Russia launches devastating new year attacks against Ukraine with record 90 drones

Russia has bombarded Ukrainian cities in devastating new year attacks with a record 90 drones on Monday, with Ukraine claiming to have downed 87 of the 90 drones.

The wave of Russian attacks in Ukraine continued throughout the day Monday as civilian casualties rise.

According to Ukranian authorities, a 15-year-old boy was killed and seven people wounded after falling debris from the downed drones hit a residential building in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa.

The head of the region’s military administration, Oleh Kiper, said the debris also sparked small fires, including at the city’s port.

Drone strikes and artillery fire also killed three people in Ukraine’s Kherson, Kharkiv and Sumy regions, including a 73-year-old woman.

In Lviv, Russian attacks severely damaged a museum dedicated to Roman Shukhevych, a controversial Ukrainian nationalist and military commander who fought for Ukrainian independence during World War II.

University buildings in the town of Dubliany were damaged but no casualties were reported.

Meanwhile, four people were killed and 13 more wounded following Ukrainian shelling on Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, according to the region’s Kremlin-installed leader, Denis Pushilin.

One person was also confirmed killed and another wounded in shelling on the Russian border town of Shebekino, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attack was in retaliation to the “terrorist attack” on the city of Belgorod, adding that his country would intensify its attacks on its former USSR compatriots.

Belgorod had witnessed an attack on Saturday that killed more than two dozen people and wounded more than 100 others.

The attack was adjudged as one of the deadliest on Russian soil since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Speaking during his visit to a military hospital, Putin warned Ukraine to expect more such strikes after the Belgorod shelling.

He said: “They want to intimidate us and create uncertainty within our country. We will intensify strikes. Not a single crime against our civilian population will go unpunished.”

Although Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack, which it said saw a death toll of 25 as of Monday, including five children, Ukrainian officials never took responsibility for strikes on Russian territory or the Crimean Peninsula.

While vowing retribution, Putin said Russia would only target military infrastructure in Ukraine, though it had bombed civilian enclaves in the past.

“Of course, we can hit public squares in Kyiv and in any other Ukrainian city… I understand…

“But do we need to hit civilians? No. We are hitting military targets, and that’s what we will keep doing,” said Putin.

Both Ukraine and Russia have relied extensively on explosive droves during the war.

Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles that can fly with propellers or wings. They use rotors, which are spinning blades that push air down and create lift.

Drones can be controlled by a remote controller or a computer program and have different types, such as multirotor drones, fixed-wing drones, and hybrid drones.

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