Russian missiles hit Ukraine for third consecutive day

Lviv, Ukraine, Jan 2 (EFE).- Russia struck Ukraine with massive missile and drone attacks for the third consecutive day on Monday.

“We see that for three consecutive days they attack us. We do not know yet what they have planned. We simply have to get ready and keep the powder dry, the missiles in their positions, the people ready,” Yuri Ignat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force command, told Ukrainian television on Monday.

Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak stated that “what Russia fears most is that Ukraine will go all the way: there will be no behind-the-scenes deals like those that are traditional for Russian foreign policy.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy also spoke of Russia’s fear, saying that Moscow is “right to be afraid. Because they are losing. Neither drones, nor missiles, nor everything else will help them. Because we are together. They will not be able to take away Ukraine’s independence,” he said.

After massive missile and drone strikes on December 31 and January 1, Russian forces continued in the same vein Monday.

“The Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed on the night of January 1-2 a total of 39 drones that Russian forces launched against Ukraine, along with 2 reconnaissance drones of the Orlan-10 type and an air-launched guided missile of the Kh-59 type,” the Ukrainian Army Air Force command said.

Nine of those were shot down over the Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia, while in the southern Kherson region, five people were injured when several shells struck a market in the city of Beryslav.

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, reported on his Telegram channel that “Russian occupiers launched a large-scale attack with ‘kamikaze drones’ of the Iranian-made Shahed-131/136 type” against the Ukrainian capital, the city most affected by the attacks.

Ukrainian officials did not report the number of missiles and drones launched by Russia in recent hours, but acknowledged that some had managed to hit electrical installations and homes.

Ukraine’s national electricity network operator said Monday that the situation “is under control” despite the fact that the overnight attacks had affected the electric service in the capital, “due to which emergency cuts are being carried out”.EFE

int-mj/ks