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[00:00:00]

Now, the governor of the Russian city of Bolgarod says that two children were killed and several people injured as a result of a Ukrainian strike on the city center. A residential area is said to have been hit in the city, which is about 80 kilometers or 50 miles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. It comes a day after Friday's massive bombardment of Ukraine, the biggest of the war so far. Ukraine's President, Zalensky, says at least 39 people were killed in that attack when 150 Russian missiles and drones were launched at cities across Ukraine. The bombardment has been overwhelmingly condemned at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Many countries said hitting civilian infrastructure had violated the international rules of war. Let's speak now to our reporter, Zana Bezpiatchouk, who's in queue for us. Can you just talk us through those attacks on Friday on such a huge scale, weren't they?

[00:00:54]

Yes. So far, we can say that there is the file number already for all missiles and drones that attacked Ukraine, altogether 158 drones and missiles of almost all possible times. So it's definitely the biggest number since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022. All main Ukrainian cities all across the country were damaged, targeted by Russian missiles and drones. The Ukraine President has said that altogether, 120 Ukrainian cities, towns, villages were affected by this particular attack. It came in a few waves. For example, in Kyiv, it's confirmed for now that 16 people were killed. Some people still, even now when we are talking, stay under the debris. One of the districts of the Ukrainian capital and rescue works, they continue. There is a hope that these people can be saved. Almost 160 people altogether all across the country were injured and also over 30 people were killed.

[00:02:15]

Then came, of course, Ukraine's retaliatory attacks.

[00:02:20]

Yes, and far-fine events before this large-scale attack on Ukraine. The Ukrainian military intelligence said it very clearly that if Russia attacks Ukraine on a large scale during the winter with the goal to disrupt infrastructure, first of all, power stations, and if it attacks also the civilian population in the Ukrainian cities, which happened, actually. Then there'll be the retaliation, there'll be the response. For now, Ukraine relies mainly on combat drones. We got the reports from Russia that also the missiles were launched against the Russian territories overnight on the 30th of December. But this is an open question, and this information obviously has to be verified because the part of the agreement that Ukraine has with the Western countries that it can't use large-scale missiles supplied by the Western partners to target anything in their Russian territories. It can use them only to liberate own territories, including the Crimea.

[00:03:36]

Yeah. Zana, there have been reports of more Russian troops moving towards the border. Have you heard anything about that? If so, what can you tell us?

[00:03:44]

I tried to verify this information from Ukrainian sources. So far, it's not confirmed. Some reports of Russian build-up on the borders, they come time from time over the war, and especially during the winter season, as we saw it at the beginning of this year, 2023, in January February. I think we just have to observe for now. Obviously, Ukraine relies overwhelmingly on the sources in the British and US intelligence organizations just to get the accurate assessment what is actually happening on the borders.