Ukraine’s Air Defense Makes Record Interception of 90 Drone Russian Attack on New Year's Eve

Russian forces attacked Ukraine using more than 90 drones during the evening of New Year's Eve and the early hours of the following day.

The Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that 66 Iranian kamikaze drones were launched on Dec. 31, with an additional 26 on Jan. 1.

87 out of 90 drones were successfully shot down by Ukrainian air defences, according to Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine's Air Forces - marking a record number of interceptions on one day.

The attacks were concentrated in the southern and western regions of Ukraine, triggering air alerts in affected areas that lasted until the morning.

In Odesa, 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. 

“Fires broke out in residential buildings in different areas of the city,” Kiper said.

In addition to the drone attacks, Russian forces targeted the Kharkiv region with four S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles and launched three Kh-31P anti-radar missiles and one Kh-59 from the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.

In the Lviv region there was also destruction of two significant national heritage sites: the museum of the OUN-UPA commander Roman Shukhevych, and the university in Dublany, which is associated with Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, suffered damage on the 115th anniversary of Bandera's birth.

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Russia and Ukraine have seen an escalation in strikes in recent days, including an unprecedented assault on the Russian city of Belgorod that killed 24 people on Saturday.

The attack came a day after Moscow launched a barrage of missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities, killing 39 people in one of the biggest aerial attacks since the war began.

January 1 is a day of mourning in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, where 27 people had been killed, city officials said.