Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy warns of drawn-out drone campaign
January 3, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russia was planning a protracted campaign of drone attacks in a bid to demoralize Ukraine.
"We have information that Russia is planning a long-term attack by Shahed drones," Zelenskyy said, referring to the Iranian-made drones.
He said Russia wanted to use drones to achieve attrition, "the exhaustion of our people, our air defenses, our energy."
He added Ukraine had to "act and do everything so that the terrorists fail in their aim, as all their others have failed."
In the past few days, Russia has deployed multiple exploding drones to target civilian infrastructure.
This has led to power cuts that were also affecting the provision of heating.
Zelenskyy said the country's forces shot down more than 80 drones since the start of 2023.
Russia, in turn, reported multiple drone attacks, with one hitting energy infrastructure in the Russian region of Bryansk and causing a town to lose power.
Two Ukrainian drones were also shot down over the naval port of Sevastopol in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
Sevastopol is the main base for the Russian Black Sea Fleet and has previously been targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks.
Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on Tuesday, January 3:
Russia says Ukrainian strike death toll rose to 89
Russia's Defense Ministry said the death toll from a Ukrainian strike on Makiivka, in Russian-occupied Donetsk territory of eastern Ukraine, has risen to 89.
Russia had acknowledged the strike in a rare statement on Monday, citing a death toll of 63 initially.
The Defense Ministry blamed in a video statement early on Wednesday the use of mobile phones by soldiers for the strike, making it possible for Ukrainian forces to trace their location.
Lieutenant General Sergei Sevryukov said in the video that a commission was investigating the circumstances surrounding the strike.
"But it is already obvious that the main reason... was the turning on and massive use by personnel of mobile phones within reach of enemy weapons contrary to the ban."
Ukraine had claimed the strike, which is believed to be the deadliest Russia has suffered since the start of the war over ten months ago.
Ukrainian forces have, however, cited a death toll in hundreds.
Also in the Wednesday statement, Sevryukov said that Russia had destroyed the multiple launch rocket system which Ukraine had used in the attack, as well as four HIMARS launchers provided by the US.
He also claimed that Russian forces had killed 200 Ukrainian forces and foreign fighters in the town of Druzhkivka in Donetsk.
Bulgaria to use Turkey's LNG terminal to replace Russia gas supplies
Bulgaria's state-owned Bulgargaz penned a 13-year deal for access to Turkey's LNG terminals and transit network on Tuesday.
The move comes eight months after Russia halted deliveries to the EU member state amid the ongoing energy crisis sparked by Moscow's decision to invade Ukraine.
Kyiv claims 500 Russian soldiers killed or wounded in major attack
Ukraine's General Staff said on Tuesday that artillery attacks on occupied parts of the Kherson region that began on New Year's Eve and continued through to Monday killed or wounded some 500 Russian soldiers dead.
"The enemy's losses amount to 500 dead and wounded," they claimed in a situation report posted on Facebook. The figures could not be verified.
The targets included the village of Chulakivka, located south of Kherson city and close to the Black Sea.
The announcement comes after the Russian Defense Ministry reported the loss of 63 recruits in an attack on the occupied village of Makiivka on New Year's Eve. Ukraine has said that around 400 Russian soldiers were killed in that attack, and another 300 were wounded.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have played up losses by the other side.
Ukrainian police say they discover torture camps in liberated Kharkiv
Ukrainian authorities said they have found 25 torture camps in the area surrounding Kharkiv since its liberation from Russian occupation.
According to the regional police chief, Volodymyr Timoshko, Russian troops detained and tortured civilians in the camps.
In a Facebook post, he wrote some prisoners had been subjected to electric shocks, and others had their fingers broken.
DW was unable to verify the claims independently.
Russian troops occupied the area around Kharkiv for several months, but they withdrew in September following a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Since the liberation of the region, 920 bodies of civilians, including 25 children, have been found. The police chief alleges that Russian soldiers killed them.
EU-Ukraine summit to take place in Kyiv
The leaders of the European Union and Ukraine would meet in Kyiv instead of Brussels in February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office announced late on Monday.
The leaders would discuss financial and military support during the EU-Ukraine summit on February 3.
The meeting will not be attended by the EU heads of state and government, but only by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel. This had already been announced by a spokesperson for Michel in December.
Zelenskyy discussed details of the high-level meeting with von der Leyen in his first phone call of the year, the statement said.
In turn, von der Leyen vowed the EU would "continue our strong financial assistance."
They also discussed the situation on the front and Ukraine's progress toward EU membership.
More on the Russia-Ukraine war
DW's Roman Goncharenko reports Russia was expected to retaliate after a Ukrainian strike on a building in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Makiivka killed 63 Russian soldiers.
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht came under fire on Monday for what has been considered a tone-deaf video published on her social media account. She was slammed for discussing the war in Ukraine as people set off New Year's fireworks.
Some 4.8 million people were registered as temporary protection seekers in Europe by the UN Refugee Agency through early December. Next year could see even more significant numbers of refugees depending on the course of the war in Ukraine.
jsi, ab, lo/sri (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)