Monitoring Desk
KYIV: Ukraine claimed on Monday it had shot down all Russian drones in an extended wave of attacks after Moscow launched unprecedented air strikes, intensifying its air war for the New Year holiday.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities were reeling from reports that a score of Russian troops had been killed in an air strike on a dormitory where they were housed in occupied Ukraine alongside an ammunition scrap. Ukraine and Russian nationalist bloggers said hundreds of Russian troops died, and Russian-installed officials spoke of high casualties without giving a number.
Russia has seen nightly strikes on cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv, hundreds of kilometres from the front lines in the new year. That marks a shift in tactics after months in which Russia usually spaced such attacks around a week apart.
Iranian-made drones
After firing several missiles on December 31, Russia launched dozens of Iranian-made drones on January 1 and January 2. But Kyiv said it had struck down all 39 drones in the recent wave on Monday, including 22 struck down over the capital.
Kyiv said the new tactic showed Russia’s desperation as Ukraine’s capability to defend its air space had enhanced.
Russia had been trying to destroy the energy infrastructure of Ukraine for months but had failed as Ukraine obtained better defences, Andriy Yermak, a Ukrainian presidential chief of staff, said on Telegram.
“Russian forces are looking for routes and attempting to target us somehow, but their terror tactics will fail. Our sky will turn into a shield for us.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Ukrainians for showing gratitude to the forces and one another. He said Russia’s efforts to destroy Ukraine would prove useless.
“Missiles, drones, everything else will not help them,” he said of the Russians. “Because we stand united, and they are united only by fear.”
Air defence systems of Ukraine worked through the night to shoot down incoming drones and to warn communities of the approaching danger.
“It is loud in the region and the Kyiv: night drone strikes,” Governor Oleksiy Kuleba noted.
