Live blog: Russia is suffering major battlefield losses — Zelenskyy

Monday, January 1, 2024

2035 GMT — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said in an interview published by the Economist that the notion that Russia was winning the nearly two-year-old war was only a "feeling" and that Moscow was still suffering heavy battlefield losses.

Zelenskyy also said there were no real signs that Russia was interested in peace and that any indication that Russia wanted talks signified that Russia was running out of weapons and soldiers.

"I see only the steps of a terrorist country," he told the British publication.

Zelenskyy also said that hitting Russian strength in Crimea was critical to reducing attacks on Ukraine, as was defending cities in the east of the country.

More updates 👇

1941 GMT — Russian drones hit sites linked to Ukrainian nationalists

Russian drones have attacked a university and a museum linked to two of the most prominent 20th century defenders of Ukrainian national identity, leaving locals vowing to repair the damage.

The first smashed windows and much of the roof at the National Agrarian University, outside the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where Stepan Bandera — a hero in Ukraine but a villain according to the Kremlin — studied.

It hit on what would have been Bandera's 115th birthday.

The second ravaged a nearby museum devoted to Roman Shukhevych.

Both men were key figures in nationalist resistance to Soviet rule and were associated with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army which fought Soviet forces in World War Two.

"This is the building in which Stepan Bandera attended classes. There's a memorial plaque dedicated to Bandera, and the statue too," 82-year-old Sofia Zdorovyk said as people cleared up the rubble around her.

1522 GMT — West is Russia's enemy, not Ukraine: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the true enemy of his country is the West rather than Ukraine itself.

"The point is not that they help our enemy, but they are our enemy, they solve their issues with their (Ukraine's) hands," Putin said during a meeting at a military hospital in the Moscow region.

Stating that this has been the case "for centuries" and that it continues today, Putin said Ukraine itself is not an enemy for Russia, but rather those that intend to "destroy Russian statehood" and inflict a "strategic defeat" of Moscow on the front line.

"There are people who sympathise with us, but there are so-called (Western) elites for whom the existence of Russia, at least in its current quality, in its current size, as they think, is unacceptable," Putin further said.

Russia's president went on to argue that Western elites "nurtured" Ukraine for a long time in order to create the conflict seen today.

"Unfortunately for us, they achieved, created this conflict and are trying to solve their task with the help of Ukrainians, namely the task of fighting Russia," he said.

1511 GMT –– Ukraine seeks to buy 1 million drones in 2024

Ukraine plans to purchase at least one million drones in 2024, the country's defense minister said.

"In total, in 2024, the state plans to purchase at least one million drones. It is important that for the first time, the full real need of the military for drones has been clearly calculated and summarised," Rustem Umerov said in a column for Ukraine's state news agency, Ukrinform.

Stating that the Ukrainian Defence Ministry ordered the first batch of first-person view (FPV) drones, Umerov said that the ministry is working on effective logistics, cheaper purchases and producing a sufficient number of combat parts.

1235 GMT –– Russia will 'intensify' attacks on Ukraine: Putin

President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will intensify strikes on military targets in Ukraine after an unprecedented attack over the weekend on the Russian city of Belgorod.

The attack killed 24 people and left over 100 wounded in Belgorod on Saturday. It came after Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukrainian cities.

"We're going to intensify the strikes, no crime against civilians will rest unpunished, that's for certain," Putin said during a visit to a military hospital. He said Russia will press on with hitting what he called "military installations."

Putin called the Belgorod hit a "terrorist attack" and accused Ukrainian forces of targeting "right in the city centre, where people were walking, before New Year's Eve."

1112 GMT –– Ukraine says foiled 'record' number of drone attacks on New Year's Eve

Ukraine said it had foiled a "record" number of Russian drones on the night of New Year's Eve after a week of escalation in the nearly two-year conflict.

Kiev also said Russian shelling killed one person on New Year's Day in the southern Odesa region and another person in Kherson, also in the south. The barrage came after Russia pounded Ukraine in the last days of 2023, killing 39 people in one of the biggest strikes in the war.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 90 Iranian-made Shahed drones on the last night of the year. "On New Year's Eve, the defenders of the sky managed to destroy a record number of enemy attack drones –– 87 out of 90," the air force said.

1040 GMT –– Russia, Ukraine exchange New Year accusations over airstrikes

At the start of the New Year, Russia and Ukraine accused each other of air attacks, resulting in multiple casualties.

“As of 02:00 (2300GMT), there were preliminary 13 wounded and four dead,” Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of the Donetsk region, said on Telegram.

In an earlier statement, Pushilin said that Ukrainian forces hit the center of Donetsk, which is under Russia’s control, as well as the city’s Kalininskyi and Budonivskyi districts with multiple launch rocket systems.

0944 GMT –– Death toll from Russian air strikes on Kiev rises to 28

Five more bodies have been found under rubble after massive Russian air strikes on Kiev three days ago, according to city authorities, bringing the death toll in the Ukrainian capital from that attack to 28.

Ukraine had previously declared Monday a day of mourning for those killed in Friday's missile strikes, the deadliest single attack on Ukraine's capital of the nearly two-year-long war.

"Sincere condolences to all those who lost relatives and loved ones... terrorists who kill civilians will never be forgiven for the blood spilled on Ukrainian soil," Kiev's military governor Serhiy Popko wrote on Telegram.

0726 GMT — Fire breaks out from Russian attack on Odessa port infrastructure: Ukraine

Ukraine's military has said that the overnight Russian drone attack on Odessa targeted port infrastructure, and that a fire had broken out in one of the port terminals as a result of a strike.

"The enemy's clear priority remains the port infrastructure of Odessa, a large number of drones were directed from the sea to the coastal zone," Ukraine's Southern Military Command said on Telegram.

It said the fire was promptly extinguished and that there were no casualties.

0633 GMT — Russia launches 90 drones at Ukraine in hours leading into New Year's Day: Ukraine

Russia had launched 90 attack drones in hours leading into New Year's Day, with Ukrainian air defence systems destroying 87 of them, Ukraine's Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app

0326 GMT — Russia launches drone attack on Ukraine's Lviv: regional governor

Ukraine's air defence systems were engaged in repelling a Russian drone attack on Lviv, regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi has said on the Telegram messaging app.

0154 GMT — Several killed in attacks on Donetsk, Odessa: local officials

At least five people have been killed in attacks on Ukraine's southern Odessa region and the eastern city of Donetsk, local authorities say as the conflict between Moscow and Kiev escalates.

"As of 2:00 (2300 GMT), there were preliminary 13 wounded and four dead," Denis Pushilin, the Russian-affiliated head of Donetsk said on Telegram. He described the attack as "massive shelling from multiple launch rocket systems."

In Odessa, local governor Oleg Kiper said one person died in a Russian drone attack, adding three others were wounded. Several buildings were hit and damaged by "downed drones", he said on Telegram.

For our live updates from Sunday, December 31, click here.