Kyiv, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Residents of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were urged to head to bomb shelters early on Friday as sirens wailed across the city, a day after Russia carried out its biggest airstrike since the war began. January and February.
Shortly after 2 a.m., the Kyiv city government issued an alert on its Telegram messaging app channel about the air raid sirens and urged residents to seek shelter.
Kyiv region governor Olekskiy Kuleba said on Telegram that a “drone attack” was underway.
Reuters witnesses heard several explosions and anti-aircraft fire 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Kyiv.
The Ukrainian military said 16 Iranian-made Shahed drones were launched and all were destroyed. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said seven were targeted against the city and an administrative building was partially destroyed.
Kyiv said Iran was supplying Moscow with drones for use in airstrikes, but Tehran said the last time it sent drones to Russia was before the war began.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Friday morning that Russia had carried out 85 missile strikes, 35 airstrikes and 63 multiple rocket launcher system strikes in the past 24 hours.
Moscow’s forces also shelled 20 settlements around the bombed town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where some of the fiercest fighting was taking place, and more than 25 in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, the report said. settlements.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said much of the area was without power in Thursday’s massive airstrike.
Zelensky said areas where power outages were “particularly difficult” included the capital Kyiv, Odessa and Kherson in and around the south, and areas around Lviv near Poland’s western border.
“But it’s nothing compared to what could have happened without our heroic anti-aircraft gunners and air defenses,” Zelensky said.
Waves of Russian airstrikes targeting energy infrastructure have left millions without power and heat in often freezing temperatures in recent months.
call for more arms
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on NATO members to provide Ukraine with more weapons, according to an interview published Friday.
“I call on our allies to do more. It is in all our security interests to ensure that Ukraine wins and that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does not win,” Stoltenberg told German news agency DPA.
Stoltenberg told dpa that military support for Ukraine was the fastest path to peace.
“We know that most wars end at the negotiating table — and probably this one — but we know that what Ukraine can achieve in these negotiations depends a lot on the military situation,” he said .
The United States last week announced nearly $2 billion in additional military aid, including the Patriot air defense system, which protects against aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
Britain said on Friday it had provided Ukraine with more than 1,000 metal detectors and 100 kits to defuse bombs and help clear minefields.
“Russia’s use of landmines and targeting of civilian infrastructure underscores the appalling brutality of Putin’s invasion,” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement.
“This latest UK-backed package will help Ukraine safely clear land and buildings as it reclaims its rightful territory.”
Metal detectors, made by German company Vallon, can help troops clear safe routes on roads and pathways and help eliminate explosion hazards, while the kits can defuze unexploded bombs, the ministry said.
Wallace said on Thursday that Britain would provide Ukraine with 2.3 billion pounds ($2.77 billion) in military aid in 2023, matching the amount it provided this year.
battlefield
Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Ukraine says its daily bombing is destroying cities, towns and the country’s power, medical and other infrastructure.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February. 24 Targeting what it considers a threat to its security in what President Vladimir Putin has called a “special military operation.”
Ukraine and its Western allies have denounced Russia’s actions as imperialist land grabs and imposed sanctions in an attempt to undermine the campaign.
The 11-month war has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, reduced cities to ruins, shaken the global economy and driven up energy and food prices.
The fiercest fighting took place in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk, which together make up the Donbass industrial zone. Russia claimed in September to have annexed them, along with the southern provinces of Kherson and Zaporozhye, but did not fully control any of them.
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Reporting in the Reuters office; Writing by Grant McCool and Michael Perry; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Simon Cameron-Moore
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