Ukraine claims to have shot down a new wave of drones launched by Russia towards kyiv

Ukraine claimed on Wednesday that it shot down an entire salvo of drones launched at dawn by Russia against kyiv, in a new attack by Moscow that seeks to destroy its energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr ZelenskyHe congratulated himself on the effectiveness of his anti-aircraft forces and specified that the 13 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by the Russian forces were shot down.

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“The terrorists began this morning with 13 Shahed (drones) (…) According to the first information, all 13 were shot down by our air defense system,” said.

“I’m proud”, added the president in a video broadcast on social networks.

The Kremlin, for its part, on Wednesday ruled out the idea of ​​a Christmas or New Year truce on the ground.

“No proposal has been received from anyone and this issue is not on the agenda,” declared the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, when asked about the possibility of an interruption in the fighting.

seven million children

In western kyiv, AFP journalists observed a building with the roof partially torn off. Police and emergency teams were working in the area.

Remains of the downed aircraft fell on administrative and residential buildings, according to the kyiv military administration.

“There were no injuries”said the head of the military administration, Sergei Popko, on Telegram.

The roof of a building gave way and inside, on the snow-covered ground, bricks, wood and scrap are piled up.

“Winter comes. How can people survive?wondered Svetlana, who saw one of the drones before it detonated. “They don’t let the Ukrainians live“, lament.

Since October, after a series of military failures on the ground, Russian forces have launched massive attacks with explosive drones and missiles.

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The goal is to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and leave millions of people in the dark and cold in the dead of winter.

The Russian bombardments against these energy centers carry development risks for “almost all children in Ukraine”, that is, almost seven million minors, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) warned on Wednesday.

“The situation of the Ukrainian energy system remains difficult,” the national operator, Ukrenergo, reiterated.

According to the company, the east is the most affected area because the bombardments are “almost daily.” “Repair works are slow due to the danger to the lives of employees”.

Moscow’s previous massive attack on Ukrainian energy targets was on December 5.

Despite international outrage over these attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed that these bombings would continue.

Wednesday’s drone wave comes a day after an international conference in Paris that raised more than 1 billion euros ($1.055 billion) to help Ukraine through the winter.

special court

Ukraine’s presidency said Wednesday that 64 of its soldiers had been freed, along with one US citizen, in a new prisoner swap with Russia.

According to the Russian news agency Tass, the American Suedi Murekezi was arrested in June in the eastern Donetsk region, and was accused of participating in anti-Russian protests and inciting ethnic hatred in Kherson (south).

In the exchange, four bodies were also “handed over”, the Ukrainian presidency added.

In a speech during the official delivery to the Ukrainian people of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded by the European Parliament, Zelensky again called for the creation of a special court “as soon as possible” to judge Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

On the eastern front, in the Donetsk region, artillery battles continued to rage, especially near the virtually destroyed city of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, the Ukrainian presidency said.

kyiv authorities also claimed that Russian forces were repelled in the Kharkiv region, which the Ukrainian army almost fully recaptured in September.

According to the Ukrainian presidency, in the area of ​​the Kherson region recaptured by kyiv in November – another blow to Moscow – Russian artillery continued to attack Ukrainian positions and populated towns.

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Its governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich, said that these bombings had killed a child in that city.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian security services (SBU) announced on Wednesday that they were conducting searches of Orthodox churches and monasteries belonging to the Russian church.

In early December, Zelensky announced that he wanted to ban Russian-affiliated religious organizations from Ukraine.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.