Just after midnight on New Year’s Day, a number of explosions erupted in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
Sunday’s attack on Kyiv followed a barrage of at least 20 cruise missiles fired at targets across Ukraine in what officials there called a “New Year’s Eve terror”.
The new attack sent air raid sirens blaring across the country, and some people in Kyiv took to their balconies and shouted, “Glory to Ukraine!” Glory to heroes. ”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told Telegram that the first explosions of the new year began about half an hour after midnight and hit two districts.
The city’s military authorities said 23 Russian-launched “aircraft objects” had been destroyed and the air defense system was working.
Earlier in the evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Ukrainians would fight until victory in the war, now in its 11th month.
“We will fight and we will continue to fight. For the subject of ‘victory’,” he said in an emotional speech. Look what we’ve done and what we’re doing!”
“We will fight as one team for the whole country, for all regions.
At least one person was killed and at least 12 injured in a series of previous attacks on Kyiv, which damaged the Hotel Alfavid and houses. Klitschko said a Japanese journalist was among the injured and was taken to hospital.
Jaroslav Mutenko, 23, a film director who lives in an apartment complex near Hotel Alfavido, said he heard the boom as he was taking a shower getting ready to go to a New Year’s Eve party. He said there had been similar blasts in the area during previous attacks in October, but they weren’t as big as Saturday’s blast.
As rescue workers cordoned off the street in front of the hotel, he told AFP news agency he was still going to the party at a friend’s house.
“Our enemy, the Russians, can destroy our tranquility, but they cannot destroy our spirit,” he said. “Why are you going to celebrate with your friends? Because we understand that having people nearby is important this year.”
Attacks were also reported in the southern city of Mykolaiv, with local officials saying seven people were injured.
Governor Vitaly Kim said in a Telegram that Russia had targeted civilians for the raids, something Moscow had previously denied. Not just going on strike. [infrastructure] … in many cities [they are targeting] It’s just residential areas, hotels, garages and roads,” he said.
The attacks came at an unusually fast pace, alerting officials just 36 hours after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on Thursday to damage energy infrastructure facilities.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba has stressed the serious damage to civilians from this latest attack, stating that “this mass Russian missile strike deliberately targets residential areas, not energy infrastructure.” Stated. “War criminal Putin is ‘celebrating’ the New Year by killing people,” he added, calling for Russia to be stripped of its permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, described the attack as “New Year’s Eve terrorism.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine responded with a defiant message.
“With each new missile attack on civilian infrastructure, more and more Ukrainians are convinced that Putin’s regime will have to fight until it completely collapses,” he said on Telegram.
A curfew from 7pm to midnight local time remained in place across Ukraine, making it impossible to celebrate the start of 2023 in public.
Several local governors posted messages on social media warning residents not to break New Year’s Eve restrictions.