Kiev, Ukraine:
Ukraine said on Monday it had thwarted a “record” number of Russian drones on New Year's Eve after a week of escalation in the nearly two-year conflict.
Kiev also said Russian shelling on New Year's Day killed one person in the southern Odesa region and another person in Kherson, also in the south.
The barrage came after Russia shelled Ukraine in the final days of 2023, killing 39 people in one of the largest strikes of the war.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 90 Iranian-made Shahed drones on the last night of the year.
“On New Year's Eve, air defenders managed to destroy a record number of enemy attack drones – 87 out of 90,” the Air Force said.
It said Moscow also launched missiles in the northeastern Kharkiv region, and in Kherson and Zaporizhia in the south.
Odesa was shelled on New Year's Eve, Kiev said, with emergency services reporting that one person had been killed. A 73-year-old woman was killed in shelling in Kherson.
The drone strikes also targeted the western city of Lviv, near the Polish border.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said a university linked to a Ukrainian nationalist figure and a museum were damaged.
Russia, meanwhile, reported Ukrainian drone attacks on its Belgorod region near the border.
Moscow and Kiev have escalated attacks in recent days, with an unprecedented Ukrainian attack on the city of Belgorod killing 24 people on Saturday.
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