A new round of explosions rocked Kyiv less than an hour into 2023, after Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles aimed at the capital and other cities ahead of New Year’s celebrations.
The first explosions of the new year began roughly 30 minutes after midnight and hit two districts, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties.
In the evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainians would fight until victory.
“We fight and we will continue to fight. For the sake of the main word: ‘victory’,” he said in a speech, as his country watched the old year end hours after the new wave of strikes.
“I want to tell you all: Ukrainians, you are amazing! Look at what we have done and what we are doing!” Zelensky said in the emotional speech.
“We fight as one team: the whole country, all our regions. I admire you all. I want to thank all the invincible regions of Ukraine,” he continued.
As Russia’s Far Eastern regions rang in 2023, Russian leader Vladimir Putin delivered his midnight speech, usually against the backdrop of the Kremlin, among servicemen and women who fought in Ukraine.
He told them that “historical correction” was on his side.
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At the same time, explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital, where AFP reporters heard at least 11 loud noises in the early afternoon.
Klitschko said on social media that at least one person was killed as a result of Saturday’s attacks, while city authorities said 22 others were injured.
An explosion tore open a corner of Kiev’s four-star Alfavito hotel and spilled debris onto the street, an AFP reporter saw.
Nearby sidewalks were covered in glass from broken windows in the area, including the National Palace of Arts in Kyiv.
Filmmaker Yaroslav Mutenko, 23, lives in a nearby apartment complex and said he was in the shower getting ready to go to a New Year’s Eve party when he heard a boom.
He said there had been similar explosions in the area during a previous attack in October, but nothing as strong as Saturday’s blast.
As he watched rescue workers cordon off the street outside the hotel, he told AFP he still planned to go to the party at a friend’s house.
“Our enemies the Russians can destroy our calm, but they cannot destroy our spirit,” he said.
“Why am I going to celebrate with friends? Because this year I understand that it’s important to have people around.”
The attacks come as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine enters its 11th month, with Russian strikes systematically targeting energy infrastructure, leaving millions in the cold and dark in the dead of winter.
Strikes were also reported in the southern city of Mykolaiv, where a local official said seven people were injured.
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Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkievych had earlier said that a fire broke out in one of the city’s districts and that several residential buildings were damaged as a result of the strikes.
As Ukraine continues to rely on military support and aid from Europe and the US to repel Russian attacks, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Saturday to help Ukrainians “without fail… until the victory”.
Putin celebrates the new year
- In western Ukraine, at least four people were injured in the Khmelnytskyi region, Governor Serhiy Gamaliy said, adding that part of the city of Khmelnytskyi was left without electricity.
Ukraine’s chief of staff, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said Russia launched 20 cruise missiles on Saturday, of which 12 were shot down.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin delivered his New Year’s address from the headquarters of Russia’s southern military district, where he visited earlier Saturday and presented awards to servicemen.
Among the award recipients was the Russian commander in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, Russian news agencies said.
Images broadcast by Russian state television showed Putin raising a glass of champagne to soldiers dressed in military uniform, some with awards pinned to their chests.
In his traditional New Year’s address, broadcast on the channels just before midnight, Putin told Russians that “moral and historical justice is on our side.”
Putin said that this year was marked by “truly pivotal and fateful events” that became “the border that lays the foundations of our common future, of our true independence.”
“Today we are fighting for this, protecting our people in our own historical territories, in the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation,” he added, referring to four regions of Ukraine that Russia claimed to have annexed.
Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a message to his military that Russia’s victory in Ukraine was “inevitable.”
The Ministry of Defense also announced the capture of the village of Dorozhnyanka in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a rare gain claimed as Russia suffered a series of ground defeats in Ukraine.
The ministry also said 82 Russian servicemen were released as part of a prisoner swap with Ukraine, while Kyiv said it returned 140 people.