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KVIV/MOSCOW, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Russian forces bombarded scores of towns successful Ukraine connected Christmas Day arsenic Russian President Vladimir Putin said helium was unfastened to negotiations, a stance Washington has dismissed arsenic posturing due to the fact that of continued Russian attacks.
Russia connected Sunday launched much than 10 rocket attacks connected the Kupiansk territory successful the Kharkiv region, shelled much than 25 towns on the Kupiansk-Lyman frontline, and successful Zaporizhzhia deed astir 20 towns, said Ukraine's apical subject command.
Russia's defence ministry said connected Sunday that it had killed astir 60 Ukrainian servicemen the erstwhile time on the Kupiansk-Lyman enactment of interaction and destroyed galore pieces of Ukrainian subject equipment.
Reuters was not capable to independently verify the reports.
Putin's Feb. 24 penetration of Ukraine - which Moscow calls a "special subject operation" - has triggered the biggest European struggle since World War Two and confrontation betwixt Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Despite Putin's latest connection to negotiate, determination is nary extremity successful show to the 10-month conflict.
"We are acceptable to negociate with everyone progressive astir acceptable solutions, but that is up to them - we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are," Putin told Rossiya 1 authorities tv successful an interrogation broadcast connected Sunday.
An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin needed to instrumentality to world and admit it was Russia that did not privation talks.
"Russia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is sidesplitting citizens," the adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, tweeted. "Russia doesn't privation negotiations, but tries to debar responsibility."
Russian attacks connected powerfulness stations person near millions without electricity, and Zelenskiy said Moscow would purpose to marque the past fewer days of 2022 acheronian and difficult.
"Russia has mislaid everything it could this year. ... I cognize acheronian volition not forestall america from starring the occupiers to caller defeats. But we person to beryllium acceptable for immoderate scenario," helium said successful an evening video code connected Christmas Day.
Ukraine has traditionally not celebrated Christmas connected Dec. 25, but Jan. 7, the aforesaid arsenic Russia. However, this twelvemonth immoderate Orthodox Ukrainians decided to observe the vacation connected Dec. 25 and Ukrainian officials, starting with Zelenskiy and Ukraine's premier minister, issued Christmas wishes connected Sunday.
The Kremlin says it volition combat until each its territorial aims are achieved, portion Kyiv says it volition not remainder until each Russian worker is ejected from the country.
Asked if the geopolitical struggle with the West was approaching a unsafe level, Putin connected Sunday said: "I don't deliberation it's truthful dangerous."
Kyiv and the West accidental Putin has nary justification for what they formed arsenic an imperial-style warfare of occupation.
BELARUS MISSILES
Russian-supplied Iskander tactical rocket systems, which are susceptible of carrying atomic warheads, and S-400 aerial defence systems person been deployed to Belarus and are prepared to execute their intended tasks, a elder Belarusian defence ministry authoritative said connected Sunday.
"Our servicemen, crews person afloat completed their grooming successful the associated combat grooming centres of the equipped forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus," Leonid Kasinsky, caput of the Main Directorate of Ideology astatine the ministry, said successful a video posted connected the Telegram messaging app.
"These types of weapons (Iskander and S-400 systems) are connected combat work contiguous and they are afloat prepared to execute tasks for their intended purpose," Kasinsky added.
It is not wide however galore of the Iskander systems person been deployed to Belarus aft Putin said successful June that Moscow would proviso Minsk with them and the aerial defence systems.
The quality follows Putin's sojourn to Minsk connected Dec. 19 amid fears successful Kyiv helium would unit Belarus to articulation a caller crushed violative and unfastened a caller beforehand successful his faltering invasion.
Russian forces utilized Belarus arsenic a motorboat pad for their abortive onslaught connected the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, successful February, and determination has been a increasing flurry of Russian and Belarusian subject enactment successful caller months.
The Iskander-M, a mobile guided rocket strategy codification named "SS-26 Stone" by NATO, replaced the Soviet-era "Scud". The guided missiles person a scope of up to 500 km (300 miles) and tin transportation accepted oregon atomic warheads.
That scope reaches heavy into neighbours of Belarus: Ukraine and NATO subordinate Poland, which has precise strained relations with Minsk.
The S-400 strategy is simply a Russian mobile, surface-to-air rocket (SAM) interception strategy susceptible of engaging aircraft, UAVs, cruise missiles, and has a terminal ballistic rocket defence capability.
Blasts were heard astatine Russia's Engels aerial base, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the Ukraine frontlines, Ukrainian and Russian media reported connected Monday.
Russia's politician of Saratov region, location to the Engels air-base, said instrumentality enforcement agencies were checking accusation astir "an incidental astatine a subject facility".
"There were nary emergencies successful residential areas of the (Engels) city," Roman Busargin, the politician of the region, said connected the Telegram messaging app. "Civil infrastructure facilities were not damaged."
The aerial base, adjacent the metropolis of Saratov, astir 730 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, was deed connected Dec. 5 successful what Russia said were Ukrainian drone attacks connected 2 Russian aerial bases that day. The strikes dealt Moscow a large reputational stroke and raised questions astir wherefore its defences failed, analysts said.
Ukraine has ne'er publically claimed work for attacks wrong Russia, but has said, however, that specified incidents are "karma" for Russia's invasion.
Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Himani Sarkar
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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