The Russians had anticipated that they would not give a break during the holidays. So on New Year’s Eve they launched forty-five suicide drones (laden with fifty kilograms of explosives) against cities in the Ukraine. Thirty-two were headed for the capital Kiev, they arrived around midnight, they were all shot down by anti-aircraft fire and this means that they did no damage to the ground but that in the sky obscured by the curfew there were strong explosions visible from afar. Many citizens stepped out onto their balconies during the bombing and sang the national anthem of Ukraine as a sign of resistance. The police photographed the wreckage of a drone that fell on a football field and the mocking inscription left by the Russians was still visible: «Happy New Year! Boom!”. In the morning ten cruise missiles had arrived on Kiev, one had managed to evade the air defenses, had exploded in the center in front of a hotel facade, had killed a passerby and injured a Japanese journalist.
The head of military intelligence, General Kyrylo Budanov, said the Russians only have enough stockpiles of missiles for two more large-scale “attacks”, those of seventy to eighty missiles at a time.
Drone attacks electrical infrastructure in Russia
An alleged Ukrainian drone has attacked and damaged an electrical infrastructure in the Russian region of Bryansk, on the border with Ukraine. This was announced by the governor of the region, Alexander Bogomaz, specifying that the raid did not cause any casualties. “This morning a Ukrainian drone attacked in the Klimovsky district and as a result of the raid, the infrastructure that produces electricity was damaged and there is no electricity,” he said on Telegram, adding that “all emergency services are on place”.
Blackout in Kiev after Russian attack on energy plants
The Russian attacks with Iranian-made drones that hit energy plants in Kiev have caused a series of emergency blackouts in the Ukrainian capital: Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported on Telegram, as reported by the UNIAN agency. «As a result of the night bombing of the capital, the energy infrastructure structures were damaged. There have been emergency power outages in the city. As a result, the heat supply structures have been disconnected, while the water supply is regular,” explains the mayor. During the night, the city was attacked by Iranian “kamikaze” drones. Previously, the Ukrainian anti-aircraft destroyed 20 air targets. Kiev has not been the only night target of Russian attacks: explosions have also been reported in other regions. In particular, the Air Force and Anti-Aircraft Missile Forces destroyed 6 Shahed-type attack UAVs and a Kh-59MK2 high-precision guided missile directed in the direction of the city of Dnipro over the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, again according to the UNIAN news agency .
Night raids on Kiev, damage to infrastructure and blackouts
Russian forces have conducted new rocket attacks overnight on Kiev, causing damage to electrical infrastructure and blackouts. This was confirmed by the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitali Klitschko, on Telegram. “Energy infrastructure facilities have been damaged due to night raids. Emergency blackouts have been implemented in the city. So there are also heating plants left without electricity,” he said. According to Ukrainian media, shortly after midnight explosions were also heard in Dnipro.
Ukraine: GB, ongoing battle for control of the Lugansk highway
A battle is underway in Ukraine for control of a strategic highway in the east of the country, controlled by Russia. As British Defense Intelligence reports in its latest bulletin on what is happening on the warfield, “for five days, Russian and Ukrainian forces have been fighting for control of the P66 highway, north of the city of Kremina, in the Luhansk region , under Russian control”. It is, the analysis continues, “a fundamental supply route for the northern section of the Russian front of Donbass from the Russian region of Belgorod. Its use was interrupted by Ukrainian artillery starting in October”, and if l ‘Ukraine will be able to regain control of it “most likely it would further undermine the Russian defense of Kremina”, evaluate the British analysts.