Putin’s brutal welcome to 2024: Russia unleashes 90 drones on Ukraine in new wave of overnight attacks that leave multiple casualties – as Zelensky vows to unleash ‘wrath’ on Moscow’s forces
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to unleash his country’s “wrath” on Vladimir Putin’s forces after Russia launched a wave of drone strikes on Ukraine in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Ukraine announced it had destroyed a record number of Russian-launched Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones, downing 87 of 90.
In Odesa, one died and nine were injured when a fire broke out when debris from a Russian drone hit a high-rise building.
Zelensky said in his televised New Year’s address to Ukraine that Russia would soon face the “wrath of domestic production.”
Ukraine will have at least “one million” additional drones in its arsenal next year, Zelensky added, as well as F-16 fighter jets supplied by its Western partners.
Ukraine is urging Western allies to maintain military support
An apartment building in Odessa was set on fire after being hit by a Russian drone
A family with a young child from Odessa is seen moving to a shelter after their flat was hit by a Russian drone
Ukraine announced it has destroyed a record number of Russian-launched Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones, downing 87 out of 90
“Our pilots already master the F-16 jets, and we will certainly see them in our skies,” he said.
Port infrastructure was damaged after explosions caused a fire, said Nataliya Humenyuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Southern Armed Forces.
Odesa’s rebel mayor Gennady Trukhanov blasted Russia for staging an attack on Ukraine as the new year approached.
“They say how you celebrate the new year is how you will spend it,” he said.
“Well, this year Ukraine will break this rule.
“We will stand and we will win, because we have justice and God on our side.”
Despite billions of dollars in Western weapons, Ukraine struggled to make a major breakthrough in its 2023 counter-offensive against invading Russia.
Residents of Odessa sit outside on New Year’s Day after their apartment building was hit by a Russian drone
Moscow has increased pressure along the front lines, capturing several towns and cities
In the village of Belogorscha near Lviv, there was damage by Shahed drones to the Roman Shukhevych Memorial Museum as a result of a Russian attack.
Shukhevych had commanded the Nachtigall Battalion, a volunteer unit operating under the command of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), as a sub-unit under the command of the German Abwehr special operations.
University dormitories were hit and destroyed in Dublyany, near Lviv.
“Tonight the enemy struck two places of national memory in Lviv: Dublyany University, where [Ukrainian nationalist] Stepan Bandera studied 100 years ago, and the Roman Shukhevych Museum. Symbolic and cynical. A war for our history,” Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.
In the Kharkiv region, Russia struck with four S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles, three Kh-31P anti-radar missiles and one Kh-59, Ukrainian sources said.
Fire crews worked late into the night to extinguish fires caused by drones
In Russian-held Donetsk, pro-Moscow leader Denis Pushilin reported four dead and thirteen injured
In Russian-held Donetsk, pro-Moscow leader Denis Pushilin reported four deaths and 13 injuries.
A military correspondent was reported to have been killed.
The Russian side claimed that 15 MLRS missiles had arrived.
As New Year’s Day arrived, explosions were heard again in the Kiev-controlled city of Kherson.
Air raid sirens were in force in the Volyn, Rivne, Lviv and Ternopil regions of Ukraine.
According to the capital’s military administration, the number of victims of the rocket attack on Kiev on December 29 has risen to 27.
Britain announced it would send hundreds more air defense missiles to Kiev
Ukraine has been in the grip of an invasion for 22 months
The rescue operation continues and today the city has declared a day of mourning.
Putin’s barrage against Russia came as he delivered a New Year’s speech in which he claimed his troops were “heroes.”
“I would like to address our military personnel – all those who are on duty, who are on the front lines fighting for truth and justice,” he said.
‘You are our heroes. Our hearts are with you. We are proud of you and admire your courage.
“I am well aware that you now feel the love of those closest to you, the strong, sincere support of millions of Russian citizens, the support of the entire people.”
He claimed that “the most important thing that has united us is the destiny of the motherland.”
And he suggested that the Russians were distinguished by “grace.”
“We are united in our thoughts, tasks and in the struggle, both at work and on days off, showing the main characteristics of the Russian people: solidarity, mercy and determination,” he said in his shortest New Year’s speech in four years.
Despite billions of dollars in Western weapons, Ukraine struggled to make a major breakthrough in its 2023 counter-offensive against invading Russian forces.
Moscow, meanwhile, has increased pressure along the frontlines, seizing the eastern town of Marinka earlier in December and pushing for control of Kupiansk in the northeast.
Ukraine is urging Western allies to maintain military support.
Britain announced it would send hundreds more air defense missiles to Kiev after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We must continue to support Ukraine – for as long as it takes.”