Russia bombards Ukraine with missiles on Christmas even as Putin says ‘ready for negotiations’

Several towns in Ukraine were bombarded with Russian missiles on Christmas, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to hold talks with the Zelenskyy-led country.

“We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are,” Putin told Rossiya 1 state television in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Meanwhile, an adviser to Zelenskyy said Putin needed to return to reality and acknowledge it was Russia that did not want talks.

“Russia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is killing citizens,” the adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, tweeted.

“Russia doesn’t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility,” he added.

“Russia has lost everything it could this year. … I know darkness will not prevent us from leading the occupiers to new defeats. But we have to be ready for any scenario,” he said in an evening video address on Christmas Day.

According to Ukraine’s top military command, more than 10 rocket attacks hit the Kupiansk district in the Kharkiv region, as Russia continued shelling over 25 towns along the Kupiansk-Lyman frontline.

Meanwhile, Putin on Sunday said he didn’t think the geopolitical conflict with the West was approaching a dangerous level.

THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – which Moscow calls a “special operation” – has triggered the deadliest European conflict since World War II.

It has also caused the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Russian attacks on power stations have left millions without electricity, as Zelenskyy said Moscow would aim to make the last few days of 2022 dark and difficult.

The Kremlin says it will fight until all its territorial aims are achieved, while Kyiv says it will not rest until every Russian soldier is ejected from the country.

BELARUS MISSILES

According to a senior Belarusian defence ministry official’s statement, Russian-supplied Iskander tactical missile systems, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, along with S-400 air defence systems have been deployed to Belarus and are prepared to perform their intended tasks.

“Our servicemen, crews have fully completed their training in the joint combat training centres of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,” Leonid Kasinsky, head of the Main Directorate of Ideology at the ministry, said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.

“These types of weapons (Iskander and S-400 systems) are on combat duty today and they are fully prepared to perform tasks for their intended purpose,” Kasinsky added.

It is not clear how many of the Iskander systems have been deployed to Belarus after Putin said in June that Moscow would supply Minsk with them and the air defence systems.

The news follows Putin’s visit to Minsk on Dec. 19 amid fears in Kyiv he would pressure Belarus to join a fresh ground offensive and open a new front in his faltering invasion.

Russian forces used Belarus as a launch pad for their abortive attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in February, and there has been a growing flurry of Russian and Belarusian military activity in recent months.

The Iskander-M, a mobile guided missile system code-named “SS-26 Stone” by NATO, replaced the Soviet-era “Scud”.

The guided missiles have a range of up to 500 km (300 miles) and can carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

That range reaches deep into neighbours of Belarus: Ukraine and NATO member Poland, which has very strained relations with Minsk.

The S-400 system is a Russian mobile, surface-to-air missile (SAM) interception system capable of engaging aircraft, UAVs, cruise missiles, and has a terminal ballistic missile defence capability.

Blasts were heard at Russia’s Engels air base, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the Ukraine frontlines, Ukrainian and Russian media reported on Monday.

There was no immediate official confirmation and Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports.

The air base, near the city of Saratov, about 730 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, was hit on Dec. 5 in what Russia said were Ukrainian drone attacks on two Russian air bases that day. The strikes dealt Moscow a major reputational blow and raised questions about why its defences failed, analysts said.

Ukraine has never publicly claimed responsibility for attacks inside Russia, but has said, however, that such incidents are “karma” for Russia’s invasion.