Governors of several Ukrainian counties urge residents to stay in bomb shelters, writes The Kyiv Independent. The governor of Mykolayiv, Vitaly Kim, reports that Russian forces have fired around 60 missiles. Explosions have been reported in Kyiv and several other regions, according to the authorities. Additional critical infrastructure is said to have been hit, and the current is said to have passed in several places while people sought shelter, according to Reuters. Many Ukrainians use wood stoves for heating and cooking throughout the winter, because they cannot depend on the electricity grid. Photo: LIBKOS / AP The cities of Kharkiv and Poltava are said to have lost power after the attack, and the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office said that a residential building had been hit in Kryvi Rih, reports Reuters. There may be people under the ruins, says disinformation and security expert Maria Avdeeva on Twitter. The wave of missile attacks that have come and gone since October has caused major damage to Ukrainian infrastructure. The information about the attack on Friday morning has not been independently confirmed. Expecting a major offensive Military leaders in Ukraine believe that Russia will launch a major offensive in the first months of 2023, despite major Russian defeats on the battlefield in recent months. Several top defense officials and ministers also believe that the Russian military will make another attempt to enter the capital, Kyiv. The statement comes from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and a number of defense officials. Defense Minister Oleksij Reznikov says in an interview with The Guardian that around half of the 300,000 soldiers that Russia mobilized in the autumn will be ready for the battlefield by February. He says Ukraine has been able to defend itself against Russia’s missile attacks, but says they have seen more evidence that the Kremlin is planning a major new offensive. Ukrainian defense officials believe that Putin has a new offensive in store. The Tankesmia Institute for the Study of War does not think it will work. Photo: Mikhail Metzel / AP These are similar to the comments top general Valerij Zaluzzhny made to The Economist earlier this week. – Russian mobilization has worked. It is not true that their problems are so serious that these people do not want to be defeated. They will. A tsar asks them to go to war, so they go to war. – The Russians bring more than 200,000 soldiers. I have no doubt that they will try again in Kyiv. Both parties have ruled out a truce at Christmas, and there are no immediate plans for peace negotiations. Opinion: – Low probability of success The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which has followed the war in Ukraine closely, also believes that it is likely that Russia will launch a new offensive during the winter months, and that this may be directed at Kyiv . They write that when Putin announced the start of Svenden, they write that it is “extraordinarily unlikely” that this offensive will close. – Russia’s regular forces are very broken down and lack the strength they had to fight when Russia first tried to take Kyiv in February 2022, they write. – Russian forces have not been able to hold onto territory across Ukraine, and have lost more than 70,000 square kilometers since they left Kyiv. Around 300,000 Russians are being trained as a result of what Putin calls a “partial mobilisation”. Photo: AP At the same time, ISW writes that Ukrainian forces have managed to build up a substantial defense in the north of Ukraine, and are also better equipped to defend themselves now than they were when the war started. While they see it as possible that the Russians are making arrangements to be able to attack from Belarus, because Russia’s military forces have increased there since the autumn. At the same time, they believe that an invasion from these countries is not in the immediate future. Reports on Ukrainian grenade attack The Russian news agency Tass reports on Friday morning that eight people have been killed in a Ukrainian grenade attack on a Russian-controlled village in Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Russian-friendly officials say that Ukraine fired three American-made Himars rockets at the village just after 4 o’clock on Friday morning. The attack is said to have destroyed a building in the village of Lantrativka, and people may have been trapped in the ruins, reports the agency.
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– New explosion in residential area – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
