Britain’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update about the Russian invasion of Ukraine that Russia is expected to continue an “intensive wave” of long-range strikes across Ukraine, “primarily targeting the power distribution network.”
The Saturday report, posted on Twitter, said, “Russia is almost certainly following this approach in an attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. However, there is a realistic possibility that Russia will break this pattern to strike again in the coming days in an effort to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian population over the new year holiday period.”
The leaders of Russia and Ukraine are set to deliver New Year’s addresses Saturday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Puttin are expected to give their assessments on the fighting and how long it is expected to last.
Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine continues to endure and repel waves of Russian air attacks and that Ukrainian air defenses have been made “stronger than ever.”
“In the new year,” he added, “Ukrainian air defense will become even stronger, even more effective.”
He said Ukrainian air defense “can become the most powerful in Europe,” a guarantee of security “not only for our country, but for the entire continent.”
The United States last week announced nearly $2 billion in additional military aid, including the Patriot Air Defense System, which offers protection against aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on member states to supply more weapons to Ukraine.
"I call on allies to do more. It is in all our security interests to make sure Ukraine prevails and Putin does not win," Stoltenberg told German news agency DPA on Friday.
Stoltenberg said the need for ammunition and spare parts was "enormous." He told DPA that military support for Ukraine was the fastest way to peace, Reuters reported.
"We know that most wars end at the negotiating table — probably this war too — but we know that what Ukraine can achieve in these negotiations depends inextricably on the military situation," he said.
Russia shelled Ukrainian towns across a long stretch of the front line from north to south, Ukrainian officials said Friday, a day after Moscow fired dozens of missiles in its latest barrage against critical infrastructure.
In an evening report Friday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian forces had tried to advance near Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the east, while firing on several towns and villages, and shelled settlements further west in the Donetsk region, including the town of Vuhledar.
Zelenskyy said the nation’s forces were holding their positions in the eastern Donbas region.
“There are also some areas of the front where we are advancing a bit," he said.
Russian forces shelled several towns near Kupiansk, in the northeast Kharkiv region recaptured by Ukraine in September, the General Staff report said, as well as settlements in the Luhansk region, where Ukrainian forces hope to advance after the gains of recent weeks.
Areas of the Zaporizhzhia region, to the south, also came under heavy Russian shelling, including the contested town of Hulyaipole. Additionally, there was also shelling in and around Ukrainian-held Nikopol, on the opposite side of the Kakhovka reservoir from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.
On the southern front, there were renewed Russian strikes targeting infrastructure in the city of Kherson, which Russian forces abandoned last month, and Kachkarivka, further north on the west bank of the Dnipro River.
Air attack sirens blared overnight into Friday in the capital, Kyiv, and Reuters reported several explosions and the sound of anti-aircraft fire south of the city, as Russian forces launched 16 Iranian-made Shahed drones, the officials said.
The Ukrainian military said all of the drones had been destroyed. Seven had targeted Kyiv, where an administrative building was damaged, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed Friday to strengthen their bilateral cooperation. During their opening remarks on a publicly broadcast videoconference, the two leaders welcomed strengthening ties between Moscow and Beijing amid what they called “geopolitical tensions” and a “difficult international situation,” with Putin expressing his wish to extend military collaboration.
“In the face of increasing geopolitical tensions, the significance of the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership is growing as a stabilizing factor,” he said.