Brave Ukrainians celebrate New Year as Putin carries out bomb attacks

Russia continued intense missile and drone strikes in Ukraine early on New Year’s Day as curfews in certain parts of the country prevented celebrations in some public areas.

But hundreds of brave Ukrainians in the capital refused to be tempered by the warmongering Russian president and took to the streets to ring in the new year with family and friends.

The Ukrainian Air Force command said they had destroyed 45 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight and Kiev mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said there were no casualties, although attacks on Saturday left at least one person in the capital died.

Kyiv Police Chief Andriy Nebytov posted a photo to the Telegram messaging app that allegedly showed a piece of a kamikaze drone on which a Russian soldier had written the words “Happy New Year.”

“These wreckage are not at the front, where heavy fighting takes place, they are here, on a sports field, where children play,” Nebytov said.

A curfew of 11 p.m. was in effect in the capital, preventing citizens from celebrating in the main square at night.

But for 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 in Sofia Square lit up in blue and yellow.

Later, when the air raid sirens blared for more than four hours in Kiev during the night, some people were heard shouting from their balconies: ‘Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!’ in clips posted on the Telegram messaging app.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said on Twitter: “Russia attacked Ukraine coldly and cowardly 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 pile up.

Ukraine’s top command said on Sunday that Russia had launched 31 missiles and 12 airstrikes across the country in the past 24 hours.

The latest attacks have damaged infrastructure in Sumy, in the country’s northeast, Khmelnytskyi in the west, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the southeast and south, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said.

They followed many bombings in recent months, which Russia mainly aimed at Ukraine’s energy and water infrastructure.

Earlier in the evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Ukrainians would fight until they were victorious.

“We are fighting and will continue to fight. For the sake of the key word: “victory,” he said in a New Year’s speech, as his country again faced Russian attacks.

“I want to say to all of you: Ukrainians, you are incredible! Look what we’ve done and what we’re doing!’ said Zelensky in the emotional speech.

“We fight as one team – the whole country, all our regions. I admire you all. I want to thank every invincible region of Ukraine,” he continued.

Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, gave a belligerent New Year’s speech, signaling that the war, now in its 11th month, will continue.

As Russian regions in the Far East called in 2023, the Russian leader delivered his midnight speech — mostly against the backdrop of the Kremlin — standing between servicemen and women fighting in Ukraine.

Footage released by Russian state television shows Putin raising a glass of champagne with soldiers, some with decorations on their chests, before telling viewers that “moral, historical correctness is on our side.”

Putin said this year was marked by “truly crucial, fateful events” that became “the border that lays the foundation for our common future, for our true independence.”

“Today we are fighting for this and protecting our people in our own historical territories, in the new constituent parts 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.”

Earlier on Saturday, there were more than 10 explosions in the Ukrainian capital.

Klitschko said on social media that at least one person died as a result of Saturday’s attacks, while the city government said 22 others were injured.

An explosion tore open a corner of the four-star Alfavito hotel in Kiev, sending debris onto the street.

Nearby sidewalks were covered in glass from blown-out windows in the area, including from the National Palace of Arts in Kiev.

Filmmaker Yaroslav Mutenko, 23, lives in a nearby apartment complex and said he was in the shower preparing 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 a previous attack in October, but nothing as loud as Saturday’s explosion.

Watching rescuers cordon off the street in front of 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 composure, 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 close by.’

The attacks come as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine enters its 11th month, with Russian strikes systematically targeting energy infrastructure, leaving millions out in the cold and dark in the middle of winter.

Strikes were also reported yesterday in the southern city of Mykolaiv, where seven people were injured, according to a local official.

The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkievych, had previously said that a fire had broken out in one of the city’s districts and several residential buildings suffered damage as a result of the strikes.

In western Ukraine, at least four people were injured in the Khmelnytskyi region, Governor Sergiy Gamaly said, adding that part of the city of Khmelnytskyi was without power.