Home › Opinion › What did strikes on 20–21 December 2024 show?
What did strikes on 20–21 December 2024 show?
Summary
A retrospective look at cross-border attacks reported in the days before 22 December 2024, in Ukraine and in Russia.
What were the two sides striking in the days leading up to 22 December 2024? Reports from 20 and 21 December describe attacks in both directions, with civilians among the casualties.
On 20 December, Russian missile strikes hit civilian infrastructure in Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv. At least one person was killed and eight others were injured. Kryvyi Rih had already been subjected to a series of artillery attacks and air raids during the war.
The same day, a Ukrainian missile strike in Rylsk, in Russia's Kursk Oblast, killed six people and injured 10 others, according to acting Kursk Oblast governor Alexander Khinshtein. Russia said it would raise the issue of the strike at the United Nations Security Council. The report places the strike in the context of the 2024 Kursk offensive.
On 21 December, at least seven Ukrainian drones struck Kazan, Russia. Six of them reportedly hit residential areas, including a 32-storey apartment building.
Taken together, the reports show a pattern in which housing and civilian infrastructure featured in the damage on both sides of the border in the final days before 22 December 2024.
