Brave Ukrainians celebrate New Year as Putin carries out bomb attacks
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Russia continued intense missile and drone attacks on Ukraine early into New Year’s Day as curfews in certain parts of the country made celebrations in some public spaces impossible.
But hundreds of brave Ukrainians in the capital refused to let the warmongering Russian president dampen their spirits and took to the streets to ring in the new year with family and friends.
Ukraine’s Air Force command said it had destroyed 45 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight and Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said there were no casualties, though attacks on Saturday killed at least one person in the capital. .
Andriy Nebytov, Kyiv’s police chief, posted a photo on the Telegram messaging app that allegedly shows a part of a kamikaze drone on which a Russian soldier had stamped the words “Happy New Year.”
“These remains are not at the front, where fierce battles are taking place, they are here, on a sports ground, where children play,” Nebytov said.
Ukrainians take a selfie with the Ukrainian national flag near a Christmas tree at night in central Kyiv, Ukraine on December 31, 2022 before the New Year
A Happy New Year message is written in Russian on what appears to be a part of an Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drone fired at Kyiv overnight.
A curfew was established in the capital at 11 pm, preventing citizens from celebrating in the main square overnight.
But during the hours leading up to the curfew, hundreds of residents filled the streets, waving Ukrainian flags and wishing each other well as they took selfies in front of a large Christmas tree on Sofia Square lit up in blue and yellow.
Later, as air raid sirens blared for more than four hours in Kyiv overnight, some people could be heard shouting from their balconies ‘Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes! in clips posted on the Telegram messaging app.
US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said on Twitter: “Russia coldly and cowardly attacked Ukraine in the early hours of the new year. But Putin still doesn’t seem to understand that Ukrainians are made of iron.”
Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian attacks continued to increase.
Ukraine’s high command said on Sunday that Russia had launched 31 missiles and 12 airstrikes across the country in the previous 24 hours.
The latest attacks damaged infrastructure in Sumy in the northeast of the country, Khmelnytskyi in the west, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the southeast and south, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.
A lot of shelling has followed in recent months, which Russia has targeted mainly at Ukraine’s water and energy infrastructure.
Ukrainians celebrate New Year’s Eve before the start of the curfew, near a Christmas tree decorated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag on Sofia Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 31, 2022.
Ukrainians hold the Ukrainian national flag near a Christmas tree at night in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 31, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, standing next to his wife Olena Zelenska, said Ukraine would beat Russia in his New Year’s speech.
Earlier in the evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Ukrainians would fight to victory.
‘We fought and we will continue to fight. For the sake of the main word: ”victory,” he said in a New Year’s speech even as his country was enduring new Russian attacks.
‘I want to say to all of you: Ukrainians, you are amazing! Look 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.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin delivered a combative New Year’s speech, signaling that the war, now in its 11th month, will continue.
As Russian regions in the Far East rang in 2023, the Russian leader delivered his midnight speech, usually against the backdrop of the Kremlin, standing among the servicemen and women who fought in Ukraine.
Footage released by Russian state television showed Putin raising a glass of champagne with soldiers, some with awards pinned to their chests, before telling viewers that “moral and historical rectitude is on our side.”
Putin said this year was marked by “truly crucial and fateful events” that became “the border that lays the foundation for our common future, for 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 Ukrainian regions 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.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his New Year address to the Russians during his visit to the Southern Military District headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, December 31, 2022.
A new round of explosions rocked Kyiv less than an hour into 2023, after Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles aimed at the capital.
The first gusts of the new year began approximately 30 minutes after midnight and affected two districts.
More than 10 explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital on Saturday.
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 the four-star Alfavito Hotel in Kyiv, spilling debris onto the street.
Nearby sidewalks were covered in glass from windows blown out in the area, including from Kyiv’s National Palace of Arts.
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 bang.
He said there had been similar explosions in the area during an earlier attack in October, but nothing as strong as the blast on Saturday.
As he watched rescuers cordon off the street in front of the hotel, he told AFP he still planned to go to a party at a friend’s house.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Ukrainian military soldier sits before preparing to fire a mortar, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues in the Donetsk region.
“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 is important to have people close.’
The attacks come as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine enters its 11th month, with Russian attacks systematically targeting energy infrastructure, leaving millions of people in the cold and dark in the dead of winter.
Strikes were also reported yesterday in the southern city of Mykolaiv, where a local official said seven people were injured.
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkievych had earlier said that a fire broke out in one of the city’s districts and several residential buildings were damaged as a result of the attacks.
In western Ukraine, at least four people were injured in the Khmelnytskyi region, Governor Sergiy Gamaly said, adding that part of the town of Khmelnytskyi was left without power.