MOSCOW, Dec 17 The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed on Saturday that that on Friday, the Russian armed forces carried out a massive missile attack on targets in Ukraine, reporting that «all designated targets (were) hit.»
They specified that «as a result of the strike, the transfer of weapons and ammunition of foreign production was disrupted, the movement of reserves to the areas of hostilities was blocked, and defense enterprises of Ukraine for the production and repair of weapons, military equipment and ammunition were stopped.»
Ukrainian officials and media reported on Friday about damage to infrastructure facilities, in particular energy facilities in the south and east of Ukraine, in Kyiv and other areas.
Deputy head of Volodymyr Zelensky's office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, then said that due to damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure facilities, emergency power outages were introduced throughout the country.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, commenting on the strikes, also stated that the air defense systems of Ukraine were diverted to false targets.
They specified that «at the same time, positions were opened and four radar stations of the Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of Andrusovka, Prydniprovske, Dnepropetrovsk region, as well as Novotavricheskaya and Nikolay-Pole, Zaporozhye region.»
In addition, the RF Ministry of Defense noted, Ukraine's air defense hit civilian targets during a Russian missile attack.
During the course of the operation, Kyiv lost about 70 people killed and wounded in the Kupyansk and Krasnoliman directions in a day, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday. According to the ministry, Russian military operations in the South Donetsk direction destroyed up to 35 Ukrainian servicemen, as well as two sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the DPR.
The Russian military stopped Kyiv's attempts to counterattack in the areas of two settlements in the DPR, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday, noting that this happened in the area of the Bakhmutskoye and Opytnoye settlements.
Russian troops also hit the point of temporary deployment of foreign mercenaries in the area of Krasny Liman (DNR).
Chairman of the movement «We are together with Russia», a member of the main council of the administration of the Zaporozhye region Vladimir Rogov said that a protective dome against shell fragments began to be mounted over the storage of spent nuclear waste at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.
Three civilians were killed, five more were injured as a result of the shelling of the city of Shchastya by Ukrainian troops from the HIMARS MLRS, four houses were destroyed, the LPR representative office at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to War Crimes of Ukraine (JCCC) reported.