Ukraine updates: Kyiv reports more Russian drone attacks

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia is planning a prolonged campaign of attacks with Iranian drones to exhaust Ukraine.

"We have information that Russia is planning a protracted attack using Shahed drones," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Monday. 

"It is probably banking on exhaustion. Exhausting our people, our anti-aircraft defenses, our energy."

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had to "do everything" so that the Russia's drone plans fail.

His statement comes after another night that waves of drones that Russia had launched struck parts of Ukraine on Sunday evening and into Monday

It marked five consecutive nights of drone attacks. targeted infrastructure facilities in the Kyiv region on Sunday evening and into Monday

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 40 exploding drones "headed for Kyiv" overnight, all of which were destroyed. Twenty-two drones were destroyed over Kyiv, three in the outlying Kyiv region and 15 over neighboring provinces.

Klitschko said energy infrastructure was destroyed in Kyiv, and one explosion occurred. A 19-year-old man who was injured in a blast in the Desnyanskyi district was being treated at a hospital.

According to Ukraine's Air Force Command, Ukrainian forces shot down 39 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight, as well as two Russian-made Orlan drones and a X-59 missile, across Ukraine.

Russia's New Year attacks had targeted downtown areas of large cities, said Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to  Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian officials said seven drones were shot down over the southern Mykolaiv region, and three more were shot down in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region.

Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on Monday, January 2:

Ukrainian strike kills 63 Russian soldiers

Russia's Defense Ministry said a Ukrainian strike on a temporary accommodation complex in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Makiivka killed 63 Russian soldiers.

"As a result of a strike by four missiles with a high-explosive warhead on a temporary deployment point, 63 Russian servicemen were killed," the ministry said.

Some observers, including Russian journalists, said the death toll seemed much higher than reported.

Ukraine said human "losses" were still being established.

It was, however, by Moscow's own account, one of the deadliest attacks on Russian troops since the start of the war.

Late on Monday, the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said its forces were behind the strikes on Makiivka.

"Up to 10 units of enemy military equipment of various types were destroyed and damaged," the general staff said.

Ukraine awaits first portion of EU aid

Zelenksyy said he was waiting for the first tranche of a €18 billion support package from the European Union on Monday, following a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Leyen tweeted that her first call of the year was with the Ukrainian leader where she conveyed her "wholehearted support and best wishes" for the Ukrainian people this year.

"EU stands by you, for as long as it takes," von der Leyen said.

She added that the EU would be supporting Ukraine through the winter with generators, light bulbs, shelters and school buses.

Stoltenberg says NATO must boost weapons production

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance must boost its weapons production as Russia's invasion of Ukraine drags on into a second year.

"We need to ramp up production, and that's exactly what the allies are doing," Stoltenberg said in an interview with the British broadcaster BBC that was broadcast on Sunday.

He said supplying spare parts and ammunition is just as important as delivering new weapons systems to Kyiv.

Stoltenberg added that "Russia shows no signs of giving up its overall goal of taking control over Ukraine," which means Kyiv must be in a position of strength when at the negotiating table to end the war.

"The Ukrainian forces had the momentum for several months, but we also know that Russia has mobilized many more forces; many of them are now being trained, he said.

"All of that indicates that they are ready to continue the war and potentially try to launch a new offensive." 

Ex-NATO General Domröse expects cease-fire this year

Former NATO General Hans-Lothar Domröse said in a newspaper interview that Ukraine "will have a cease-fire in the course of 2023."

The former general in the German armed forces said both Russia and Ukraine would launch offensives in the near future, but he expected a slowdown in the early summer. 

"That would be the moment for cease-fire negotiations," said Domröse.

He said one solution could be for Zelenskyy to give up his demand that territories occupied by Russia, such as Crimea, be reintegrated into Ukraine.

UK intelligence says both sides fighting over P66 highway

A British military intelligence report said it was likely that Russia and Ukraine were fighting over control of the P66 highway, north of the town of Kremina in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.  

The route has been disrupted since October by Ukrainian artillery. If Ukraine gained control, it would make it more difficult for Russia to defend Kremina, according to the regular intelligence update.

zc, ab, tg/fb (dpa, AP, Reuters, AFP)