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regular-article-logo Saturday, 23 November 2024

Russia fires Iran drones at Ukraine

A Reuters witness 20km south of Kyiv heard several explosions and the sound of anti-aircraft fire

Reuters Kyiv Published 31.12.22, 01:23 AM
Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin File Photo

Russia attacked Ukraine with 16 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight, Ukrainian officials said on Friday, a day after Moscow fired dozens of missiles in its latest barrage against critical infrastructure.

A Reuters witness 20km south of Kyiv heard several explosions and the sound of anti-aircraft fire. By dawn, the attack appeared to be over and residents crept outside under peaceful skies after a relentless day and night of bombardment.

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The Ukrainian military said all the drones had been destroyed. Seven had targeted Kyiv, where an administrative building was damaged, the capital’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Russia launched a total of 85 missile strikes, 35 air strikes and 63 strikes from multiple rocket launch systems in the past 24 hours, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its daily briefing on the war.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had carried out a “massive strike” on Ukraine’s energy and military-industrial infrastructure using high-precision weapons, Interfax reported.

It said the strikes had disrupted the production and repair of military equipment and the movement of reserve troops; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks were on energy infrastructure and most were repelled.

The areas where loss of power was “especially difficult” included the capital Kyiv, Odesa and Kherson in the south and surrounding regions, and around Lviv near the western border with Poland, Zelensky said. ”But this is nothing compared with what could have happened if it were not for our heroic anti-aircraft gunners and air defence,” Zelensky said.

Ukrainian grid operator Ukrenergo said the deficit in Ukraine’s energy system was at the same level as before Thursday’s attacks.

The Ukrainian military said Moscow’s forces also shelled 20 settlements around the bombed-out town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where the fiercest fighting is being waged, and more than 25 settlements in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The Kremlin said it was extremely concerned by what it said was an Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile that had flown into the air space of Moscow’s close ally, Belarus, on Thursday before being downed. Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg called on Nato member states to supply more weapons to Ukraine, according to an interview published on Friday. ”I call on allies to do more. It is in all our security interests to make sure Ukraine prevails and (Russian President Vladimir)Putin does not win,” Stoltenberg said.

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