“War never goes on vacation. War does not celebrate Christmas,” Ukrainian Defense Ministry official Yuriy Sak told Fox Digital about the possibility of a ceasefire before Ukraine celebrates Christmas on January 7.
“Think of the worst type of behavior you can imagine and multiply it by five, and you have an idea of what the Russians are capable of. Nothing would surprise me,” Sak said.
On Monday, Russian forces launched a series of drone strikes that demolished power plants and other electrical installations in the Kyiv region, despite the fact that the Ukrainian military shot down most of the drones with its air defense system.
A view of dark streets in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 17, 2022.
(Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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The battlefield in Ukraine has been blown up, with the Ukrainian military calling for more missiles and rockets from the international community to combat Russian drone strikes that have crippled the nation’s energy sources and left millions of civilians dead. Ukrainians in the dark.
“If we get systems and missiles that allow us to attack, we will target even beyond enemy lines,” Sak said. “This, of course, will mean that their ability to terrorize our people and our cities will be further diminished. And this will create the necessary space for our counter-offensive.”
Ukrainian soldiers fire a Pion artillery system at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on December 16, 2022.
(AP Photo/LIBKOS)
Now, there is renewed concern that Russia could attack from Belarus, where the Russian military made its first attack on Kyiv in February.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Belarus and met with President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Monday, according to Russia’s state news agency Tass.
(Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo via AP)
“Belarus is not just our good neighbor, with whom we are working, taking into account each other’s interests over the past decades,” Putin said. “But Belarus is definitely our ally in the most direct sense of this word.”
Russia has maintained a close relationship with Belarus in recent months, with the country supplying missiles and equipment to Russian forces. The Russian army also has up to 15,000 soldiers in Belarus.
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“It’s a question of when, not if,” Luke Coffey, senior fellow for Foreign Policy at the Hudson Institute, said of a Belarus attack on Fox News Live. “There are two main scenarios: you see another attack on the capital of Kyiv…or we could see forces from Belarus head into western Ukraine to disrupt the supply lines that NATO and the US have been using from Poland.”
The Pentagon is examining a plan to send a Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine. Military contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp. told Fox News the package would contain “manned and unmanned aircraft, cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles.”
“So when we ask our partners and mainly the US, for example, to provide Ukraine with ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles, we need them not to attack Russia on its own territory. We need them to carry out our military operations. with less risk to our own military personnel,” Sak said.
The Patriot missile program reportedly does not contain any Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, which have a range of 185 miles. However, the package contains missiles that have a range of 100 miles, which the Kremlin calls “a provocative move by the US.”
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National Security Council spokesman John Kirby responded to the Kremlin’s comments last week, saying “it’s about defense, it’s about helping them defend themselves.”
Despite discussions with the Pentagon and the White House, the Patriot program for Ukraine is not finalized, but sources tell Fox News an announcement is expected this week.
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
Despite discussions with the Pentagon and the White House, the Patriot program is not finalized, but sources Tell Fox News an announcement is expected this week.
“There is talk, you know, of the possibility of Ukraine receiving Patriot air defense systems from the US… Now we know that Russia is talking to Iran with a view to acquiring more ballistic missiles from Iran. So this is a race where we have to be one step ahead,” said Sak.
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Nana Sajaia contributed to this report.
