Russia strikes Ukraine with hail

Useless barbarism. These are the only words that come to mind seeing Russia launch another round of rockets in the peaceful cities of Ukraine before the new year”, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba's social media post said. There can be no “in the face of such massive war crimes. To pretend to be a neutral is the same as to take the side of Russia”.

Ukrainian Deputy President Miykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter that Russia had launched at least 120 rockets with “intended to destroy critical infrastructure and to mass civilian murder”.

The siren warning the air strikes fell throughout the country.

Kharkivi Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported explosions in his town and said authorities are determining what was hit and if there were victims.

Russia has repeatedly used rockets to hit Ukrainian cities, including attacks that have destroyed critical infrastructure targets.

At one point, the terrorists will be finished with the missiles, but Ukrainians will never lack courage, commitment to freedom and democracy, and love for our country”, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, wrote on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to support a ten-point peace plan that requires Russia to recognise Ukraine's territory and withdraw troops.

The Kremlin rejected this plan again Wednesday, suggesting that it is Ukraine that must recognise as part of Russia those territories Moscow claims to have annexed in September following the observance of false referenda that were rejected by Ukraine and the West. The four regions include Luhanscu, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizian.

“There can be no peace plan for Ukraine that does not take into account today's realities regarding Russian territory, with the involvement of four regions as part of Russia”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. “Plants that do not take into account these realities cannot be peaceful”, he added. / VOA