Ukraine announced an air-raid alert across its entire territory on November 27 as Russian strikes continued overnight and parts of the country wrestled with the impact of days of heavy snowfall and strong winds blowing in from a Black Sea cyclone.
The alert was declared in the early afternoon as the Ukrainian Air Force reported a missile-strike threat following the takeoff of Russian Mig-31 combat jets from the airfield in Mozdok, south of Kursk, some 55 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Civilians were urged to remain in shelters for the duration of the alert, which came after overnight Russian shelling of civilian infrastructure and settlements in Ukraine's southern regions of Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk.
Russian forces struck the city of Kherson 56 times over the past 24 hours, wounding one civilian, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram.
In Dnipropetrovsk, Russian shelling was directed at Nikopol and its surroundings, regional Governor Serhiy Lysak reported. "Heavy artillery was directed at the city of Marhanets," Lysak said, adding that there were no immediate reports of victims or damage.
The latest attacks came as heavy snowfall across the whole country triggered power cuts and road closures in most of Ukraine, hampering traffic and adding to the hardship experienced by the civilian population.
In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that, despite the threat of Russian attacks, a Christmas tree will be installed in the Ukrainian capital's Sophia Square. However, no celebrations and no Christmas fairs will be held in the capital for safety reasons, Klitschko said.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces fought 63 close-quarter battles along the entire front line over the past 24 hours, the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said on November 27. The heaviest fighting has been taking place in the eastern regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk, the military said.
The industrial city of Avdiyivka, in Donetsk remains the focal point of Moscow's offensive in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have been unsuccessfully attempting to surround Ukrainian troops for months while sustaining huge human and material losses.
Britain's Ministry of Defense said in its daily intelligence report on November 27 that the last month and a half has probably seen "some of the highest Russian casualty rates of the war so far," mostly caused by Moscow's offensive in Avdiyivka.
