(Kyiv) The Ukrainian air force announced on Sunday that it shot down 45 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia during New Year’s night, the day after a day marked by bombardments on Kyiv.
“During the night of December 31, 2022 at 1er January 2023, Russian invaders attacked Ukraine with Iranian-made Shahed-131/136 kamikaze drones,” the Ukrainian Air Force said.
According to her, 13 of these drones were shot down before midnight and 32 after midnight. The Ukrainian army did not say whether other drones had hit their targets.
Kyiv Police Chief Andrii Nebitov posted a photograph on Facebook showing what appears to be the remains of a drone with the words “Happy New Year” in Russian.
“This is all you need to know about the terrorist state and its military,” he wrote.
AFP journalists heard explosions ring out over Kyiv less than an hour into the year 2023, after a Saturday already marred by shelling that left at least one dead and dozens of injured.
Pro-Russian separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine, for their part, reported the death of a civilian in Ukrainian shelling on Sunday in Yassynouvata in the Donetsk region.
According to them, the Ukrainian army also struck Donetsk and the neighboring town of Makiivka just after midnight, injuring at least 15 people.