NATO Secretary: Military support for Kiev is the fastest way to peace

New Russian strikes and power outages in Ukraine on New Year's Eve

An elderly Ukrainian woman stands near her house, which was destroyed by a Russian air strike, in Kherson.

Reuters

Russia launched a suicide drone attack on Ukraine, a day after Moscow launched dozens of missiles, in the latest strikes targeting Ukraine's vital infrastructure.

And while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that most regions in his country suffer from power outages, after being exposed to a barrage of Russian missiles, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on member states to supply Ukraine with more weapons, stressing that military support for Ukraine is the fastest way to peace. .

In detail, the Ukrainian army announced yesterday that it had repulsed a Russian attack with suicide marches on the country, including on Kyiv, in the wake of heavy Russian bombing on New Year's Eve.

"On the night of December 29-30, the Russian army attacked Ukraine with suicide drones," said a statement by the Ukrainian Air Force, posted on social media.

The statement indicated that a total of 16 drones were launched from the southeast of the country towards the north, “all” of which were destroyed by the Ukrainian air defense.

And the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, announced that the city was attacked by seven drones, two of which were destroyed “as they approached” the capital, and the other five were over the city.

He indicated that there were no casualties, but the falling debris damaged the windows of two buildings in a neighborhood in southwest Kyiv.

Serhiy Popko, head of the military administration in Kyiv, said that a government building in the city was demolished, noting that there were no reports of deaths or injuries.

According to the Ukrainian army, 54 of the 69 cruise missiles launched by Russia were shot down, in addition to 11 Iranian-made Shahed drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video speech on Thursday evening, denounced "the power outage in most regions of Ukraine."

Zelensky said that air defenses in central, southern, eastern and western Ukraine repelled 54 Russian missiles and 11 drones during one of the largest Russian air attacks since the war began in February.

Zelinsky acknowledged that most regions in his country suffer from power outages.

He added that areas that experienced major blackouts include the capital Kyiv, Odessa and Kherson in the south and surrounding areas, and the area around Lviv near the western border with Poland.

Ukraine announced that its armed forces had killed about 105,250 Russian soldiers since the start of the war.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of NATO called on member states to supply more weapons to Ukraine, according to an interview published yesterday.

"I call on the allies to do more," Jens Stoltenberg told dpa.

It is in all of our security interests to make sure that Ukraine wins, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not win.

Stoltenberg stressed the need to send more weapons to Ukraine to achieve peace, and said: "It may sound like a paradox, but military support for Ukraine is the fastest way to peace."

Stoltenberg said that there must be a "peaceful, negotiated solution that guarantees Ukraine's sovereignty as an independent, democratic state," explaining that he considers the recent Ukrainian attacks on military targets in Russia to be completely legitimate, and said: "Every country has the right to defend itself - and so does Ukraine."

“President Putin is trying to turn winter into a weapon against civilians,” Stoltenberg said.

This is not an attack on military targets with civilian casualties, this is a large-scale attack on civilians.

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