Volodymyr Zelenskyj warns of a possible war of attrition.Image: Zuma Press / Ukrainian Presidential Press Off
International
Over ten months after the start of the Ukraine war Russia intensified his attacks again. At the turn of the year, the capital Kyiv came under heavy fire. In the east of the country, the clashes at the front further. According to their own account, the Ukrainian armed forces have disabled several hundred Russian soldiers in the Donetsk region.
Meanwhile, former Bundeswehr and NATO general Hans-Lothar Domröse expects a ceasefire in the war later this year.
January 2nd
9:36 p.m .: Selenskyj sees Russian attrition tactics in drone attacks
In view of the repeated Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent days, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns of a possible war of attrition. “We have information that Russia is planning a long-term attack by Shahed drones,” said Zelenskyy in his daily video address on Monday evening. Russia wants to achieve wear and tear with it. “The exhaustion of our people, our air defenses, our energy,” he said. “But we must and will do everything we can to ensure that this goal of the terrorists fails like all the others.”
The Russian military uses so-called kamikaze drones which, at the end of their flight, descend vertically on their target. The relatively slow Iranian-made drones are an easy target for anti-aircraft defenses, but the large numbers of deployed unmanned aerial vehicles and constant air surveillance pose a major challenge for Ukrainian air defenses.
“Only two days have passed since the beginning of the year,” said Zelenskyj. “And already the number of is above that Ukraine downed drones over 80.” The Russian military mainly use the drones against Ukrainian cities in order to cause as much damage as possible to the energy network there. (dpa)
(ast/with material from dpa/afp)
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