The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has clarified the information about a missile attack on Friday, 16 December; the Russian occupiers used 74 missiles, and Ukrainian Air Defence units shot down 60 of them.

Report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine : "The enemy launched a large-scale missile attack on the civilian infrastructure of our state this morning. As per the clarified data, the Russian occupiers used 70 cruise missiles and 4 guided air-launched missiles. Sixty cruise missiles were shot down by our air defence forces [earlier, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reported that the Russians launched 76 missiles, including 72 cruise ones, and that 60 of them were shot down – ed.].

As a result of the strikes, several energy infrastructure facilities and residential buildings in Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts were hit."

New details on inspection of Belarusian forces combat readiness appear.

A sudden inspection of combat readiness of the Belarusian Armed Forces continues in the country. Belaruski Hajun [an independent Belarusian military monitoring media outlet] has found out how this check was going on.

The Belarusian outlet has reported that units of the 38th Airborne Assault Brigade marched from the mission area to the point of their permanent deployment, and reached Brest on 15 December. This information has been confirmed by the Ministry of Defence of Belarus. The brigade units will head towards their respective bases in the near future.

Servicemen of the 19th Separate Mechanised Brigade conducted control firing exercises, using BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles and small arms at the Barisav combined arms training ground. The personnel performed a 10-hour march to the training ground and stayed in tents. No joint training with the artillerymen of the 19th Brigade has been reported yet.

The Ministry of Defence of Belarus has confirmed the involvement of other units of the 11th Separate Mechanised Brigade in the sudden inspection. The number of forces and means involved is not specified.

The 7th Separate Tank Battalion of the 11th Brigade was spotted near the Hozha training ground early in the morning on 16 December. It can be assumed that by now, the battalion has reached the area of training and combat missions. There were some breakdowns as well: at least one tank did not make it to the training ground on its own.

According to the Belarusian monitoring group, the following military units were engaged in the inspection.

Death toll in Kryvyi Rih rises to 3 and number of people injured to 13.

The number of people injured in the attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih on 16 December has risen from 8 to 13. The death toll has risen from 2 to 3. The rubble is still being cleared away.

n energy infrastructure facility in Kryvyi Rih was completely destroyed on 16 December. The Russians also hit a residential building.

The Minister of defense Reznichenko said three lives had been claimed by the Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih: a 64-year-old woman and a young married couple have been killed. The couple’s young son is still trapped under the ruins of the building.

13 people have been injured, including four children who are all in hospital, including a 7-year-old girl in a serious condition.

Vilkul previously reported that 12 people had been injured and two killed. Among those injured are a boy and a girl aged 3, and a boy and a girl of 7. Three of the injured people are in a serious condition.

The emergency services are still clearing away the rubble.