What the 16 December 2022 missile barrage showed

What did a barrage of at least 76 missiles mean for a country already struggling to keep the lights on? On 16 December 2022, Russian forces launched that salvo across Ukraine, damaging at least nine power stations and killing at least three civilians. Many more civilians were injured.

The strikes were part of a series of Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, and they came a day after Russian shelling had killed two people and left the entire city of Kherson without power, as reported on 15 December 2022. Taken together, the two days show that electricity supply was a central target of the fighting in southern Ukraine and across the country.

A tense neighbourhood

Elsewhere in the region, attention was also on the South Caucasus. On 14 December 2022, members of parliament from Armenia's governing coalition accused Russia of wanting to drag Armenia into a new war with neighbouring Azerbaijan. They also criticised the conduct of Russian peacekeepers. This came amid a renewed crisis following the Lachin blockade and worsening relations between Armenia and Russia.

Why the date matters

The 16 December barrage stands out for its scale: at least 76 missiles, at least nine power stations damaged and civilian casualties across the country. The Kherson outage a day earlier showed how the same pattern of damage was felt at city level. Together with the accusations from Armenian lawmakers, the reports from those days describe a period of strain for Ukraine and for Russia's relations with neighbouring states.