Russia Wants To 'Exhaust' Ukraine With Prolonged Attacks: Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is planning a protracted campaign of drone attacks in a bid to demoralize Ukraine, with intelligence reports suggesting that Moscow would launch the attacks using Iranian-made Shahed drones that have been shot down with regularity by Ukrainian air defense crews and even by soldiers using rifles, Matt Murphy reported for BBC News.

Photo Insert: Speaking from Kyiv in his nightly address, Mr. Zelensky said Russia planned to "exhaust" Ukraine with a prolonged wave of drone attacks.

It comes after Ukraine carried out a strike that it said killed hundreds of Russian soldiers in the Donbas region.

In an extremely rare admission of battlefield losses, Russia said the attack killed 63 of its troops. Russian military bloggers and Ukrainian intelligence belied this figure, saying hundreds were killed as rockets blasted the military barracks and ammunition depot in succession.

Speaking from Kyiv in his nightly address, Mr. Zelensky said Russia planned to "exhaust" Ukraine with a prolonged wave of drone attacks.

"We must ensure - and we will do everything for this - that this goal of terrorists fails like all the others," he said. "Now is the time when everyone involved in the protection of the sky should be especially attentive."

Zelensky said Ukrainian air defenses has already shot down over 80 Iranian-made drones in the opening days of 2023.

However, some of those killed and wounded came from Russia's southwestern Samara region, according to governor Dmitry Azarov, who urged families to contact a hotline or local military offices.

Families laid wreaths in the region's main cities of Samara and Tolyatti on Tuesday to remember those killed. The Ukrainian attack, thought to have taken place as Russians celebrated the new year, hit a vocational school building in the city of Makiivka, where Russian soldiers were stationed.

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