Ukraine Reports Record Drone Attack

Ukraine has reported a record-breaking drone attack on January 1, allegedly carried out by Russia. Ukrainian authorities claim that 90 attack drones were launched by Russia, targeting cities such as Lviv and Odessa, resulting in at least one fatality. The Ukrainian military reported the destruction of 87 explosive Shahed drones, launched by Russian forces from four different directions.

In addition to the drone attacks, Ukraine reported the use of four S-300 surface-to-air missiles in the Kharkiv region (northeast), as well as three Kh-31 and one Kh-59 anti-radar missiles targeting the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions (south). The Lviv region in western Ukraine witnessed strikes that led to the destruction of a university and a museum associated with Ukrainian nationalist figures who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II, according to Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi.

The Odessa region in the south also experienced the repercussions of the night attack, resulting in one casualty and eight injuries, according to local authorities. In the Kherson region, a child was injured, and a woman lost her life due to Russian bombardments, as reported by Oleksandr Prokudine, the head of the regional administration, through the Telegram app.

Both Moscow and Kiev have witnessed an escalation of violence in recent days, with a significant attack that claimed 24 lives in Belgorod, Russia, on Saturday. This incident followed a massive missile attack on Ukraine on Friday, which resulted in around forty deaths, according to Kiev.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his visit to a military hospital on Monday, announced that Moscow would “intensify” its strikes on military targets in Ukraine in retaliation for the unprecedented bombardment of the Russian city of Belgorod by the Ukrainian army over the weekend. He emphasized that no crime against civilians would go unpunished, clarifying that these strikes would exclusively target military installations.