Russia continues to send a barrage of drones into the skies of Ukraine

2023-12-14 10:34:00

Drones rained down on Ukrainian and Russian skies overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. Ukraine said it destroyed 41 of 42 explosive drones launched by Moscow. According to a statement from the Ukrainian Air Force on Telegram, Russia fired “in waves” from three directions from its ground and aimed “mainly Odessa”, the large Ukrainian port in the south of the country. Eleven people were injured, including three children, and 11 buildings damaged, according to the local military administration. The Russian army also fired S-300 missiles towards the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, which however did not detail the consequences of these strikes.

For its part, Russia indicated that it had “destroyed or intercepted” this Thursday nine Ukrainian drones over the Kaluga region, 160 km from the Russian capital, and that of Moscow, according to a press release from the Russian Defense Ministry. For his part, the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, clarified on Telegram that two of these drones “heading towards Moscow” had been neutralized in the Naro-Fominsk district, near the Russian capital. According to initial information, the fall of debris from these drones “did not cause any damage or injuries”, he pointed out.

Russia on the offensive

This new attack by Russian drones sent to Ukraine illustrates the growing military pressure exerted by Moscow, forcing the Ukrainian army to use up the ammunition of its anti-aircraft defense systems. It comes the day following a nighttime strike on kyiv, which left 53 injured, the heaviest death toll in months in the Ukrainian capital. At the end of November, Russia even launched 71 drones in a single night, making this episode the largest drone attack on kyiv since the start of the country’s invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine: kyiv suffers the largest Russian drone attack since the start of the war

Since the fall, Moscow has increased its attacks and wants to strike hard at a time when the will of the West to support Ukraine seems to be weakening. On the front, some 1,000 kilometers long, Russian forces have been gaining ground for several weeks. Russia has carried out assaults in the east around Avdiivka and also in the Zaporizhia region (south), where it says it has made progress ” in a significative way “ northeast of Novopokrovka.

Ukraine on the defensive

Ukraine has been on the defensive since the failure of its summer counter-offensive. And hopes to be able to continue to count on the support of Westerners.

L’Ukraine “can’t win without help”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated this Wednesday. “Unfortunately, dictators supply Russia more consistently than many democracies supply Ukraine,” he lamented.

The leader was in the United States on Tuesday but failed to convince the Republicans to validate a new tranche of aid for his country. The latter are blocking any new assistance as part of a standoff with President Joe Biden. Volodymyr Zelensky continued his international tour this Wednesday by going to Oslo to meet the leaders of the five Nordic countries, allies and donors. And this Thursday and Friday, EU members are meeting to try to agree on key issues related to Ukraine: the opening of accession negotiations to the bloc of Twenty-Seven and the approval of European aid of 50 billion euros, in the form of donations and loans. The fact remains that the Hungarian Prime Minister, the only EU leader to have maintained close ties with the Kremlin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is threatening to block any agreement on these two subjects.

Support for Ukraine: Olaf Scholz calls for unity within the EU

Putin appears confident

Between the advances of his army and the difficulties of Ukraine, it is therefore exhilarated that the Russian president is taking part this Thursday in a marathon session of questions from journalists and citizens. Sorted by the Kremlin, they aim to make ” summary of the year “. Vladimir Putin usually has two meetings of this type per year: one with the press, the other with his compatriots. This time the exercises have been merged. As a reminder, these political meetings did not take place last year, with Russian troops suffering setbacks and the economy suffering under sanctions.

Concerning the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian president once once more repeated Moscow’s stated objective, namely the “denazification” and the “demilitarization” of his neighbor, without which peace is not possible according to him. He insisted that the solution “will be negotiated or obtained by force”. “There will be peace when we have achieved our goals”, he insisted. However, a new military mobilization in Russia is not currently planned following that of autumn 2022. “Today this is not necessary,” he judged, stressing that 486,000 soldiers were recruited voluntarily this year.

Ukraine: facade support from the Russians for Putin’s war

Asked regarding the resistance of the Russian economy to sanctions, the Russian head of state affirmed that his country has a “sufficient safety margin” due to the “strong consolidation of Russian society”, the “stability of the country’s financial and economic system” and of “increasing military capabilities” from Moscow. This margin is “enough not only to feel confident, but also to move forward”he assured.

Vladimir Putin nevertheless recognized that inflation remained high in Russia, expected around 7.5%-8% at the end of the year, a source of concern among the population and promised that the Central Bank would take action. appropriate measures to curb it. He also said he expected GDP growth of +3.5% this year. “This means we have caught up and taken a big step forward,” he added.

(With AFP)