UKRAINE: A new round of explosions rocked Kyiv just over an hour into 2023, after Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles hitting the nation’s capital and other major cities before New Year’s Eve celebrations.
The first explosions of the new year began roughly 30 minutes after midnight and targeted two districts, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko on Telegram.
There were no injuries or fatalities, and only minor damage was caused in the centre of the capital by fragments from the destroyed missiles, Klitschko added.
45 Iranian-made Shahed drones were reportedly destroyed, including 32 after midnight on Sunday and 13 late on Saturday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force Command.
In his combative New Year’s address, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that the war, which is now in its eleventh month, will continue. This was in contrast to the messages of thanks and unity delivered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Over four hours, the sirens wailed in Kyiv, and some citizens of the city screamed from their balconies, “Glory to Ukraine!” “Glory to heroes!” as reported by a witness.
Around the nation, curfews from 7 p.m. to midnight were still in effect, making it impossible to celebrate the beginning of 2023 in public areas.
Ukraine’s senior command reported on Sunday that Russia had launched 31 missiles and conducted 12 airstrikes across the nation in the previous 24 hours.
Bridget Brink, the American ambassador to Ukraine, tweeted: “Russia coldly and cowardly attacked Ukraine in the early hours of the new year. But Putin still does not seem to understand that Ukrainians are made of iron.”
The chief of the Kyiv police, Andrii Nebytov, shared a picture on the messaging service Telegram of what appears to be a portion of the drone that was used in the attack on the capital, which has a handwritten “Happy New Year” sign in Russian.
“These wrecks are not at the front, where fierce battles are taking place; they are here, on a sports ground where children play,” Nebytov stated.
In Kyiv, attacks on Saturday left at least one person dead and twelve others injured. They came after a number of bombardments over the previous months, most of which Russia focused on Ukraine’s water and electricity infrastructure.
The most recent strikes, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, have destroyed infrastructure in Sumy, in the northeast of the country; Khmelnytskyi, in the west; and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, in the southeast and south.
Valentyn Reznichenko, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, declared early on Sunday, “Let the day be quiet,” following reports of severe bombardment of multiple communities in the area overnight that resulted in one injury.
Separately, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of southern Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, claimed that although nighttime shelling of Shebekino town’s surroundings had damaged houses, no reports of casualties had been made.
The Donetsk and Luhansk areas, which are under the control of Moscow, were the target of many Ukrainian attacks, according to Russian media, in which at least nine injuries were confirmed by local authorities.
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