After yesterday's massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine that killed at least 39 civilians and wounded more than 150, the news this morning carried reports of more drone & missile attacks on Ukraine as well as stories about multiple explosions across the Belgorod and Bryansk regions of Russia that border Ukraine which have reportedly killed about a dozen civilians, wounded more than 100, and done damage to things like apartments and automobiles. While there have been civilian deaths inside the territory that is internationally recognized as Russia previously during this "special military operation" (aka war) and I even wrote a Journal about the first civilian death inside of Russia that I read about back on 11 May 2022, the death and destruction inside of (internationally recognized) Russia has tended to be few and far between compared to the scale of civilian deaths and destruction inside of Ukraine, including far far behind the 'front lines'. I hope all the FA members in both Ukraine -and- Russia are all ok today and did not lose any family or friends to this latest bombardment.

Since I made a FA Journal about the explosions and civilian deaths in Ukraine yesterday, I would be remiss to not mention the explosions and deaths in Russia today (Saturday, 30 December 2023), which appears to be the largest amount of civilian casualties inside of Russia in a single day so far (even though they are less than what Ukraine suffered yesterday and a tiny fraction of the total that has been inflicted on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure in the nearly two years since February 2022).

AP: https://apnews.com/article/russia-u.....a19de084bc736a
ABC: https://abcnews.go.com/Internationa.....aine-106006162
Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023.....ke-on-belgorod
BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67847463
CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shelli.....ng-2-children/
CNN: https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news.....-23/index.html <-- "not found" (CNN did 'live updates' yesterday, but not today)
CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/30/euro.....ntl/index.html <-- CNN did cover the explosions in Belgorod
Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/europ.....or-2023-12-30/
Fox: https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukrai.....ncluding-child
ISW: https://understandingwar.org/backgr.....cember-30-2023 <-- has more mentions of Bryansk

If you know of any FA members who live in the affected regions of the territory internationally recognized as 🇷🇺Russia🇷🇺 (e.g. Belgorod, Bryansk, etc.) who made a FA Journal that mentions the 30 December 2023 attack and how their own lives were affected by that attack, please post a Comment or send me a Note and I will include a link here:
_{<as of 2pm on 31-Dec-2023 I have not found or been told about any FA Journals by FA members who live in the affected regions of Russia>}

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_{Here is the relevant paragraph from the top of the Saturday ISW report (for anyone who has difficulty accessing it directly):
Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted a large series of strikes against targets in Russia on the night of December 29 to 30 and on December 30. Ukrainian security sources told Western and Ukrainian media that Ukrainian forces launched more than 70 drones on the night of December 29 to 30 at Russian military infrastructure and defense industrial facilities near Moscow, Belgorod, Tula, Tver, and Bryansk cities.[1] The Ukrainian security sources reportedly characterized these strikes as a response to the Russian strikes on December 29, which was the largest series of drone and missile strikes against Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.[2] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed that Russian forces intercepted 32 Ukrainian drones in Bryansk, Orel, Kursk, and Moscow oblasts on the night of December 29 to 30.[3] The discrepancy between these Russian and Ukrainian figures may suggest that Ukrainian forces struck many of their intended targets, as Ukrainian security sources suggested to Western and Ukrainian media.[4] Ukrainian forces reportedly struck the Kreminy El Plant in Bryansk City, which is Russia’s second largest producer of microelectronics, 90 percent of whose manufactured products are reportedly components of Russian military equipment and systems.[5] Geolocated footage published on December 30 shows explosions over Bryansk City.[6] The Russian MoD stated that Russian air defenses shot down 12 Ukrainian MLRS rockets in Belgorod Oblast on December 29 and several more Ukrainian MLRS rockets near Belgorod City during the day on December 30.[7] Ukrainian security sources reportedly told Western and Ukrainian media that the Ukrainian strikes on December 30 targeted Russian military targets near Belgorod City.[8]}

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_{I had initially disabled Comments for 24 hours to protect FA members who might otherwise be tempted to make Comments that would violate FA's Code of Conduct. I am going to enable Comments, but I won't tolerate any hatred that is based solely on someone's ethnicity or what country they happened to be born in or currently reside in. Nor will I tolerate any comments about "deserving it" (in either direction); in my opinion the injury or death of random civilians is bad no matter where they are located or the specific details of how the injuries and deaths were caused. Other people are entitled to their own opinions about random civilian casualties, but I request that people with different opinions please keep those opinions to their own FA Journals.}

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