Ukrainian forces are holding positions against the Russian army in the eastern Donbass region and are slowly advancing, President Volodymyr Zelensky said today, quoted by Reuters.
“Overall, we are holding our position. In some parts of the front line, we are making slow progress”he said in his evening speech.
Zelensky also said that Ukraine, which has been subjected to a series of Russian air strikes, has improved its anti-aircraft capabilities and will continue to defend itself and all of Europe in the new year.
“In the coming year, Ukraine’s air defense will become even stronger and more effective. This will be a guarantee not only for our country, but also for the entire continent”said Zelensky, quoted by DPA.
In his video speech, the Ukrainian president also noted that he has prepared a clear strategy for the production and supply of electricity in Ukraine.
“It will require a lot of effort, but it will happen. This is one of the most important tasks in 2023 and I have no doubt that we will make it,” Volodymyr Zelensky stressed.
Early Friday morning, residents of the Ukrainian capital Kiev were asked to go to bomb shelters, one day after Russia carried out the largest air raid since the start of the war in February, BNR reported.
Shortly after 2 this morning, the Kyiv city government issued a Telegram alert and urged residents to move into shelters. Air raid sirens sounded in the city.
Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region, announced on the social network that a “drone attack” was underway, later clarifying that no infrastructure objects had been affected. He noted that the night attack was carried out with kamikaze drones.
“Russia tried to hit our infrastructure objects again. The Air Defense Forces repelled the drones. According to preliminary data, there were no hits,” Kuleba said.
16 kamikaze drones were launched
The Ukrainian air force later said that Russia had launched 16 kamikaze drones during the night and that Ukraine’s air defenses had destroyed all of them, Reuters reported.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said on Telegram that seven of the drones were aimed at the capital, adding that five of them were destroyed over the city and the other two before reaching Kyiv.
A city administration building was partially destroyed, said Sergiy Popko, head of Kiev’s military administration. According to him, so far there are no reports of casualties.
Since mid-October, Russia has carried out a series of drone and missile attacks, severely damaging Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. This necessitated planned and emergency power outages.
Zelensky: There are power outages in most regions of Ukraine
Earlier in his video evening speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky summarized that 54 missiles and 11 attack drones were shot down on Thursday.
It is possible that the Russian occupiers will resort to massive bombing again in the coming days to force the Ukrainians to face 2023 in darkness.
“Tonight there are power outages in most regions of Ukraine. It is especially bad in the Kiev region and the capital, Lviv region, Odessa and Odessa region, Kherson and Kherson region, Vinnytsia region and in Transcarpathia. But it is incomparable to this, which could have happened if not for our heroic anti-aircraft fighters and our anti-missile defense. With each of these missile attacks, Russia is sinking deeper and deeper into the impasse. They have less and less missiles left, ”Zelensky said.
The situation on the front in Bakhmut, Soledar and the entire line in the Donetsk region remains the most difficult, the Ukrainian president noted. According to him, the Russians have not given up on the “crazy” idea of conquering the Donetsk region before the New Year.
An adviser to the Ukrainian president said some 15,000 soldiers and civilians were missing since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in late February. Alyona Verbitzka stressed that Russia has now confirmed that it has captured nearly 3,400 people. Nothing is known about the fate of other people.
Russia: We hit the Ukrainian defense industry
Meanwhile, Russia has boasted that it has dealt a major blow to the Ukrainian defense industry.
“The Russian Armed Forces carried out a massive attack on Thursday with long-range precision air and sea weapons on the military command system and energy facilities that supported the activities of Ukrainian defense industry enterprises,” Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, quoted by TASS, told reporters on Friday.
According to him, all targeted objects were hit. As a result of the strike, the production and repair of military equipment and ammunition, as well as the transfer of reserves of the Ukrainian army from the western regions of the country were suspended. Rail transport was disrupted and as a result, Western weapons supplied to Ukrainian troops were stuck in the rear, he added.
Konashenkov also said that in the past 24 hours, Russian air defenses have shot down six attack drones, including three Strizh jet drones. These reports have not been independently verified.
Two versions of the Ukrainian missile in Belarus
The Defense Ministry of Belarus considers one of the versions of yesterday’s missile incident in the country to be a provocation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announced on Friday by Colonel Kiril Kazantsev, head of the Belarusian anti-aircraft missile forces, TASS quoted.
There are still questions about this incident, and we are considering two versions: an accidental launch of an anti-aircraft guided missile due to insufficient preparation of the calculations or a deliberate provocation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in a video released by the press service of the Ministry of the Belarusian Defense.
The Defense Ministry in Minsk said on Thursday that Belarusian air defenses (Air Defense) shot down a Ukrainian S-300 missile this morning in one of the largest Russian missile attacks on Ukraine since the beginning of the war.
A commander of one of the Belarusian air defense missile divisions announced that the Ukrainian missile of the S-300 complex was destroyed after entering the airspace of Belarus. The Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA) reported that debris from the rocket fell near the village of Gorbakha in the Ivanovo district of the Brest region, 66 meters from a residential building.
The Belarusian authorities have summoned the Ukrainian ambassador. “This is a very serious incident and Belarus takes this matter as seriously as possible,” a Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman said. “We insisted that Ukraine conduct a full investigation into all circumstances surrounding the missile launch, bring those responsible to justice and take comprehensive measures to prevent similar incidents in the future, which could lead to catastrophic consequences for everyone,” he said. added. he.
The Defense Ministry of Ukraine offered to cooperate in the investigation of the case and said that the version of provocation by Russia should not be ruled out. Russia may have chosen such a trajectory for its cruise missiles that would lead to their downing in Belarus, the Ukrainian ministry said.
