Waves of Russian drones attacked important infrastructure in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and the area around it on Monday (Jan. 2), damaging energy facilities and causing some power outages, according to officials. This is the second day of 2023, and Russia has continued its constant bombardment.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that 45 Shahed drones made in Iran and launched by Russia on the first night of the year were shot down by Ukrainian forces. He praised Ukrainians for showing gratitude to the troops and to each other.
He said about the Russians, “Drones, missiles, and everything else won’t help them.” “Because we work together. Only fear brings them together.”
But in a harsh speech on New Year’s Eve, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear that his attack on Ukraine would not stop.
The military administration of Ukraine said that by 3 a.m. local time, 20 air objects had been destroyed by its air defence systems above Kyiv.
“Night drone attacks are loud in the area and in the capital,” Oleksiy Kuleba, the governor of Kyiv, said.
“A number of waves of Shahed drones were sent out by the Russians. Critical infrastructure facilities are being attacked. There is air defence going on, “He wrote this on the Telegram app.
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said that some power and heat had been cut off because of the strikes.
“Urgent power outages are happening in the city,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Earlier, he said that a piece of a crashed drone that hit a road and damaged a building in the northeastern part of the capital hurt one person.
Reuters was not able to check the information on its own.
NEW YEAR IN THE TRENCHES
Bridget Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, wrote on Twitter, “Russia’s attack on Ukraine in the early hours of the New Year was cold and cowardly. But Putin still doesn’t seem to understand that Ukrainians are strong.”
On the front line in the eastern Ukrainian province of Donetsk, soldiers toasted the New Year. After 12 of his fellow soldiers were killed in one night, one soldier, Pavlo Pryzhehodskiy, 27, played a song he had written on a guitar.
“It’s sad that people had to find shelter instead of getting together with friends, celebrating, and giving each other gifts,” he told Reuters.
“It’s a terrible thing that can never be forgotten. That’s why it’s sad to start a new year.”
Soldier Oleh Zahrodskiy, 49, said in a nearby trench that he joined up after his son was called up as a reservist. Now, his son has a brain injury and is in the hospital fighting for his life, while his father is in charge of the front.
“It’s hard right now,” he said, trying not to cry.
“HAPPY NEW YEAR”
Kyiv’s police chief, Andrii Nebytov, posted a photo on the Telegram app of what was said to be a piece of a drone used in an attack on the capital, with a handwritten sign that said “Happy New Year” in Russian.
Nebytov said, “This wreckage is not at the front, where fierce battles are going on. It’s here, on a sports field, where children play.”
Since Putin ordered the invasion in February, Russia has destroyed Ukrainian cities and killed thousands of civilians. Putin said Ukraine was a fake state whose pro-Western views threatened Russia’s security.
Since then, Russia has said that it has taken over about 20% of Ukraine, even though it says it did not target civilians.
With help from the West, Ukraine fought back, and Russian forces were forced to leave more than half of the land they had taken. In the last few weeks, the front lines have been mostly still, and thousands of soldiers have been killed in fierce fighting.
Russia says its airstrikes are meant to make it harder for Ukraine to fight, while Ukraine says they have no military purpose and are meant to hurt civilians, which would be a war crime.
Putin gave a speech on New Year’s Eve to a group of people in military uniforms instead of in front of the Kremlin walls, where the event usually takes place. He said, “The most important thing is the fate of Russia.”
“We owe it to our ancestors and future generations to protect our country. Righteousness from the past is on our side.”
The governor of the Russian region of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, said Monday that a drone attack from Ukraine damaged a power plant there, but no one was hurt.
Russia said last week that it shot down a Ukrainian drone near a long-range bomber base deep inside its territory, killing three air force members.
