The British Ministry of Defense expects new Russian attack waves in the coming days.
The goal is to undermine the morale of Ukrainians.
The news ticker.
President Selenskyj
: Ukraine's air defenses are to be expanded to become the strongest in Europe
Escape
from
military service
: 15 Ukrainians die in illegal border crossing
This
news ticker on military developments
in the
Ukraine war
is constantly updated.
Kyiv - The British Ministry of Defense suspects a long-term strategy behind the regular attacks on the Ukrainian infrastructure.
"Since October, Russia has maintained the general pattern of conducting an intensive wave of attacks every seven to 10 days," the ministry's Twitter page said.
Russia almost certainly wants to use it to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses.
But there is a realistic possibility that Russia will break this pattern and strike again in the coming days to undermine Ukrainian people's morale over the New Year holiday.
President Zelenskyj: Ukraine's air defenses are to be expanded to become the strongest in Europe
Meanwhile, Ukraine wants to massively expand its air defenses in response to repeated Russian rocket attacks on its cities.
"In the new year, Ukraine's air defense will be even stronger, even more effective," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Friday evening.
Ukraine's air defense could become the strongest in Europe, he added, referring to the announced Patriot battery from the United States.
"This will be a security guarantee not only for our country but for the entire continent."
+
Patriot systems from the USA, here a device stationed in Poland, are intended to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks.
(archive photo)
© Christophe Gateau
In recent weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces' air defenses have achieved relatively high numbers of kills in large-scale Russian attacks with cruise missiles, rockets and so-called kamikaze drones.
Given the mass of incoming projectiles, not all missiles could be repelled.
The Ukrainian army, which already uses a number of foreign anti-aircraft systems, is awaiting deployment of the Patriot battery promised by the US government.
Ukrainian soldiers are currently being trained on the system.
Escape from military service: 15 Ukrainians die illegally crossing the border
According to the military, since the beginning of the Russian invasion and the declaration of a state of war in Ukraine, several thousand young Ukrainians have tried to evade military service.
As the Ukrainian border troops announced on Friday, almost 12,000 men were caught trying to illegally cross the country's border to the west.
15 men died while crossing the border.
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
In Russia, too, thousands of young men tried to evade military service.
Immediately after the partial mobilization in September, thousands fled abroad, and veritable small Russian colonies were established in some former Soviet republics.
Rubric list image: © Christophe Gateau
