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Putin’s Drone Barrage Sparks Intensified Attacks and Tragedy in Ukraine
Russia launched a staggering 90 Shahed-type drones across Ukraine during the early hours of the new year, setting a record for drone deployment in the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that his country would “intensify” its attacks on Ukraine, making the announcement during a New Year’s Day visit to a military hospital. Putin ominously warned Ukraine of more such strikes, following the shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod, which claimed the lives of more than two dozen people and left over 100 others wounded.
During his visit, Putin characterized the attack on Belgorod as a “terrorist act” and asserted that Russia would escalate its strikes in response. Blaming Ukraine for the deadly assault, Russian officials reported a death toll of 25 as of Monday, including five children. Putin accused Western nations of attempting to “put Russia in its place” by leveraging Ukraine, emphasizing that Russia would target only military infrastructure in Ukraine.
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While expressing his anger, Putin clarified that Russia would refrain from hitting civilians, stating, “I understand — I’m boiling with rage — but do we need to hit civilians? No. We are hitting military targets, and that’s what we will keep doing.”
Both Russia and Ukraine have extensively utilized explosive drones throughout the conflict, and the wave of Russian attacks in Ukraine persisted throughout Monday.
Tragically, the fallout from the drone strikes resulted in casualties in various Ukrainian cities, including a 15-year-old boy killed and seven people wounded in Odesa. The attacks also caused damage to a museum in Lviv dedicated to a controversial Ukrainian nationalist figure, Roman Shukhevych.
Meanwhile, retaliatory Ukrainian shelling led to casualties in Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, including the reported death of a journalist, while another person lost their life in shelling on the Russian border town of Shebekino.
