Washington, DC [US], January 16 ( ANI): Ukraine and Russia have escalated their conflict, exchanging major drone and missile strikes in recent days to gain an advantage as US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration nears, CNN reported.
Trump has vowed to swiftly end the conflict, but with few details available on how he would achieve this his arrival at the White House brings great uncertainty to a full-blown Russian invasion about to enter its fourth year.
Ukraine launched its "most massive" attack on Russia Overnight on Monday into Tuesday (local time), striking deep inside Russia with drones and missiles, including six US-made long-range ATACMS ballistic missiles, Ukrainian and Russian officials said.
According to CNN, outgoing US President Joe Biden gave Ukraine permission to use American longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia in November last year, a move Moscow sees as a major escalation.
Moscow has previously warned that the use of ATACMs would be met with the firing of Russia's new weapon, an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as "Oreshnik." The missile has only been fired once before, on November 21.
The latest escalation began when Ukraine launched a barrage of ATACMS missiles, targeting Russian military and oil facilities. The Ukrainian army vowed to continue these attacks "until the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine is completely stopped."
Russia retaliated with a massive bombardment of Ukraine overnight into Wednesday (local time), focusing on the country's already battered energy sector.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky reported that over 40 missiles rained down on Ukraine, with 30 being successfully destroyed, adding that more than 70 Russian attack drones were involved, as per CNN.
"Another massive Russian attack. It's the middle of winter, and the target for the Russians remains the same: our energy sector," Zelensky said in a Wednesday statement.
"The targets include gas infrastructure and energy facilities that ensure normal life for people."
The attack forced Ukraine's state energy company, Ukrenergo, to temporarily shut off its power supplies - a measure it takes to prevent the energy system from collapsing. Power was restored by 9 am local time on Wednesday, it said.
Notably, Trump's inauguration as the 47th president of the United States will take place on January 20 at the US Capitol.