Russia-Ukraine war | Russian attacks across Ukraine kill 11, say emergency services

Russian president Vladimir Putin met with the country’s main Jewish leaders, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar and Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia president Alexander Boroda, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Russia pounded Ukraine with missiles during the morning rush hour on Thursday, killing at least one person in Kyiv and damaging energy infrastructure in the Black Sea region of Odesa, officials said.

Crowds of people took cover in the capital's metro stations during a nationwide air alert before Russia unleashed the latest in more than a dozen air attacks on the power grid since October that have caused sweeping outages during winter.

Reuters report

Russian attacks across Ukraine killed 11 people and left another 11 injured on Thursday, the country's emergency services said.

"Eleven people died, another eleven were injured," Ukrainian emergency services said on Telegram, after a massive new wave of Russian attacks targeted the pro-Western country's energy infrastructure, triggering emergency blackouts in a number of regions.

During the interview with Sky News, Zelensky said: "It is not interesting for me. Not interesting to meet, not interesting to speak. Why? Because we had meeting with him in Normandy Format, it was before full-scale invasion. I saw the man who said one thing and then did another." 

"I can't understand - is it his decisions or somebody else? So to meet what, to shake hands? Not interesting. To speak? I really don't understand who makes decisions in Russia.

"Who is he now? After full-scale invasion, for me he is nobody, nobody," he added. 

Zelensky spoke about being a family man and the difficulties of trying to find time to spend with his children in an exclusive interview with British broadcaster Sky News. 

"It's a pity that I can't see my children, once per... now it's often than from the very beginning. Last two, three months we have once per 10 days I can see my children, one, two weeks, I see, have some food, have some talks and I can see my daughter because she's a student from this year and that's why I often see her than my son." 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, on Thursday morning, took to the messaging app, Telegram and said that Russia's "main targets were energy facilities" to deprive Kyiv "of light and heating" amid freezing temperatures. 

This comes after Russian reportedly launched at least 55 missiles in and around Kyiv on Thursday. "Unfortunately, substations were hit. But the situation in the energy system remains under control", said Shmyhal. 

At least one person was killed during these attacks, said the officials in Kyiv. They also said that the attacks by drones and missiles had damaged critical infrastructure and residential homes, reported Reuters. 

Additionally, the Ukrainian region Vinnytsia also reported damage. While the officials in Odessa said two critical energy infrastructure facilities were damaged in the region. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine's largest private energy producer, DTEK said it is conducting emergency power shutdowns in Kyiv and surrounding regions.

The country's Energy Minister, German Galushchenko said Kyiv, Odessa and Vinnytsia regions were the most affected by outages.

Neither France nor its allies are fighting a war against Russia, said the French foreign ministry, on Thursday. This comes a day after Western allies approved the delivery of tanks to Ukraine amid its ongoing conflict with Ukraine. 

"We are not at war with Russia and none of our partners are", said ministry spokesperson, Anne-Claire Legendre, as per AFP. This was after German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said "we are fighting a war against Russia and not against each other." 

United Kingdom's Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence Alex Chalk, on Thursday, said their Challenger 2 tanks are expected in Ukraine by the end of March, reported Reuters. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian forces will be trained on how to operate and maintain the vehicles, he added.  

Earlier this month, the UK said it would send 14 of its main battle tanks to Kyiv. "The intention is that it will be at the end of March", said Chalk while addressing the parliament in response to a question about when the tanks would arrive in Ukraine.

(Photo: Reuters)

(Photo: Reuters)

Addressing the reporters on his first military troop visit to the Altengrabow training ground, the German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the tanks should be sent "at the end of March" this year, in response to a question about the delivery of German tanks to Ukraine. 

The Ukrainian army said Thursday (January 26) it had shot down 47 out of 55 missiles launched by Russia in a massive new wave of attacks. 

Head of Ukraine's army, Valery Zaluzhny, said Russia launched 55 air and sea-based missiles.

"Ukraine's armed forces destroyed 47 cruise missiles, 20 of them in the area of the capital," he added on messaging app, Telegram. 

According to General Zaluzhny, Russia used Kh-47 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles among other models for the strikes. At least 20 of the incoming missiles were shot down around the capital, Kyiv, he added. 

“The goal of the Russians remains unchanged: psychological pressure on Ukrainians and the destruction of critical infrastructure,” he wrote. “But we cannot be broken!”

In response to recent announcements by the West about their decision of sending tanks to Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia, the Kremlin on Thursday (January 26), said that these actions are perceived as “direct involvement” by Moscow. 

“European capitals and Washington constantly give statements that sending various types of weapons, including tanks, in no way means their involvement in hostilities. We strongly disagree with this,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, as per media reports. 

He added, “In Moscow, this is perceived as direct involvement in the conflict and we see that this is growing.”

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