Posted in: Last update:
Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) – On Sunday, Ukrainian authorities announced the death toll of four people and 50 injured in Russian attacks launched before and just after New Year’s Eve, which, according to Moscow, targeted drone production facilities.
These attacks targeted, in particular, the capital, Kiev, and seven other Ukrainian regions, according to the latest assessment by local and regional authorities.
Agence France-Presse correspondents in Kiev heard of a dozen explosions on Saturday afternoon and many more minutes later on New Year’s Eve. In central Kiev, a missile pierced the facade of a hotel.
The Ukrainian Air Force also announced the nightly shooting down of 45 Russian drones as the country entered the new year.
And he said in a statement that the air defenses destroyed 45 “Shahid” drones. The release confirmed that 13 drones had been shot down by the end of 2022 and another 32 in the new year. Ukrainian authorities did not mention whether any of the drones hit their targets.
Kiev police chief Andrei Nepetov posted a photo of the wreckage of a downed drone on Facebook with the words “Happy New Year” in Russian on it. “This is all you need to know about the terrorist state and its military,” he wrote.
– ‘Do not forgive’ –
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.
On Saturday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of deliberately targeting residential areas. This was commented by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, emphasizing that the country “will not forgive” Moscow for him.
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.
– ‘Weakened Russia’ –
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.
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 military also shelled Donetsk and the nearby city of Makeyevka after midnight, leaving at least 15 injured.
In his New Year’s greetings, Zelensky praised Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion launched in February, stressing that his country will fight to “victory” and until all Russian-occupied territories are restored.
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented himself 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 Russia and divide its ranks”.
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.
© 2023 AFP
