I'm Francis Dernley, and this is Ukraine the latest.

Today, amid renewed Russian bombardments across the entirety of Ukraine,

we consider the impact of new weapons of war.

Then, our first formal dispatch from the frontline city of Harkiv.

Bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory.

The first duty of my government is security and defense to make clear our unshakable support of NATO and with our allies towards Ukraine.

Keep stand strong. Nobody's going to break us. We're strong. We're strong. Where Ukraine is.

It's Friday the 13th of December. Two years and 299 days since the full-scale invasion began.

And today, dialing in from the United States, I'm joined by Michael Bonnet of the RAND Corporation,

and later in our interview, Oleg Sineable, who is the governor of Harkeve-Oblast.

But first, the latest military and political updates.

In yesterday's episode, we raised the question some analysts have been asking, why has there

been a reduction in Russian air strikes?

Is it connected to Kiev's ability to strike deeper into Russian territory, or is Moscow

saving up material for larger strikes required to knock out Ukraine's

energy infrastructure? Well, we may have had an answer last night as Ukraine suffered one of the

biggest air attacks for some time across the entire country, 93 missiles and over 200 drones. The government claims 81 of the missiles

were intercepted, including, interestingly, 11 of them by the new F-16 fighter jet squadrons.

The targets, predictably, were the energy grid and defence industry in all regions.

The app, which highlights areas of the country at risk to warn residents,

flashed red across the entire country yesterday.

Now, President Zelensky said in a statement this morning,

...