Russia claims 63 Russian servicemen were killed in a rocket attack by Ukraine.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Kyiv, Ukraine According to Russia’s defence ministry, 63 Russian servicemen were killed in a Ukrainian attack on a military base in the eastern Donetsk area on Monday. According to a Russian defence ministry statement, Ukrainian troops launched six missiles from a HIMARS launch system, two of which were shot down.

The attack, which used a precise weapon provided by the United States and has proved essential in allowing Ukrainian troops to hit important targets, dealt a fresh defeat to Russia, which has been reeling from a Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent months.

The Ukrainian military has not confirmed the attack officially, but has implicitly recognised it. The Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Sunday that 400 mobilised Russian troops were killed and 300 more were injured at a vocational school building in Makiivka. That assertion could not be confirmed independently. The walkout happened “in the neighbourhood of Makiivka,” according to the Russian statement, but did not name the vocational school.

Meanwhile, Russia used numerous explosive drones in another nocturnal strike on Ukraine, authorities claimed Monday, signalling the Kremlin’s continued use of bombardments to target the country’s energy infrastructure and wear down Ukrainian opposition to its invasion.

The barrage was the latest in a slew of year-end strikes, including one on New Year’s Eve that killed three people.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated on Monday that 40 drones “went approaching Kyiv” overnight. According to air defence troops, all of them were destroyed.

Klitschko claimed that 22 drones were shot down above Kyiv, three in the surrounding area, and 15 over adjacent regions.

The assault destroyed energy infrastructure facilities, and an explosion occurred in one municipal sector, according to the mayor. It was unclear if this was triggered by drones or other explosives. Klitschko said that a 19-year-old guy had been injured and that the city was experiencing power shortages.
A “important infrastructure asset” and residential structures were struck in Kyiv’s outskirts, according to Governor Oleksiy Kuleba.

Since October, Russia has carried out practically weekly attacks on Ukrainian electricity and water supplies.

Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has accused Russia of “energy terrorism,” citing aircraft bombardments that have left many people without heat in subzero conditions. According to Ukrainian authorities, Moscow is “weaponizing winter” in order to demoralise the Ukrainian opposition.

Ukraine is utilising advanced Western-supplied weaponry to help shoot down Russian missiles and drones, as well as to fire artillery into Russian-held portions of the nation.

The full-scale assault launched by Moscow on February 24 has failed, placing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin as his ground troops struggle to retain land and advance. In his New Year’s speech to the country, he declared 2022 to be “a year of painful, essential choices.”

Putin maintains that he had no alternative but to deploy troops into Ukraine since the conflict endangered Russia’s security, a position that has been denounced by the West, which holds Moscow solely responsible for the conflict.

Russia is now on national holiday till January 8.

Russian soldiers also deployed drones, missiles, and artillery rounds over Ukraine.

Five persons were injured in the shelling of a Ukraine-controlled section of the southern Kherson region on Monday morning, according to the territory’s Ukrainian governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich, on Telegram.

According to the official, Russian soldiers stormed Beryslav, firing on a local market from a tank. Three of the injured are in critical condition and are being airlifted to Kherson, according to Yanushevich.

According to Gov. Vitali Kim, seven drones were shot down over the southern Mykolaiv area, while three more were shot down in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko.

According to Reznichenko, a missile was also destroyed in the Dnipropetrovsk area. He said that the region’s energy infrastructure was being attacked.
Ukraine’s Air Force Command announced Monday that 39 Iranian-made exploding Shahed drones, as well as two Russian-made Orlan drones and an X-59 missile, were shot down overnight.

“We will not give up,” the Ukrainian military ministry tweeted.

According to Ukrainian police, a vicious New Year’s Eve attack killed at least four people and injured scores more. Klitschko said the fourth victim, a 46-year-old Kyiv resident, died in a hospital on Monday morning.

On Saturday and throughout the night, several explosions shook Ukraine’s capital and other cities. The strikes happened 36 hours after Russia conducted massive missile assaults on energy infrastructure installations on Thursday, and the unusually swift response concerned Ukrainian authorities.

A Ukrainian drone struck an energy complex in Russia’s Bryansk area, which borders Ukraine, according to Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz on Monday morning. As a consequence, he alleged, a community was left without electricity.