As the new year dawned, Russia initiated an aggressive move against Ukraine by deploying a record 90 Shahed-type drones. Vladimir Putin, vowing to escalate attacks, responded to a Ukrainian strike on the southern Russian city of Belgorod.
Although Ukraine reported intercepting 87 of the drones, the consequences were dire. A 15-year-old boy lost his life, and seven individuals sustained injuries due to falling debris in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, according to Oleh Kiper, the head of the region’s military administration. The debris also ignited several small fires, including one at the city’s port.
In Lviv, a western city, Russian attacks caused severe damage to a museum. University buildings in Dubliany suffered damage as well, with no reported casualties.
Lviv's mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, described the strike as "symbolic and cynical" on social media, emphasizing that it was a "war for our history."
During a New Year’s Day visit to a military hospital, Putin pledged to intensify assaults on Ukraine, nearly two years after launching the full-scale invasion, initially expected to take only a few days by Russian military leaders.
In conversations with Russian soldiers, Putin condemned a Ukrainian attack on Belgorod near the Ukrainian border. Authorities in Belgorod reported a death toll of 25, including five children, from Saturday’s attack.
Putin stated, "They want to intimidate us and create uncertainty within our country. We will intensify strikes. Not a single crime against our civilian population will go unpunished."
According to a Ukrainian security source quoted by the BBC, Saturday’s drone attack was not directed at civilian targets. The civilian casualties resulted from falling fragments of Ukrainian drones downed by Russian air defense.
The Belgorod attack followed an 18-hour series of Russian airstrikes starting on Friday that killed 49 people, described by Ukrainian officials as the most extensive aerial barrage of the war.
In his address to Russian soldiers, Putin expressed his belief that Russia held the "strategic initiative" in the war. He added that Moscow aimed to end the conflict, estimated by the UN to have claimed over 10,000 Ukrainian civilian lives since February 2022, "as quickly as possible" but "only on our terms."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian shelling on Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk resulted in four deaths and 13 injuries, according to Denis Pushilin, the region’s Russian-installed leader. Russian state media reported a journalist among the victims without providing further details.
Additionally, one person was killed, and another was wounded in shelling on the Russian border town of Shebekino, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.