Today, there is important news from the Russian Federation.
Here, just a week after it was signed, Russia shattered the energy ceasefire with a massive wave of missile and drone strikes aimed at Ukrainian power plants. In response, Ukraine unleashed a powerful retaliation, not targeting Russian energy infrastructure, but instead aimed straight at Russian strategic airbases.
The recent statements of the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, officially stated that Russia reserves the right not to follow the ceasefire, as he added that Russian strikes against Ukrainian energy facilities will persist, claiming that Ukraine violated the ceasefire first.
Russia had already drawn the ceasefire into question, demanding the removal of sanctions on state-owned Russian banks and financial institutions as an additional prerequisite for the ceasefire, despite it already having been signed. Peskov also claimed that the European Union’s refusal to lift sanctions on Russia indicates the unwillingness to put an end to the war, regardless of whether Russian demands were made in hindsight.
To create a justification for their own violation of the ceasefire, Russian forces staged a false flag attack in the Kursk region, where they sabotaged the Sudzha gas measuring station, framing it as a Ukrainian air strike that broke the agreement.
Interestingly, Ukrainians cut off the flow of Russian gas through this pipeline in January, and Russian infantry used the empty pipes to try and infiltrate into Sudzha, after which Ukrainians destroyed the pipe and everyone in it with cluster munitions and artillery. As Ukrainians never restarted the gas transit, there was no reason for Russians to repair the pipes and restore gas flow to the Sudzha measuring station other than to instigate a false-flag sabotage operation.
Despite this, Russians used it as a justification to once again restart their drone and missile strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, launching 43 missiles and 74 drones, of which the Ukrainians intercepted 30 and 47, respectively.
The Russian Ministry of Defense outright stated they launched the attack targeting Ukrainian military energy infrastructure, as the remaining missiles and drones inflicted severe damage, forcing the temporary shutdown of some parts of the Ukrainian power grid, as civilians in towns and cities in many regions were left without electricity amidst freezing nightly temperatures.
Unfortunately for Russians, Ukrainians are actively refraining from breaking the energy ceasefire themselves as a response, hoping to show the international community which side is the aggressor. However, in retaliation, Ukrainians instead targeted Russian strategic military targets to disarm Russian striking capabilities and prevent further damage to Ukrainian energy facilities.
Ukrainians launched a drone strike against the Shaykovka airbase in the Kaluga region, where Russian strategic Tu-22 bombers are located. This airbase is also one of just two Russian airbases operating the scarce Tu-22 jets near Ukraine, to be used as a refueling and rearming point for Russian aircraft conducting strikes.
Ukrainians targeted Russian missile depots, fuel storages, and aircraft maintenance facilities to undermine future Russian strike capabilities and possibly destroy Russian strategic bombers that landed just after their strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, showing the quick response capabilities of the Ukrainians.
As you remember, before the energy ceasefire was ratified, Ukrainians also struck the Engels airbase, destroying 96 cruise missiles and undermining three large missile strikes Russians had planned for late March, which prevented them from being launched. While preliminary reports do not show the exact results of the Shaykovka airbase strike, undoubtedly, Ukrainians have undermined, if not outright prevented, another series of Russian missile strikes.
Overall, the Russians are trying to fully cancel the ceasefire agreement and used a false flag sabotage operation as justification to restart their missile strikes against the Ukrainian energy sector, which caused power outages across Ukraine.
In retaliation, rather than target energy infrastructure themselves, Ukraine sought to disarm Russian strike capabilities, targeting strategic Russian airbases.
In his evening address, President Zelensky stated that for several weeks now, they have had the American proposal for an unconditional ceasefire. And almost every day, in response to this proposal, there are Russian drones, bombs, and missiles striking Ukrainian cities. He underlines how the attacks demonstrate an unwillingness to seek a lasting peace, urging further international pressure and sanctions on Moscow and more air defense to counter Russian airstrikes, compelling Russia to negotiate.
In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
