By Dan Peleschuk
kyivDec 30 – Russia attacked Ukraine with 16 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday, a day after Moscow fired dozens of missiles in its latest barrage at critical infrastructure.
Air-raid sirens sounded in the capital kyiv, and Reuters heard several explosions and the sound of anti-aircraft fire south of the city. By dawn, the attack appeared to be over, and residents poured into the streets under calm skies after a day and night of relentless shelling.
The Ukrainian army declared that all the drones were destroyed. Seven were targeted at kyiv, where an administrative building was damaged, the capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said.
Russia launched a total of 85 missile attacks, 35 airstrikes and 63 attacks from multiple launch rocket systems in the past 24 hours, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in its daily report.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it carried out a “massive attack” against energy and military industry targets to disrupt Ukraine’s ability to repair equipment and deploy troops. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky declared that the attacks were directed against energy infrastructure and that most were repelled.
Areas where the power loss was “particularly difficult” included kyiv, Odessa and Kherson in the south and surrounding regions, and around Lviv, near the western border with Poland, Zelensky said.
“But this is nothing compared to what could have happened but for our heroic anti-aircraft gunners and anti-aircraft defense,” he added.
The Ukrainian grid operator, Ukrenergo, stated that the deficit of the Ukrainian power system was at the same level as it was before the attacks on Thursday: “The consequences of the damage had a much smaller impact on the functioning of the power system than I had expected. the enemy,” he declared.
Since October, Russia has launched massive missile and drone attacks against civilian infrastructure across Ukraine on an almost weekly basis, leaving millions of people without heat or electricity during the northern winter. Moscow claims its goal is to reduce Ukraine’s combat capability, but kyiv claims the attacks are not for military purposes and are aimed at harming civilians, which constitutes a war crime.
Ukraine claims Iran supplies Moscow with drones for its airstrikes, something Tehran denies.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, said Friday that at least three people were killed in fresh Russian shelling in a border area in the northern Chernigov region and eastern Kharkov region.
The Ukrainian military said the Russians also shelled 20 settlements around the hard-hit eastern city of Bakhmut, where the fiercest fighting is raging, and more than 25 settlements in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
Reuters could not immediately verify the reports from the battlefield.
putinINVITES TO XI
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin held a video conference with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, the world’s most powerful leader who has not condemned the invasion of Ukraine.
In an eight-minute conversation with the Chinese leader, broadcast on Russian state television, Putin said he was looking forward to a state visit to Moscow by his “dear friend” Xi next spring, to “demonstrate to the world the closeness of the Russian-Chinese relations.
The general secretary of the NATOJens Stoltenberg called on alliance member states to supply Ukraine with more weapons: “It is in the interest of our security to make sure that Ukraine prevails and that Putin does not win,” he told the German news agency APD in an interview published Friday.
The United States last week announced nearly $2 billion in additional military aid, including the Patriot air defense system, which offers protection against aircraft and cruise and ballistic missiles.
Britain said on Friday it has delivered more than 1,000 metal detectors and 100 bomb disposal kits to Ukraine to help clear minefields. Defense Minister Ben Wallace announced on Thursday allocating 2.3 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) to Ukraine in military aid in 2023, matching this year’s amount.
(1 dollar = 0.8290 pounds)
