Russia is no longer mentioned as “a direct threat”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov applauds the new approach of the US National Security Strategy outlined in a document by Donald Trump’s administration. The Strategy, which defines the new priorities of the United States, reprimands Europe, even raising the risk of “disappearance of civilization”effectively marking a rift between the USA and European countries and at the same time a rapprochement between Washington and Moscow. Who, for his part, again through Peskov’s voice, states that the changes adopted are largely “consistent” with the Kremlin’s line. And, in response, it promptly launches yet another heavy offensive on Ukrainian territory.
Russia «launched a combined attack against critical infrastructure in Ukraine» using «5 ballistic missiles and 241 drones of various types», the Ukrainian Air Force said. Last night’s bombings follow the even larger and more massive offensive of the previous night when, coinciding with the celebration of Saint Nicholas, a day of celebration in which Ukrainian children traditionally receive gifts from Santa Claus, hundreds of drones and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles hit the Ukrainian railway and energy infrastructures, with the aim of increasingly exasperating the minds of the civilian population by leaving them without light and without heating, in the throes of continuous blackouts, as temperatures drop and the severity of winter advances across the country.
In the Russian attacks on the night between 5 and 6 December, “over 650 gifts and 51 missiles” were used, President Zelensky denounced, speaking of bombings in Dnipro, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odessa, Lviv, Volyn and Mykolaiv and in the Kyiv region.
In Fastiv, a town of 45 thousand inhabitants in the Kyiv oblast, 70 km from the capital, an important, strategic railway hub for the region and the rest of the country, bombings that lasted for hours targeted the railway network. An enormous burnt skeleton is all that remains of the imposing train station of this urban center, whose economy largely revolves around the railways. «We had a scary night,” he says Irma Dzhaparidze32 years old from Fastiv, married, with two children. He shows a photo of his daughter, Milana, 7 years old, sleeping wrapped in blankets in the bathroom at home, because it is more sheltered from the roar of the explosions. “But the important thing is that we are alive and safe.”
You don’t get used to the attacks, the bombings, the destruction. But there are forms of resistance. And we often rely on solidarity, on the spirit of service which, in emergencies, is a way to move forward through sharing, being together, helping each other. That’s what Irma and her husband did Serhii Papusha37 years old. «During the night, immediately after the explosions, Serhii ran to the station, but they didn’t let him through because everything was on fire. But early yesterday morning we went to buy food, we prepared homemade sandwiches, hot tea and coffee, water and biscuits, we recovered the thermos and, with other friends, we went to the station, all day, to distribute them to the many people and volunteers busy clearing away the rubble and cleaning up the entire affected area.” Last night, Irma reports, Fastiv suffered new attacks, again on the railway network. «But I know that everything will be fine»she adds, with a look of hope.
At the Dominican Charitable Center San Martino de Porres, a few minutes away from the Fastiv train station, many, children, elderly people, people with fragility, spent the night of the bombings in the shelter, relying on prayer together with the director of the Center father Mykhailo Romaniv. “Luckily we are all alive,” says the priest, who had just returned from a humanitarian mission in Cherson, on the southern front, where he and the volunteers distributed Christmas packages to the remaining inhabitants and gave gifts to the little ones. «In the shelter there were 4-year-old children, there was Vira, an 85-year-old lady from Sumy who lost her home and lives here with us, as well as other people who were displaced from Zaporizhzhia, Melitopol, Kherson at the beginning of the war and were welcomed into our Center. And these people continue to relive the suffering they experienced at home. It is a drama that affects the whole of Ukraine, which continues to affect thousands and thousands of people throughout the country.”
And he adds: «Yesterday we were thinking of celebrating the feast of Saint Nicholas with our children. The enemy, who does not want peace, ruined our celebration. However, the party with the children has not been cancelled, it has only been postponed.”
