Kiev announces record number of UAVs shot down on New Year's Eve, President Zelensky assesses the view that Russia is winning

Russia's special military campaign in Ukraine has entered its third year (from February 24, 2022) while fighting is still fierce, the leaders of both countries have issued statements affirming their determination to win the conflict.

Tòa nhà tại Odessa bốc cháy sau khi trúng mảnh vỡ của UAV. Ảnh: X/DailyNews24

Photo of an area in Odessa after being hit by UAV attacks on New Year's Eve. (Source: X/DailyNews24)

On January 1, the Ukrainian air force said that Russia launched 90 Iranian-made Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on New Year's Eve, but the Eastern European country destroyed 87 of them, a record number of UAVs, in the attack.

Drone attacks also hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv near the border with Poland. Mayor Andriy Sadovy said a university linked to a Ukrainian nationalist figure and a museum were damaged.

Also on the same day, Kiev said Moscow also launched missiles at the Kharkov region in the Northeast, and the Odessa, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in southern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that on January 2, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that debris from a downed Russian UAV caught fire in the Desnianskyi district of the capital, and emergency forces were present at the scene.

The incident came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would step up action against military targets in Ukraine, following Kiev's unprecedented attack on the Russian city of Belgorod over the weekend.

Meanwhile, AFP quoted information from the Russian-appointed local government in Donetsk as saying that Ukraine carried out an artillery attack on the city on New Year's Eve, causing many casualties.

In another development, in an interview with the Economist , Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the view that Russia is winning the nearly two-year conflict is just a "feeling".

According to the leader, hitting Moscow's power in Crimea is very important to limit attacks on Ukraine as well as to protect cities in the east of the country.

Source