Russia Launches Strike in Response to Ukrainian Attack on Chemical Plant
Firefighters try to extinguish the fire in the control room of Ukraine’s Secret Service, Dec. 20, 2024. X/ @SMO_VZ
December 20, 2024 Hour: 9:11 am
On Wednesday, Ukraine attacked Rostov with ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles.
On Friday morning, Russia launched a group strike with long-range precision weapons in retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on its chemical plant with Western-made missiles.
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The strike targeted the Ukrainian Security Service command post, the state-run Kiev design bureau “Luch,” and positions of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The raid was in response to Ukraine’s Wednesday attack on a Russian chemical plant in the Rostov region with six U.S.-made ATACMS tactical missiles and four Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles.
Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said that five Russian missiles targeted Kiev but were shot down by Ukrainian air defense at around 7 a.m. The fragments of downed missiles resulted in deaths and injuries as well as damage in five districts of Kiev.
In November, in a major shift of policy on the Ukraine crisis, the United States authorized Ukraine to use U.S. long-range missiles to strike targets in Russia, triggering an escalation of tension around the conflict.
On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry also reported that its forces continue their unstoppable advance in the south and center of the Donetsk region, where they have liberated ten towns in the last week.
Assault units from the South, Center and East military formations participated in these operations. Five of the towns are located south of the strategic stronghold of Kurakhov, which is about to be liberated. The rest of the towns are in the vicinity of the Kurakhov and Velika Novosilka squares, a few kilometers from Pokrovsk, the main objective of the current Russian operations in the Donbas.
Military experts believe that Moscow will take Kurakhov before the end of the year and will try to do the same with Velika Novosilka, thus taking control of the entire south of Donbas and reaching the administrative border with Zaporizhia.
The Russian General Staff has estimated that 4,500 square kilometres of territory have been liberated by its troops this year. Russia still needs to liberate approximately 8,000 square kilometres to control the entire Donetsk region.
teleSUR/ JF Sources: Xinhua – EFE
