Ukraine intercepted greater than two dozen assault drones and a number of other missiles fired by Russian forces in a large Christmas Day barrage, Ukrainian army officers stated Monday.
The large onslaught comes as Ukraine tries to fend off creeping advances by Russian troops within the japanese portion of the nation. Russia has seized momentum within the almost 2-year-old battle, as Ukraine pleads with the U.S. and European Union to supply extra monetary and army help as quickly as attainable.
Such overseas help has been essential in bolstering Ukraine‘s air defense system, which has helped foil aerial attacks from the much larger, better-equipped Russian military. That was the case Monday, Ukrainian officials said, as the country’s air defenses shot down 28 Russian assault drones and no less than two missiles. The Russian assault focused Ukrainian positions within the Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Kirovohrad and Khmelnytskyi areas, Ukrainian army officers stated in a social media put up.
Ukrainian officers additionally stated they shot down two Russian fighter jets, one over the Donetsk area and one other flying over the Black Sea.
Hours earlier than the assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tried to rally his nation amid the grim actuality that Russia appears to be gaining the higher hand.
“Christmas Eve is the time of the longest nights of the year. But tomorrow, the day starts getting longer, the light starts prevailing. The light is getting stronger. And step by step, day by day, the darkness retreats,” Mr. Zelenskyy stated in a Christmas Eve deal with. “And in the end, darkness will lose. Evil will be defeated. Today, this is our common goal, our common dream, and this is what our common prayer is for today. For our freedom. For our victory. For our Ukraine.”
But Russia claimed its personal successes over the Christmas vacation.
Over the previous two days, Russian forces shot down a number of Ukrainian rockets, anti-ship missiles, no less than 4 Ukrainian plane and 49 assault drones, the Russian Defense Ministry stated Monday.
The Kremlin is touting its successes within the battle to this point, with 2024 looming and questions mounting about how lengthy Ukraine can maintain on.
“A total of 558 aircraft, 261 helicopters, 10,040 drones, 442 anti-aircraft missile systems, 14,299 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,189 multiple rocket launchers, 7,479 field branch artillery weapons and mortars, as well as 16,660 units of special tactical vehicles have been destroyed since the beginning of the special military operation,” the Russian Defense Ministry stated in a press release, in keeping with the nation’s state-run Tass News Agency.
Russian positive aspects might speed up quickly with out quick U.S. and EU help, Ukrainian and Biden administration officers have warned in current weeks.
Lawmakers left Washington final week after failing to go President Biden’s $61.4 billion help bundle for Ukraine. Republicans in each chambers need to see extra money for border safety connected to any Ukraine help payments, whereas House GOP leaders are also demanding that the White House clarify Ukraine‘s roadmap to a decisive win over Russia.
Publicly, the administration is standing firmly behind Ukraine and insisting that Mr. Putin will fail.
“He thinks his strategy of waiting us out while sending wave after wave of young Russians into a meat grinder of his own making will pay off,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters last week. “On one and only point I agree with Putin: America’s ongoing assist is important to enabling Ukraine‘s great soldiers and citizens to keep up their fight to ensure Russia‘s war remains a strategic failure.”
“Putin is betting that our divisions will prevent us from coming through for Ukraine. We have proven him wrong before. We will prove him wrong again,” Mr. Blinken said.
What’s completely different this time, nonetheless, is the mixture of Russian battlefield momentum and cracks in Western assist. As the U.S. and EU grapple over whether or not to supply extra help to Ukraine, there are rising questions on what precisely that help would obtain, in need of holding the road and stopping a transparent Russian victory.
Indeed, Mr. Putin now appears to be essentially the most assured he’s been because the battle started in February 2022.
“Our troops are holding the initiative,” Mr. Putin stated throughout a year-end press convention final week. “We are effectively doing what we think is needed, doing what we want. Where our commanders consider it necessary to stick to active defenses they are doing so, and we are improving our positions where it’s needed.”
“The enemy has suffered heavy casualties and to a large extent wasted its reserves while trying to show at least some results of its so-called counteroffensive to its masters,” Mr. Putin stated. “All attempts by the West to deliver us a military defeat, a strategic defeat, were shattered by the courage and fortitude of our soldiers, the growing might of our armed forces and the potential of our military industries.”
