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Explosions and sirens sounded early on Monday in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Local authorities in the city declared a state of high alert and activated the city’s air defense systems and asked residents to remain calm and stay in shelters until the raids end. While the Ukrainian authorities have announced a death toll of four dead and 50 wounded in the Russian attacks launched before and immediately after the New Year.
Ukraine’s local military administration in the capital reported, via the Telegram app, that Kiev was attacked at dawn on Monday to an air attack Rossi, a state of alert has been declared in the city. The head of the military administration of Kiev, Sergei Popko, told residents: “Stay in shelters!”
For his part, the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, said that “all the emergency services are arriving” at the scene, speaking of hearing an explosion in the Desnyansky district. “A 19-year-old injured man has been transferred to the capital’s Desnyansky district hospital,” he added, at around 1:20 am.
In turn, regional military administration official Oleksiy Kuleba said that the airstrike made it necessary to activate the air defense system for the Kiev region. He added: “The danger continues in the Kiev region! Our air defense forces are working on targets. The main thing now is to remain calm and stay in shelters until the alarm goes away.”
On Sunday, Ukrainian authorities announced four dead and 50 wounded in Russian attacks launched before and just after New Year’s Eve, targeting drone production facilities, according to Moscow.
These attacks targeted Kiev and seven other Ukrainian regions in particular, according to the latest assessment by local and regional authorities.
About a dozen explosions were heard in Kiev on Saturday afternoon and several more minutes after New Year’s Eve. In central Kiev, a missile pierced the facade of a hotel. The Ukrainian Air Force also announced the downing of 45 Russian drones on Saturday night as the country entered the new year.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Army General Staff announced that “the enemy carried out (Sunday) 35 air strikes, in particular using the ‘Watch 136’ drone”, confirming the destruction of all drones launched by Russia. He added that “the Russian occupiers have also bombed 16 times, using rocket launchers, in particular the children’s hospital in Kherson,” the southern city which has come under regular shelling since Ukrainian soldiers retook it in the autumn.
And President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on Sunday evening that the Russians “are losing. Drones and missiles and everything else won’t help them, because we are together.” He added: “They won’t take away our independence. We won’t give them anything. We will respond to every Russian attack (…) on all our cities and residents.”
Targeting facilities for making gears
For its part, the Russian military confirmed on Sunday that attacks carried out in several Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv on New Year’s Eve, targeted marching facilities with the aim of thwarting planned “terrorist attacks”.
And the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily report that: “On December 31, 2022, the Russian Armed Forces launched a long-range precision airstrike against the facilities of the Ukrainian defense industry involved in the production of drones attack used to launch terrorist attacks against Russia.” He said, “The plans of the Kiev regime to launch terrorist attacks against Russia in the near future have been thwarted.”
Moscow often describes operations launched by the Ukrainian military on Russian territory or on its facilities in Ukraine as “terrorist acts”.
On the other hand, the Russian army has announced the continuation of its attack on the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, where most of the battles are currently concentrated.
In this regard, the Ukrainian General Staff declared on Sunday evening that “the enemy (…) continued to try to launch attacks in the region of Bakhmut”, the city that the Russians have been trying to control for more than six months.
According to the detailed toll of Russian attacks on New Year’s Eve, three people were killed, including a 22-year-old woman, in the western town of Khmelnitsky. Among the 50 injured were a 13-year-old boy and his 12-year-old sister in a village near Kherson in the south, according to the presidency.
Also on Sunday, one person was killed and three injured in a Russian attack in Orekiv in the southern region of Zaporizhia, according to local authorities. And authorities in breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine said a civilian was killed on Sunday in a Ukrainian shelling in Yasinovata, Donetsk region. He said the Ukrainian army also shelled Donetsk and the nearby city of Makeyevka after midnight, leaving at least 15 injured.
Best wishes from the two opponents for the new year
In New Year’s greetings, President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion that began in February, stressing that his country would fight until “victory” and until the return of all territories occupied by Russia.
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared, in New Year’s greetings, together with the military who fought in Ukraine, and stressed that “the moral and historical right is on the side” of Russia, which is fighting a war in Ukraine , accusing the West of “brazenly using Ukraine and its people to weaken and divide Russia”.
Moscow, which announced in September the annexation of four Ukrainian regions it controls at least in part, has seen military setbacks on the ground in recent months and has withdrawn from the Kharkiv region in the country’s northeast and from the city of Kherson in the south.
After a string of military defeats, Russia began targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure in October, leaving millions of people frozen and dark.
France 24/AFP
