Kremlin praises Trump, pounds Ukraine in massive attack

KYIV, Ukraine, Dec 13 (AFP): The Kremlin said Friday that US President-elect Donald Trump's opposition to Ukraine's use of US weapons to hit Russia "fully aligned" with Moscow's position, hours after it launched a massive aerial barrage on Ukraine.
The nearly three-year conflict is escalating ahead of Trump coming to power in January, with both sides seeking to gain an upper hand on the battlefield amid mounting speculation of ceasefire talks.
Russia launched one of its largest missile attacks ever in the early hours of Friday, targeting Ukraine's energy grid as temperatures dropped below freezing, in what Moscow called a retaliatory strike for Kyiv firing US weapons on a southern Russian airfield earlier this week.
The Kremlin had warned it would respond to Kyiv's use of ATACMS missiles and then praised Trump, who said using the weapons to hit deep into Russia was a "foolish" idea.
"The statement fully aligns with our position, with our view on the reasons for escalation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"That impresses us. It is obvious that Trump understands exactly what is escalating the situation."
Moscow has repeatedly raged against Western arms supplied to Ukraine and said the use of Western weapons makes NATO countries direct participants in the nearly three-year conflict.
"In response to the use of American long-range weapons, a massive strike was carried out by the Russian armed forces... against critical facilities of Ukraine's fuel and energy infrastructure," Russia's defence ministry said in a post on Telegram.
The attack "severely damaged" some Ukrainian power plants, the DTEK power provider said, and knocked out electricity to thousands of people.
It claimed to have shot down 81 of the missiles.