Air defense officials in Kiev said on Monday that 28 of 31 drones had been shot down. The air defense also reported two missiles and two “enemy fighter jets” being shot down.
A Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jet was shot down the day before in the Donetsk region, and the other Su-30CM fighter jet was shot down over the Black Sea, it was said. The air force also reported strikes against enemy positions, including weapons and ammunition depots.
According to the Ukrainian military, most of the drone attacks in a period of more than six hours occurred in the Odessa area on the Black Sea. Debris from the downed drones caused damage to the port infrastructure in Odessa and to an unused administration building and storage rooms in the region. The authorities also reported destruction in the Kherson area and the Dnipropetrovsk region. According to the information, there were no injuries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had previously called for national defense not to be slacked off at Christmas either. In Ukraine, Christmas was officially celebrated for the first time on December 25th, but the holiday was not work-free due to martial law. Many Ukrainians continue to celebrate Christmas on January 7th, as in Russia, according to the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and has been waging a destructive war of aggression against the neighboring country ever since.
