Fighting continues between Ukraine and Russia sixteen days before Donald Trump’s inauguration at the White House. Ukrainian drones attacked 5 Russian regions, Russia fired 81 at Ukraine.
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While declarations multiply on a possible end to the fighting in Ukraine 16 days before Donald Trump takes power, on the ground, the conflict does not end. Russian air defense claims to have destroyed 16 Ukrainian drones on the night of January 4. Ten drones were reportedly shot down over the Bryansk region, three over the Smolensk region and one over the Belgorod, Pskov and Leningrad regions.
Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko said the drone was shot down near Luga Bay in the Gulf of Finland. There were no casualties or damage, he said. According to the telegram channel Attention : newsthe drone attempted to attack the Ust-Luga seaport, where the evacuation of employees was announced. Later, Mr. Drozdenko reported two more drones shot down in the Luga Bay region; the wreckage of one of them fell into the forest.
St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport imposed flight restrictions twice on the night and morning of January 4. The first time from 11:43 p.m. to 12:48 a.m. local time, written Medusa. Repeated restrictions were imposed from 7:45 a.m., it said Rosaviatsia. The restrictions were lifted at 10:15 a.m. During this time, 20 planes left for other airfields.
In the Belgorod region, a resident of the village of Prelestnoye was injured in the leg by a shrapnel following a drone attack, the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said. In the village, the windows, facade and fence of a private house were damaged by shrapnel. Power lines were damaged in the village of Prokhorovka. A gas pipeline and a fence were damaged in a private house in the village of Mikhailovka.
The heads of the Smolensk and Bryansk regions said the attack did not cause any casualties or damage. The governor of the Pskov region has not yet commented on the attack.
Residents of the town of Safonovo in the Smolensk region reported nighttime explosions in local pubs. The city is home to the state-owned Tactical Missile Armament’s Avangard factory, which produces rocket engine casings, transport and launch containers, and armor components, among other things. Ukrainian Telegram Channel Exilenova+ suggested that the factory may have been the target of the attack. No damage was reported at the factory.
Injured woman dies in Kyiv
On the Ukrainian side, a resident of the Kyiv region who was the victim of a Russian strike on Friday died in hospital, said Saturday Radio Liberty the acting head of the military administration of the region, Mykola Kalashnik. He said that this young woman, born in 2002, had been seriously injured in the abdomen and that doctors had fought for her survival for almost 24 hours, but were unable to save her.
Another victim, injured in the back, is still in intensive care, the administration said. On January 3, a nighttime drone attack left one dead and four injured.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Russian army attacked Ukraine with 81 drones overnight from Saturday to Sunday. Ukrainian air defense downed 34 drones, while another 47 were geographically lost. Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kirovograd, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa and Mykolayiv regions were attacked. In Chernihiv and Sumy regions, private houses were damaged as a result of drone attacks.
Russian leaders deny that the Russian military is carrying out targeted strikes on civilian infrastructure.
