Russia Justifies Massive Bombardment of Ukraine as 'Retaliatory Response'

Russia launched a large-scale strike against Ukraine’s critical fuel and energy infrastructure in response to the Ukrainian ATACMS strike on the Taganrog military airfield in Russia, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on December 13.

“In response to the use of US-supplied long-range weapons by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian Armed Forces launched a massive strike with long-range air and sea-based precision weapons and strike drones against critical facilities of Ukraine’s fuel and energy infrastructure that support the work of the military-industrial complex,” Russian Defense Ministry wrote.

The attack was conducted with 94 long-range missiles launched from both air and sea, alongside 193 strike drones.

“The goal of the strike was achieved. All designated targets were hit,” the ministry stated.

In response to the Russian attack, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote that Ukraine needs 20 additional air defense systems to defend itself from Russian air attacs.

“Massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine this morning primarily targeted the energy system,” Sybiha said in a statement. “Russia aims to deprive us of energy. Instead, we must deprive it of the means of terror.”

He called on Ukraine’s allies to accelerate the delivery of air defense systems, specifying the need for 20 units of NASAMS, HAWK, or IRIS-T systems to protect against further strikes.

Ukrainian Air Forces downed 81 Russian missiles and 80 strike drones with 105 more being ‘lost’ due to electronic warfare systems work. Five drones were sent back to Russia and 1 went back to Belarus.

The attacks caused significant damage to Ukraine’s power grid, Ukraine’s largest private energy provider, DTEK reported.

Russian strikes wounded 2 people in the Kherson region, injured 4 in Kharkiv, and 3 SES rescuers were wounded in the Zaporizhzhya region.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov vowed retaliation in response to a Ukrainian attack on a military airfield in Taganrog in the Rostov region on December 11.