Russian drones attack critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv – officials

KYIV/DONETSK PROVINCE FRONT LINE, Ukraine – Waves of Russian drones focused critical infrastructure in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv and surrounding areas on Monday, officials mentioned, as Russia prolonged its fixed bombardment into the second day of 2023.

Ukrainians cheered from balconies as their air defenses blasted Russian missiles and drones out of the sky in the primary hours of the New 12 months, which Russia ushered in by attacking civilian targets throughout Ukraine.

“Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!” some shouted as air raid sirens wailed.

Ukrainian forces shot down 45 Iranian-made Shahed drones fired by Russia on the primary night time of the yr, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mentioned on Sunday, praising Ukrainians for exhibiting gratitude to the troops and each other.

“Drones, missiles, everything else will not help them,” he mentioned of the Russians. “Because we stand united. They are united only by fear.”

In a stern New Year’s speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled no let-up in his assault on Ukraine, nevertheless.

By 3 a.m. (0100 GMT), Ukraine’s air protection methods destroyed 20 air objects above Kyiv, its navy administration mentioned.

“It is loud in the region and in the capital: night drone attacks,” Kyiv Governor Oleksiy Kuleba mentioned.

“Russians launched several waves of Shahed drones. Targeting critical infrastructure facilities. Air defense is at work,” he mentioned on the Telegram messaging app.

Earlier, one particular person was wounded by particles from a drone destroyed over Kyiv that hit a street and broken a constructing in a northeastern district of the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned.

A 19-year-old man was taken to hospital in the primarily residential Desnianskiy district, on the left financial institution of the Dnipro River, Klitschko mentioned on the Telegram app.

Reuters was not in a position to independently confirm the data.

The areaal navy command in Ukraine’s east mentioned air protection methods destroyed 9 of the Iranian-made drones over the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia areas by the early hours of Monday.

NEW YEAR IN THE TRENCHES

On Twitter, the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, mentioned, “Russia coldly and cowardly attacked Ukraine in the early hours of the New Year. But Putin still does not seem to understand that Ukrainians are made of iron.”

Troops toasted the New 12 months on the entrance line in Ukraine’s japanese province of Donetsk. One soldier, Pavlo Pryzhehodskiy, 27, performed a music he had written on a guitar after 12 of his comrades have been killed in a single night time.

“It is sad that instead of meeting friends, celebrating and giving gifts to one another, people were forced to seek shelter, some were killed,” he advised Reuters.

“It is a huge tragedy that cannot ever be forgiven. That is why the New Year is sad.”

In a close-by trench, soldier Oleh Zahrodskiy, 49, mentioned he had volunteered after his son was referred to as up as a reservist. Now, his son is in hospital, combating for his life with a mind damage, whereas his father mans the entrance.

“It is very tough now,” he mentioned, holding again tears.

‘HAPPY NEW YEAR’

Kyiv‘s police chief, Andrii Nebytov, posted a photograph on the Telegram app, exhibiting what was described as a chunk of a drone used in an attack on the capital, with a handwritten signal on it in Russian studying “Happy New Year”.

“This wreckage is not at the front, where fierce battles are taking place, this is here, on a sports grounds, where children play,” Mr. Nebytov mentioned.

Russia has flattened Ukrainian cities and killed thousands of civilians since Putin ordered his invasion in February, saying Ukraine was a synthetic state whose pro-Western outlook threatened Russia‘s safety.

Russia, which denies focusing on civilians, has since claimed to have annexed a few fifth of Ukraine.

Ukraine has fought again with Western navy help, driving Russian forces from greater than half the territory they seized. In current weeks, the entrance strains have been largely static, with thousands of troopers dying in intense warfare.

Russia says its aerial strikes intention to cut back Ukraine’s skill to battle; Kyiv says they don’t have any navy objective and are meant to harm civilians, a struggle crime.

“The main thing is the fate of Russia,” Mr. Putin mentioned in a New 12 months’s Eve speech to a gaggle dressed in navy uniform, as an alternative of the occasion’s regular backdrop of the Kremlin partitions.

“Defense of the fatherland is our sacred duty to our ancestors and descendants. Moral, historical righteousness is on our side.”

A Ukrainian drone attack broken an influence facility in Russia‘s Bryansk area bordering Ukraine, its governor mentioned on Monday, including that there have been no casualties.

Russia mentioned final week that it shot down a Ukrainian drone near one in every of long-range bomber bases deep inside its territory and that three air drive personnel had been killed.

Reuters was not in a position to independently confirm the report. – Reuters

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