Police and the Rosguardia (National Guard) servicemen secure an area, closed for celebrations on New Year's Eve, outside Red Square, in Moscow, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo)
Sergei Sobyanin, the Mayor of Moscow, has claimed that air defence units downed a total of 29 Ukrainian drones headed for the Russian capital over a 20-hour New Year period.
Sobyanin made the announcement in a long series of posts on Telegram, giving details about the downing of drones.
Specialist crews were examining fragments from the drones at the sites where they had hit the ground, he said on Telegram.
Sobyanin made no mention of casualties or damage.
People gather at the monument to Stepan Bandera, founder of a rebel army that fought against the Soviet regime to mark the 117th anniversary of his birth in Lviv, Ukraine, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys)
Russia accuses Ukraine of drone strike in Kherson
The developments come as Russia and Ukraine accused each other of targeting civilians over the New Year with drone strikes. Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out a drone strike on a hotel in the territory it occupies in the southern Kherson region, killing at least 24 people, including a child.
Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russia claimed as its own in 2022. The oblast is mostly controlled by Russia, but the city of Kherson was retaken by Ukraine.
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of the region, said three Ukrainian drones had hit the celebrations in Khorly, a coastal village, in what he said was a “deliberate strike” against civilians. He said that many people had been burnt alive.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that, as well as the 24 dead, 50 people had been injured, including six minors who were being treated in hospital.
On New Year’s night, the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck a hotel and a café in the occupied village of Khorly, Kherson Oblast. A fire broke out in the building. So far, 24 people are reported dead and 29 wounded.
“There is no doubt that the attack was planned in advance, with drones deliberately targeting areas where civilians had gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve,” the ministry said in a statement, calling the attack a “war crime”.
Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting civilians, infrastructure
Ukraine, on its part, has accused Russia of targeting civilians and attacking its power supplies.
The Ukrainian governor of Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said that one man had been killed and an 87-year-old woman injured in attacks on the city on Thursday.
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Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba said rail facilities had been attacked in three regions, including a locomotive depot and a station in the frontline region of Sumy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of bringing the war to the New Year.
“On New Year, Russia deliberately brings war. Over 200 attack drones were launched onto Ukraine in the night,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, saying energy infrastructure in seven regions across Ukraine had been targeted.
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Police and the Rosguardia (National Guard) servicemen secure an area, closed for celebrations on New Year's Eve, outside Red Square, in Moscow, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo) 
