Ukraine fends off Russian drone attack, supplies electricity

Ukraine said on Friday it had foiled a nighttime explosive drone attack launched by Russia less than 24 hours after massive bombings against energy infrastructure that left millions of Ukrainians without electricity.

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In October and a series of military setbacks on the front, Russia adopted the tactic of attacking Ukrainian power stations and transformers with its missiles and drones, leaving people cold and black in the middle of winter.

Thursday’s attack, the tenth of its kind using dozens of missiles, was followed by a nighttime salvo of Shahed explosive drones, according to the Ukrainian air force, which said it downed 16 Iranian-made planes launched on Friday morning. .

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said seven of them targeted the capital and all were destroyed. Two apartment buildings in southwest Kyiv were damaged by falling windows.

According to the Ukrainian president, other drones were shot down in Cherkasy and Dnipro regions in the center of the country.

In a message posted on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted the war was “tough” but said he was confident “Russian aggression will fail.”

Energy restrictions

According to the updated report, 58 of the 70 cruise missiles launched by Russia were shot down on Thursday. A total of four civilians were killed and eight injured.

The Russian Defense Ministry told him on Friday that his “massive strikes” the previous day had “hit all intended targets”.

Power outages have been widespread, while power has already been largely out across the country for weeks.

Millions of Ukrainians without generators are preparing to celebrate the New Year without electricity, sometimes water or heating and under curfews.

According to the electricity company Ukrenergo, “the consequences of damage to the operation of the network are less than the enemy expected (…) but the situation is difficult in the south and east of the country”.

The operator of the capital DTEK said it was able to “stabilize the situation in Kyiv”, making it possible to return to the planned district-by-district blackouts.

To cope, generators have proliferated in cities across the country. From Kyiv to Lviv, these devices specifically chase down sidewalks to cater to businesses and restaurants and allow them to operate.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24, enters its tenth month, fighting continues to rage, particularly in the bloody battle for Baghmouth, a city in the east that Russia is trying to capture. Months, and Kreminna, Ukrainian forces try to recover.

South of Bagmouth, AFP met Corporal “Avatar”, 24, who was using a motor donated by Finland, named “Oksana” after his wife.

“The situation is very complicated for our men on the front lines,” he notes.

According to him, the Russians are sending mercenaries from a paramilitary group called Wagner to “butcher” the area. “It has a psychological effect on the Ukrainian soldiers who kill these men one after another,” adds “Avatar.”

The hardest part is “infantry positions, at the front,” very close to contact with the Russian army, says AFP judge Yaroslav, a 24-year-old artillery veteran whose unit “fired about 30 to 40 shots.” bombs a day.”

Russia was planning a lightning campaign, but it had to abandon taking Kiev in the spring, withdrawing from the north of the country, the northeast in September, and part of the south in November. encouraged the Ukrainian military and the strength of Western armed forces.

The West lost Russian interests

There is almost no chance of peace talks.

Ukraine is demanding the full withdrawal of the Russian military, while Moscow wants Kiev to cede Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, as well as four regions it has claimed annexed by the Kremlin since late September.

Vladimir Putin presents his invasion as “a necessity,” confirming that the West is using Ukraine as a bridge to threaten Russia.

The Kremlin on Friday clarified that the Russian president will not send New Year’s greetings to US Presidents Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this year “in view of their continued unfriendly actions”.

and Mr. Putin, during a video conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, assessed that the two countries were standing firm in the face of “unprecedented pressure and provocations from the West”.

He therefore advocated “strengthening cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China”.