Moscow: Donetsk attack killed dozens of Russian soldiers

Kyiv, Ukraine — Russia’s Protection Ministry stated Monday that Ukrainian forces fired missiles at a facility within the japanese Donetsk area the place Russian troopers have been stationed, killing 63 of them, in one of many deadliest assaults on Kremlin forces because the conflict started. months in the past.

The Protection Ministry stated in a press release that Ukrainian forces fired six missiles from the HIMARS launch system, two of which have been shot down. It didn’t say when the strike happened.

The strike, utilizing a precision weapon supplied by the US, proved its significance in enabling the Ukrainian forces to strike key targets, which dealt a brand new setback to Russia, which in latest months has been subjected to a Ukrainian counterattack.

The Ukrainian army has circuitously confirmed the strike, however appeared to have acknowledged what gave the impression to be the identical assault reported by the Russian authorities.

The Directorate of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed on Sunday that about 400 Russian troopers mobilized in a vocational faculty constructing in Makievka have been killed and about 300 others injured. This declare can’t be independently verified. The Russian assertion stated the strike happened “within the Makievka space” and made no point out of the vocational faculty.

In the meantime, Russia has deployed a number of explosive drones in one other nighttime assault on Ukraine, officers stated Monday, because the Kremlin signaled no complacency in its technique of utilizing bombing to focus on the nation’s vitality infrastructure and weaken Ukrainian resistance to its invasion.

The barrage was the most recent in a collection of relentless assaults in the direction of the top of the 12 months, together with one which killed three civilians on New Yr’s Eve.

On Monday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated that 40 drones “went to Kyiv” in a single day. All of them, in line with the Air Protection Forces, have been destroyed.

Klitschko stated 22 drones have been destroyed over Kyiv, three within the distant Kyiv area and 15 over neighboring provinces.

The mayor stated that vitality infrastructure services have been broken because of the assault, and an explosion occurred in one of many metropolis’s neighborhoods. It was not instantly clear if this was attributable to drones or different munitions. Klitschko added that an injured 19-year-old man was hospitalized, and an emergency energy outage is underway within the capital.

Governor Oleksiy Kuleba stated that within the distant Kyiv area, a “very important physique of infrastructure” and residential buildings had been hit.

Russia has carried out airstrikes on Ukraine’s vitality and water provides nearly weekly since October.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “vitality terrorism” as aerial bombardments left many individuals with out warmth amid freezing temperatures. Ukrainian officers say Moscow is “utilizing winter as a weapon” in its efforts to demoralize the Ukrainian resistance.

Ukraine is utilizing superior weapons supplied by the West to assist shoot down Russian missiles and drones, in addition to ship artillery fireplace into Russian-controlled areas of the nation.

The all-out invasion of Moscow on February 24 went awry, placing stress on Russian President Vladimir Putin as his floor forces wrestle to carry their floor. In his New Yr’s handle to the nation, he stated that 2022 was “the 12 months of adverse and crucial selections.”

Putin insists he has no alternative however to ship troops into Ukraine as a result of they threaten Russia’s safety — an assertion condemned by the West, which has stated Moscow bears full duty for the conflict.

Russia at present celebrates public holidays till January eighth.

Drones, missiles and artillery shells fired by Russian forces additionally hit areas throughout Ukraine.

Ukraine’s governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich, stated in a Telegram that 5 individuals have been injured in shelling on Monday morning of a Ukrainian-controlled space within the southern Kherson area.

The official stated that Russian forces attacked the town of Preslav and fired on a neighborhood market, more than likely from a tank. Janushevich stated that three of the injured have been in critical situation and have been being transported to Kherson.

Governor Vitaly Kim stated that seven drones have been shot down over the southern Mykolaiv area, and three extra have been shot down within the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk area.

Within the Dnipropetrovsk area, a missile was additionally destroyed, in line with Reznichenko. He stated that focusing on the vitality infrastructure within the area.

On Monday, the Ukrainian Air Pressure Command reported that 39 explosive Iranian-made drones had been shot down, along with two Russian Orlan plane and an X-59 missile.

“We’re sturdy,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Protection wrote on Twitter.

Ukrainian authorities reported {that a} violent assault on New Yr’s Eve killed at the least 4 civilians throughout the nation, and injured dozens. The fourth sufferer, a 46-year-old resident of Kyiv, died in hospital on Monday morning, Klitschko stated.

A number of explosions rocked the capital and different areas of Ukraine on Saturday and all through the evening. The strikes got here 36 hours after large-scale missile assaults by Russia on Thursday that destroyed vitality infrastructure services, and the unusually fast follow-up alarmed Ukrainian officers.

In Russia, a Ukrainian drone has struck an vitality facility within the Bryansk area bordering Ukraine, Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz stated Monday morning. In consequence, he stated, a village was left with out electrical energy.