Russian Army: The strikes targeted drone factories

Russian bombing of Ukraine in the early hours of the new year

• Two Ukrainian soldiers watch Zelensky's speech at a military resting place.

  Reuters

• Putin delivered his message among the Russian forces in the Southern Military District.

  EPA

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Russia continued its intensified attacks on Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine in the early hours of the new year, after it rained down a barrage of missiles, and sirens sounded for hours during the night.

The Ukrainian Air Force Command said that it had destroyed 45 drones, 32 of them yesterday afternoon, and 13 late yesterday evening.

For its part, the Russian army confirmed that the strikes that were carried out on several Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv on New Year's Eve, targeted "facilities for the manufacture of drones, with the aim of thwarting terrorist attacks that are being planned."

In its daily report, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that its armed forces launched a precise, long-range air attack on facilities for the Ukrainian defense industry involved in making attack drones.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, on social media, that fragments of missiles destroyed by Ukrainian air defense systems caused minor damage in the center of the capital, while the Supreme Military Command of Ukraine stated that Russia had launched 31 missiles and launched 12 air strikes across the country during the previous 24 hours. .

And the Kyiv police chief, Andrei Nepetov, posted a picture on his account with the “Telegram” application of what he said was a piece of a drone used in the attack on the Ukrainian capital, with “Happy New Year” written on it in Russian.

"This wreckage is not on the front line, where fierce battles take place, but here in a sports arena, where children play," Nepetov said.

And the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that the new attacks destroyed infrastructure in Sumy in the northeast of the country, Khmelnitsky in the west, and Zaporizhia and Kherson in the southeast and south.

On the other hand, the governor of the southern Russian Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that shelling targeted the outskirts of the town of Chepekino during the night and caused damage to homes. Russian media also reported Ukrainian attacks on parts controlled by Moscow in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and local officials said. At least nine were injured.

The Russian state information agency quoted a local doctor as saying that six people were killed in an attack on a hospital in Donetsk the day before yesterday.

Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, pledged to do everything possible to achieve victory in their New Year's speeches. A dividing line between courage, heroism, betrayal and cowardice.” Putin also thanked the Russian forces, and at the same time demanded that they do more, saying: “The most important thing is the fate of Russia.. Defending the land of the fathers is our sacred duty towards our ancestors and grandchildren.

The moral and historical right is with us.”

On the other hand, Zelensky talked about some of the dramatic moments and victories in the war in a 17-minute video message that was full of emotions, and included footage of Russian attacks on the country and words of pride for Ukrainians who are facing attacks, darkness and cold.

We are told we have no choice but to surrender, we say we have no choice but to win, we fight as one team, the whole country, all our regions.

I appreciate all of you.”

Zelensky pledged to restore the lands that Moscow had declared annexed.

He said, "It is impossible to forget, and it is impossible to forgive, but it is possible to win."

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