In the last few days of 2023, there was a small climax in the "tug-of-war" between Russia and Ukraine.
On December 29, 10 Tu-95, 9 Tu-22 bombers and several MiG-31s of the Russian Aerospace Forces were launched in dense air, and 36 suicide drones were dispatched to launch 50 cluster strikes and one large-scale strike across Ukraine.
Preliminary information shows that this is the largest Russian airstrike on Ukraine since the start of the "special military operation" in February 2022.
The airstrike lasted about 18 hours, and the Russian army launched a total of about 122 missiles, including KH-101/KH55 long-range cruise missiles, KH-22 supersonic missiles, S-300 ballistic missiles and "Dagger" hypersonic missiles, of which the "Dagger" flew at a speed of Mach 10 and could hit targets 2,000 kilometers away, but due to its large size, the Tu-22M3 long-range bomber could only carry 4 new "Dagger" hypersonic missiles.
According to the information of all parties, the attack caused explosions in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odessa, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia and many other regions, power was interrupted in many places, a large number of facilities were damaged, at least 30 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
When the discussion of "whether to lift the ban on fireworks" was still in full swing in China, Putin sent Ukraine a cannon battle, and the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, which had been calm for a long time, why did he suddenly launch such a large-scale bombardment?
Putin has always paid attention to-for-tat, and this time he made such a big move, and the captain believes that there are two main direct reasons:
1. On December 27, two Ukrainian Su-24s attacked the Black Sea Fleet using "Storm Shadow" missiles, and the Russian Navy's 4,000-ton Type 775 "Toad"-class tank landing ship "Novocherkassk" was heavily damaged.
The captain counted in the previous article that from the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine to the present, the Ukrainian army has successively sunk or seriously damaged the cruiser "Moskva", 12,500 tons, the frigate "Makarov", 4,000 tons, the missile reconnaissance ship "Ivan Kurs", 4,000 tons, the landing ship "Olenegorsk Shaminer", 4,000 tons, the armed transport ship "Baker", 1,600 tons, and the tank landing ship "Orsk", 4,700 tons......
The total number of capital warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet of more than 4,000 tons does not exceed 10, and now half of them have been sunk. At this pace, Zelensky's statement that there will not be a single Russian warship left by the time of the truce can really become a reality.
2. In March 2024, Putin will run for president of Russia again, although there is no suspense about his victory, but it is by no means superfluous to create a pre-election atmosphere and increase the offensive against Ukraine to win the initiative in this protracted war and boost the morale of the Russian army.
However, as for the results of the Russian army's air strikes on Ukraine, Putin may not have expected that Sky's retaliation would come so quickly, and the day after Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone hybrid attack, a large number of Ukrainian drones, two self-developed "Vilka-M" missiles and "Vampire" rockets attacked the center of Belgorod Oblast in Russia.
Belgorod, about 40 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, was directly killed and 110 injured as a result of the attack on about 60 buildings and more than 100 vehicles. Although it has been almost 2 years since Russia and Ukraine, there have not been many casualties in the Russian mainland cities, and the bombing of Belgorod is the worst loss in the Russian rear.
At the same time, the conscription in Ukraine is also being further tightened, greatly increasing the severity of the conscription work, Zelensky has a tough attitude and must regain all the lost territory, in order to defeat the Russian army, Kyiv is ready to conscript 500,000 people into the army.
The minimum age for conscription for Ukrainian reservists has been lowered from 27 to 25, and there are nearly 400,000 Ukrainian men in this range. Zelenskyy's government will also tighten penalties for those who ignore the call-up, which previously resulted in fines and bank account freezes, and now prison sentences for those who ignore the call-up. Zelensky is really ready to use a generation to fight Russia desperately.
In 2 months, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will enter its third year, and after almost two years, many elderly people in Ukraine have gone to the battlefield, and Russian ammunition depots are also in an emergency, can this war end in 2024?
Although the bombing in the past few days has set a historical record for both sides, all signs indicate that the Russian army will increase its bombardment efforts in various parts of Ukraine in the next few days, and Ukraine is bound to not give in, and the Russian-Ukrainian war will inevitably continue in 2024.
If nothing else, this battle will have to continue for a few more years.