Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Russia was planning a prolonged wave of drone attacks in an attempt to demoralise his country.
In his nightly address, Zelensky said that he has received intelligence reports about Moscow’s preparation to launch attacks with Iranian-made Shahed drones. He said that Russia’s strategy was to “exhaust” Ukraine with a protracted campaign of drone strikes.
“We must ensure – and we will do everything for this – that this goal of terrorists fails like all the others,” he added.
He said that Ukrainian air defences had already shot down over 80 Iranian-made drones since 2023 started.
Russia ramps up drone strikes
Russian drone attacks on Ukraine seem to have increased in recent days, with Moscow launching strikes on cities and power stations all over the country over the past three nights.
Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for several months, destroying power grids and plunging millions into darkness at a time when the country is facing freezing weather.
Russia’s admission of battlefield loss in Ukrainian strike
Earlier, Ukraine carried out a strike in which it claimed to have killed hundreds of Russian soldiers in the Donbas region, saying that 400 Russian troops were killed in the strike carried out in the occupied region of Donetsk.
Whereas, Russian officials contested the figure, saying only 63 soldiers were killed, in what was an extremely rare admission of battlefield losses.
Neither claim has been verified yet, and access to the site is restricted.
