Ukraine, shower of Russian missiles in Donbass. “Use chemical grenades”

Russian troops returned to heavy attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Donbass. The General Staff of Ukrainian forces said Russian attacks were repulsed near 17 different settlements. In addition, the Russians launched ten rocket attacks, 16 air strikes and more than 30 attacks using multiple rocket launch systems on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions and populated areas along the line of contact. Russian missiles hit civilian infrastructure in the settlements of Shevchenkove in the Kharkiv region and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region. Attacks that caused the death of at least three civilians, and damaged other critical structures, with consequent problems in the power grid. In fact, more than 500 places in eight Ukrainian regions have no electricity supply, according to Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Yevgeny Enin.

The attacks on infrastructure and the civilian population were described as “barbaric” by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said Russian President Vladimir Putin is using “winter as a weapon” after failing to achieve successes on the battlefield. . Putin “is trying to use winter as a weapon, to turn off the light, turn off the heating, plunge the people of Ukraine into darkness and cold as the winter months are coming. This is truly barbaric,” Blinken commented.

Meanwhile, Kiev denounced the use of chemical weapons prohibited by the Geneva Convention by the Russians. In particular, Ukrainian naval forces reported that Russian troops used Soviet-made K-51 tear gas grenades dropped on Ukrainian soldiers from drones. Another complaint against the Moscow army came from Ukrainian activist and lawyer Sergiy Sternenko, according to which civilians were publicly executed in Lugansk. If confirmed, the episode would be one of those war crimes for which Russia could be held responsible. Indeed, according to the Guardian, a draft resolution for a Nuremberg-style tribunal is circulating at the UN, which could hold the Russian leadership accountable for war crimes in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the part of Russian citizens that opposes the war is becoming more and more consistent. As reported by UK Ministry of Defense intelligence, “Russian public support for the ‘special military operation’ is significantly waning.” According to the British 007 “the conflict has become increasingly tangible for many Russians since the ‘partial mobilization’ of September 2022” and “even maintaining tacit approval of the war among the population risks becoming increasingly difficult for the Kremlin”. For this reason, “Russia is unlikely to achieve battlefield successes in the coming months,” British intelligence explained in its report.