Russia and Ukraine exchange airstrikes amid ground combat stalemate

The Ministry of Defense of Russia indicated on Thursday that its air defenses shot down 10 missiles launched from the air by Ukraine over Crimea, as both sides in the war carry out long-range airstrikes as fighting along the front line remains largely stalemate.

One person was injured by falling debris from a downed air target in Sevastopol, a major port and the largest city on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, regional governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said.

Russian military bloggers posted videos of air raid sirens blaring in Sevastopol during the day, and traffic was suspended on the bridge connecting the peninsula — which Moscow illegally seized a decade ago — with Russia’s Krasnodar region. The stretch is a key supply link for Russia.

On Wednesday night, Russia fired two S-300 missiles at the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has been the target of almost daily airstrikes over the past week, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. .

One person was killed in the early morning Russian missile attack on Kropivnitski, a city in central Ukraine, regional governor Andrii Raikovych posted on Telegram. An energy facility was damaged in the attack, which also hit an industrial area, he said.

Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted two Shahed drones over the Khmelnytskyi region of central-western Ukraine, which is home to a major air base in Starokostiantyniv.

Russia fired more than 500 drones and missiles in five days at Ukrainian targets between December 29 and January 2, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Attacks on kyiv and its surrounding areas during that period killed 34 people and injured dozens more, according to city authorities. Six people were reported killed in a Russian airstrike on Kharkiv on January 2.