged an administrative building in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district along with some of the windows in an adjacent building. There is no information about casualties.

Update: Ukraine downs 54 out of 69 missiles amid Russia’s 8th mass attack. Russia launched a new mass attack using air and sea-based cruise missiles from various directions early on Dec. 29, Ukraine’s Air Force reported.

Energy Minister: Russia’s Dec. 29 mass strike causes damage to Ukraine’s power generation facilities, grid. Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that the situation is particularly “difficult” in Kyiv Oblast and the southern Odesa Oblast, as well as western Ukraine.

Zelensky signs law to exempt power generator, Starlink imports from taxes. President Volodymyr Zelensky on Dec. 29 signed into law two bills seeking to restore the country’s energy infrastructure.

Your contribution helps keep the Kyiv Independent going. Become a member today.

Kuleba: There can be no neutrality toward Russia’s mass war crimes. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned Russia’s mass missile strike targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine on Dec. 29 as a “senseless barbarism,” attacking “peaceful Ukrainian cities ahead of New Year.”

Defense Ministry: Ukraine ready to investigate missile entering Belarusian airspace. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said it was ready to investigate the incident in Belarus on Dec. 29 involving an S-300 missile allegedly entering the country’s airspace.

State Investigation Bureau charges 2 collaborators with treason in absentia. Two former local officials from Kherson Oblast, who took Russia’s side during the Russian occupation, are charged in absentia with treason for helping Kremlin to extort money from locals and businesses, the State Investigation Bureau said.

Support the Kyiv Independent for as little as $5 a month.

Read our exclusives

How volunteers risk their lives to rescue abandoned animals amid war.

When Ukrainian soldiers were entering the village of Yampil in Donetsk Oblast after five months of Russian occupation, they discovered an abandoned zoo on the outskirts.

Photo: Olena Bila

Learn More

Ukraine war latest: Russia launches mass missile strike against Ukraine.

Russia unleashed a mass missile strike targeting 10 Ukrainian regions, wounding at least five civilians and hitting nearly a dozen critical infrastructure sites across the country.

Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images

Learn More

The human cost of Russia’s war

Mayor: 3 people, including a child, injured in Kyiv by Russia’s ongoing mass attack. Klitschko earlier reported that two people had been rescued from a private house in Kyiv that was damaged due to the downing of a Russian missile on the morning of Dec. 29.

Governor: Russia shells Kherson Oblast 49 times, kills a civilian. Kherson Oblast Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych reported on Dec. 29 that nine civilians, including a child, were wounded in the region in the past 24 hours.

President’s Office: 2 people killed, 12 injured on Dec. 28. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the President’s Office, said that one person was killed in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and one person was killed, and nine were injured in southern Kherson Oblast due to war on Dec. 28. Another three people were injured in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast.

Russian Dec. 29 mass missile attack kills 2, injures 7. Another Russian mass missile attack killed two and injured seven people in several regions, the authorities said. A Russian Dec. 29 attack on Kharkiv killed two and wounded one, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

General Staff: Russia has lost 104,560 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Dec. 29 that Russia had also lost 3,018 tanks, 6,047 armored fighting vehicles, 4,675 vehicles and fuel tanks, 2,004 artillery systems, 423 multiple launch rocket systems, 212 air defense systems, 283 airplanes, 268 helicopters, 1,717 drones, and 16 boats.

International response

Wallace: U.K. to support Ukraine with $2.8 billion in 2023. The U.K. will commit $2.77 billion in aid to Ukraine in 2023, the UK’s Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. “Another £2.3 billion worth of support next year, and in that we make sure they have the weapon systems they need, and at the moment, the United Kingdom will go and help them buy it from elsewhere around the world,” Wallace said.

Bloomberg: US considers sending Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine. The U.S. government is weighing sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine as part of a further package of military support, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. A final decision hasn’t yet been made. When the vehicles would be operational is also unclear, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.

UK Ambassador to Ukraine: ‘Russia doesn’t want peace. Russia wants subjugation of Ukraine.’ British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons said that “Russia does not want peace with Ukraine” as it launched yet another mass strike against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Dec. 29.

Retired US commander: ‘ATACMS are exactly what Ukraine needs’. Ben Hodges, a former commander of the U.S. Army Europe, told Politico that Ukraine needs U.S.-made MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) surface-to-surface missiles.

In other news

Media: French court arrests Ukrainian billionaire Zhevago, considers extradition. A French court on Dec. 28 placed Ukrainian businessman and former lawmaker Kostiantyn Zhevago under arrest on Dec. 28 until it decides on Ukraine’s request to extradite the billionaire, Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported on Dec. 29, citing Ukraine’s State Investigation Bureau.

Zelensky signs media law criticized by journalist groups as authoritarian. The bill has been criticized by journalist organizations as an attempt to introduce censorship. The law dramatically expands the media regulator’s powers and gives it the authority to shut down news sites that are not officially registered as media without a court ruling.

Want to get the news faster? Follow our website: kyivindependent.com.

Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Toma Istomina, Asami Terajima, Oleksiy Sorokin, Alexander Khrebet, Oleg Sukhov, Brad LaFoy, Anna Myroniuk, Anastasiya Gordiychuk, and Olena Goncharova.

If you’re enjoying this newsletter, consider becoming our patron on Patreon or donating via GoFundMe. Start supporting independent journalism today.