According To Zelenskyy, Drones Must Tire Air Defenses Ukraine Turns The Tables: The Situation At A Glance

Contents

Updated 03/01/2023 07:57

Numerous drones permanently overwhelm enemy air defenses.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military seems to think the same – and they are turning the tables.
Furthermore, 25 torture camps would have been discovered in a previously occupied area.
What happened overnight and what will matter on Tuesday.

More news about the war in Ukraine

In light of repeated drone attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent days, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns against a war of attrition against Russia. The Russian side obviously wants to wear down the people of Ukraine and their defenders in the long run, Zelenskyy said in his daily video on Monday night.

But even before the expected arrival of new “Kamikaze” drones, there was an air alert on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula: Ukrainian drones were spotted there over the strategically important port of Sevastopol and targeted.

Zelenskyy sees drone strikes as part of Russia’s attrition tactics

“We have information that Russia is planning a long-term attack by Shahed drones,” Zelensky said, referring to the mass deployment of Iranian-made flying robots. Russia wants to achieve attrition, “the depletion of our people, our air defense, our energy.” The Russian government wants to show its compatriots that everything is going according to plan. “But we must and will do everything we can to ensure that this terrorists’ objective fails like all others.”

The Russian military uses so-called kamikaze drones on a large scale, which are equipped with explosives and at the end of the flight fall vertically on the target. The relatively slow and noisy drones are an easy target for air defenses, but their sheer numbers and constant surveillance of the airspace pose a major challenge for Ukraine’s air defenses. Then there’s the cost factor – a drone made from cheap parts must be shot down with expensive weapons systems.

“Only two days have passed since the beginning of the year, and the number of drones shot down over Ukraine is already over 80,” Zelenskyy said. The Russian military primarily uses drones to damage the power grid by attacking urban infrastructure.

Air defense in Russian-occupied Crimea fends off drones

After days of unmanned missile approaches to Ukrainian cities, air defenses on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula struggled with Ukrainian drones late on Monday. According to a report by the Russian state agency TASS, two flying robots were shot down over the strategically important port of Sevastopol. “Our air defense continued to repel attacks,” said Moscow-appointed governor Mikhail Rasvozhayev. Information provided by both sides could not be independently verified.

Sevastopol is the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The port has been the target of Ukrainian drone strikes on several occasions, most recently on December 30. In October, the Ukrainian military used drones loaded with explosives against the Russian fleet near Sevastopol. There are conflicting statements on both sides about its effect.

Expert: Russian drone strikes deliberately at night

According to an expert, Russian attacks with “kamikaze drones” are deliberately carried out at night and along the Dnipro River. “Logically, not everything is visible in the night sky,” Colonel Vladislav Zelesnyov told the Ukrainian news agency RBK-Ukraina on Monday. The southern flight path along the Dnipro was also chosen to avoid Ukrainian air defenses if possible.

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Ukrainian police: Torture camps discovered in liberated Kharkiv region

Since liberating the area around the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv from Russian occupiers, police say they have discovered 25 torture camps there. In the camps, among other things, Russian troops held and tortured civilians in inhumane conditions, regional police chief Volodymyr Tymoshko said on Facebook on Monday. Some prisoners received electric shocks, others had their fingers broken. This information initially could not be independently verified.

The area around Kharkiv was occupied by Russian troops for months. They only withdrew in early September after a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Since then, 920 civilian bodies have been discovered in the liberated region, including 25 children, Tymoschko said. They were killed by Russian soldiers.

Russian armed forces have been repeatedly accused of war crimes in Ukraine, some of which have been systematically committed. After the withdrawal of Russian units from the Kiev suburb of Bucha, the bodies of over 400 people were discovered there. Most of them died violent deaths. Investigations into this are still ongoing.

What does the day bring?

Rescue work continues after the attack on a Russian army barracks in the occupied town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine. The Russian side has so far officially confirmed the deaths of 63 soldiers, while the Ukrainian military claims 400 men were killed in the attack on New Year’s Eve. (dpa/mbo)