A Russian attack drone downed over Odesa Oblast on the evening of Dec. 22, 2023. Illustrative purposes only. (Southern Defense Forces / Telegram)
Ukrainian air defense units shot down 14 of the 20 Shahed-type "kamikaze" drones that Russia launched overnight, the Air Force reported on Jan. 30.
Russia launched the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from three directions: Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia's Krasnodar Krai, the Russian city of Kursk, and Cape Chauda in occupied Crimea, the Air Force said.
The Russian military also reportedly fired three Iskander ballistic missiles from occupied Crimea and Voronezh Oblast.
Ukraine's defenses downed the 14 UAVs over Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv oblasts, according to the Air Force.
A Russian drone attack on Kharkiv the evening of Jan. 30 injured 3 people and damaged civilian infrastructure.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
“There are no pauses, no delays in (Russia's) operations. They keep pushing their troops forward to seize as much of our territory as possible under the cover of negotiations," Syrskyi said.
"Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace. We agreed on the next steps and formats for talks with the United States," Zelensky wrote on Dec. 6.
Russia failed to break Ukraine’s army on the battlefield, and now it’s trying to do it through a peace plan that would cap Ukraine’s forces at 600,000. Some argue that Ukraine would shrink its army — currently estimated at about 800,000 — after the war anyway.
The Kyiv Independent's first live event in New York City will be available to stream live. The Kyiv Independent will also present a curated photo exhibition
Over the course of 2025, Ukraine has repeatedly agreed to ceasefire proposals put forward by the White House. Russia has refused to agree to a single one.
Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces said on Dec. 5 that neither Pokrovsk nor its sister city Myrnohrad is encircled, stressing that defense units are expanding logistics routes and maintaining control over key positions in the area.
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Independent, under fire — and unstoppable with you on board
Independent journalism is never easy, and it’s even harder in wartime. Yet we can do it without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise. More than 25,000 people chose to stand behind our mission. Thank you for making our work possible.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
