RIGHT SPEAK: 'Hit the Kremlin': Kyivans Don't Hold Back After RU’s Mass Attack; UKR Repels 29 RU Attacks in 5 Sectors; ISW: UKR Advances near Bakhmut; UKR Repels Attacks Near Verbove and Synkivka; UKR Downs 87 missiles, 27 UAVs; UKR Kills 850 RUs, Destroy 26 Artillery Pieces Past Day, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

'Hit the Kremlin': Kyivans don't hold back after Russia’s mass attack kills 9, wounds 30 in the capital:

Thick columns of smoke were rising in Kyiv after several sites were hit by Russia early on Dec. 29.

In Kyiv, Russia hit three locations, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Local authorities reported nine people killed and 30 injured.

Russia unleashed a barrage of 158 attack drones and missiles across Ukraine, one of its biggest air attacks since the start of the full-scale invasion. The Air Force later released a report, which said Ukraine shot down 114 of the 158 drones and missiles fired by Russia.

Besides Kyiv, authorities reported casualties in Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia.

The mass attack killed at least 30 people across Ukraine and wounded over 160 others, according to an update by the Interior Ministry published at 7:30 p.m. local time.

Oleksandr Lytvyn, a 32-year-old driver, barely escaped the strike, he told the Kyiv Independent as he was standing a few meters away from a warehouse that was hit.

"I'm very lucky," he said. Not everyone was.

The Kyiv City Administration earlier reported that 10 people had been trapped under the rubble. Klymenko said eight people were rescued without specifying from which site.

Several apartment buildings, warehouses, an office center, a residential house, and a metro station were damaged in different neighborhoods, Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, reported.

Outside the capital, Russia damaged residential high-rise buildings, a shopping center, a school, and a maternity hospital, among a variety of other civilian sites. --->READ MORE HERE

War update: Ukrainian forces repel 29 enemy attacks in five sectors:

Ukraine's defense forces on Friday repelled 29 attacks by the Russian army in the Kupiansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka, and Zaporizhzhia sectors, as well as nine enemy assaults on the left bank of the Dnipro River.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said this in its evening update on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

According to the update, the Russian troops are not abandoning their intention to drive Ukrainian units out of the footholds on the left bank of the Dnipro River. Throughout the day, the invaders unsuccessfully tried to storm Ukrainian positions there nine times.

Ukrainian forces continued to hold their positions on the left bank of the Dnipro River and inflict significant losses on the enemy.

In total, 31 combat clashes took place across the front on Friday. The operational situation in the east and south of Ukraine remains difficult.

Throughout the day, Ukrainian aircraft struck ten areas of concentration of enemy personnel, weapons and military equipment, as well as three Russian anti-aircraft missile systems.

Ukrainian rocket forces, for their part, struck two areas of concentration of enemy personnel, weapons and military equipment, three artillery pieces, five ammunition depots and two other important targets of the invaders. --->READ MORE HERE