Ukraine said on Friday it repelled an overnight explosive drone strike launched by Russia less than 24 hours after massive new bombing raids on energy infrastructure that drained millions of Ukrainians.
Since October and a series of military setbacks at the front, Russia has adopted the tactic of hitting Ukrainian power plants and transformers with its missiles and drones, plunging the population into cold and darkness in the dead of winter.
Thursday’s attack, using dozens of rockets, was the 10th of its kind and was followed by a nighttime salvo from Shahed explosive drones, according to Ukraine’s air force, which claimed on Friday morning it shot down the 16 Iranian planes that had launched.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said seven of them were targeting the capital. Two were shot down “on approach” to the city and five more above it.
There were no injuries, but falling debris damaged the windows of two buildings in a southwestern district of Kyiv, he added.
According to the Ukrainian presidency, more drones were shot down in the Cherkassy and Dnipro regions in the center of the country.
In a message published on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that the war was “tough” but said he was “confident.” […] that Russian aggression would fail”.
energy restrictions
According to an updated report, 58 of the 70 cruise missiles launched by Russia were shot down Thursday. A total of four civilians were killed and eight others injured, according to the latest report from the Ukrainian Presidency on Friday.
Power outages remained plentiful on Friday as electricity has been heavily rationed across the country for weeks.
The millions of Ukrainians who don’t have generators are therefore preparing to celebrate the New Year without electricity, sometimes without water or heating and under lockdown.
According to the electricity company Ukrenergo, the “consequences of the damage to the functionality of the grid are less than the enemy expected […] but the situation in the south and east of the country remains difficult.”
In addition, “consumption restrictions have been introduced in all regions” of Ukraine, she added in a statement.
To cope, generators have multiplied in cities across the country. From Kyiv to Lemberg, his devices purr on the sidewalks, mainly to supply and run shops and restaurants.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24, enters its tenth month, fighting rages on, with a particularly bloody battle for Bakhmout, an eastern city Russia has been trying to conquer for months, and Kreminna, Russia. the Ukrainian forces are trying to recapture.
Russia, planning a lightning campaign, had to give up taking Kiev in the spring and withdraw from the north of the country, before giving up the north-east in September and part of the south in November in the face of a Ukrainian army. over-motivated and strong from western weapon systems.
Putin Xi Interview
The prospects for peace talks are almost non-existent.
Ukraine is demanding the complete withdrawal of the Russian army, while Moscow wants at least Kyiv to cede to it the four regions that the Kremlin has been demanding annexation since late September, as well as Crimea, annexed in 2014.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in early December justified the massive strike tactics that have affected millions of civilians, calling them a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian infrastructure.
He also portrays his invasion, at the cost of heavy casualties, as “a necessity” to ensure the West uses Ukraine as a beachhead to threaten Russia.
Russian-Western relations are therefore at rock bottom as Europeans and Americans tighten sanctions on Moscow and step up military support to Ukraine.
On Friday, during a video conference interview with Chinese President Xi Jinping, an ally of Russia, Putin said the two countries had successfully resisted the West.
“In the face of unprecedented pressure and provocations from the West, we are defending our positions,” said Putin and also called for “strengthening cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China.”