Russia targeted Ukraine with scores of drones overnight, and Ukrainian officials claimed most were downed or jammed by air defenses. At least one person was killed in Kyiv.
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The January 1 air assault was the latest effort by Russia to batter Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and terrorize its exhausted population, nearly three years into Moscow’s all-out invasion.
Ukrainian authorities said one person was killed in Kyiv during the attack, and seven others were wounded by debris.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two floors of a residential building were partially destroyed and the body of a woman was later pulled from the debris.
Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that 111 attack drones in all were launched by Russia, and 63 of them were shot down. Another 46 were “locationally lost,” it said, meaning they were likely jammed by electronic warfare defenses.
"Even on New Year's Eve, Russia was only concerned about how to hurt Ukraine," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
Though Ukraine has made major strides in protecting its energy infrastructure and building alterative backup supplies, the country continues to suffer regular blackouts and disruptions in central heating and hot water as Russia uses drones, as well as ballistic and cruise missiles to hammer targets.
Russia, for its part, said Ukraine had fired at least 66 drones at targets inside Russia. The Defense Ministry claimed all had been downed.
On the battlefield, meanwhile, exhausted Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back relentless Russian advances at multiple locations across the nearly 1,100-kilometer front line.
SEE ALSO: Will The War In Ukraine End In 2025?The logistics hub of Pokrovsk, in the eastern Donetsk region, is increasingly at risk of encirclement, and Russian forces are grinding down Ukrainian defenses near Kurakhove, Velyka Novosilka, and Chasiv Yar.
Further to the north, Ukrainian troops have steadily lost ground in Kursk, the Russian border region where Kyiv launched a surprise, cross-border invasion over the summer. Moscow has employed thousands of North Korean forces to help push back Ukrainian troops.
"We know that peace will not be given to us as a gift, but we will do everything to stop Russia and end the war, something each of us desires," Zelenskiy said in 21-minute New Year's greetings video that was set against a backdrop of the blue-and-yellow national flag, battlefield scenes and pictures of children.