On New Year’s Eve, Russia fired a record number of combat drones into Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized in his New Year’s speech that Ukrainians are “tougher than cold and darkness.”
A total of 90 combat drones hit Ukraine, 87 of which could have been repelled across the country. Ukrainian Air Force Chief Mykola Oleshchuk announced this via Telegram on Monday morning. There are almost twice as many unmanned rockets as on New Year’s Eve a year ago, when a total of 45 were shot down.
At least one person was killed and three others injured in an attack on a residential area in the southern Black Sea region of Odessa, according to military governor Oleh Kiper. Damage is also said to have been caused to the port. A museum in Lviv, in western Ukraine, is said to have been destroyed. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Russian army also attacked the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions in the south and Kharkiv in the east with rockets.
New Year’s Eve during the war
It is already the second New Year that the whole of Ukraine has experienced war after Russia attacked the neighboring country on February 24, 2022. Just a few days ago, Ukrainians suffered the heaviest bombing since the start of the war, killing at least 27 people in the capital Kiev alone, according to official figures.
Four dead and thirteen injured in Donetsk
In Donetsk, Russian-appointed regional administrator Denis Pushilin spoke of four deaths and thirteen injuries. Ukrainian media also reported explosions over Kiev, Kherson and Kharkiv. Explosions from New Year’s Eve rockets and firecrackers also cause unrest, even though these are actually prohibited in wartime.
Zelensky: “Ukraine has become stronger”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the strength of his country in his New Year’s speech. “The most important result of the year, his greatest achievement: Ukraine has become stronger. The Ukrainians have become stronger,” Zelensky said in a 20-minute video message from his office in Kiev on Sunday. “At the beginning of 2023… without exaggeration we survived the worst winter in history. When we proved that Ukrainians are stronger than cold and darkness. Stronger than power outages and the threat of power outages.” The Ukrainians are stronger “than all blockages and vetoes, than all disbelief and skepticism.”
Ukrainian pilots now master F-16 fighter jets
In his speech, Zelenskiy highlighted the start of EU accession negotiations, the establishment of a grain supply corridor to the Black Sea and a total of 156 military aid packages for his country in the past year as successes. The Ukrainian pilots have already mastered the F-16 fighter jets “and we will definitely see them in the sky so that the enemies will realize our true anger. And next year the enemy will also feel the wrath of domestic (arms) production.”
Regarding whether the Ukrainian army has sufficient troops, he called on those who “are still reluctant to make a bold decision next year to defend, work for and help their own country.”
No information about the situation at the front
Zelensky’s message contained few direct references to the situation on the thousand-kilometer front line or to the counter-offensive that began in June and has not been a resounding success. He also made no mention of the political and diplomatic difficulties in obtaining further military and other assistance from both the US Congress and the European Union. “Just as we did on December 31 last year, today we say: ‘We don’t know for sure what the new year will bring us.’ But this year we can add: ‘Whatever happens, we will be stronger.'”
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
