• Ukrainian attack on Belgorod: 21 dead and over 100 injured. Russia: “The EU and Britain are responsible, it will not go unpunished”
• Russian missile attack on Ukraine: at least 39 dead and 160 injured
01:48 a.m. – Ukraine: Russian drones over Odessa, one dead and several injured
A Russian drone strike on the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa yesterday left one person dead and several others injured, local authorities said. Ukrainian media reported that debris from crashed planes hit buildings across the port city and caused fires in several residential areas.
1:20 a.m. – Zelensky: “In 2024 we will destroy the Russian armed forces”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to “destroy” the Russian forces that invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago in his year-end speech. “Next year the enemy will suffer the damage to our domestic production,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine will have a million drones in its arsenal next year. Zelensky's message came less than 72 hours after Moscow fired a barrage of missiles and drones into Ukrainian cities, killing 39 people in one of the largest airstrikes since the start of the war. Ukraine will have at least “a million” additional drones in its arsenal next year, the Ukrainian president said, as well as F-16 fighter jets supplied by its Western partners. “Our pilots are already proficient in the F-16 and we will certainly see them in our skies,” he said, “so our enemies can certainly see what our true wrath is.” As the war now enters its third calendar year, Zelensky urged his Western allies to maintain their support despite increasing signs of conflict fatigue. “The Ukrainians are stronger than any intrigue, than any attempt to weaken global solidarity, to undermine the coalition of our allies,” the president said in his message.
1:17 a.m. – Ukraine: Bomb attack in Donetsk, three people killed
Three people were killed in a Ukrainian bomb attack on the city of Donetsk in the early hours of New Year's Eve. Responsibility for the attack is unclear: the Russians blame the Ukrainians and vice versa. Seven people were injured in “heavy shelling” by Ukrainian forces in central Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed head of the wider Donetsk region, whose administrative center is the city of the same name, wrote on Telegram. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia has launched a new night air strike against the Mykolaiv, Odessa and Dnipro regions.
12:15 a.m. – Ukraine: Russian rockets hit Donetsk Oblast, injuring a little girl and an elderly woman
A nine-year-old girl and a 70-year-old woman were injured in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast yesterday. This was announced by the local authorities. Moscow forces fired seven rockets into the city, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said in Telegram. The attack also caused a power outage in parts of central and northern Pokrovsk. At least 16 houses and a gas pipe were damaged.