According to Governor Oleg Kiper, one person died in Odessa. The Russian occupiers in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Horlivka reported massive artillery fire in which four people were killed.
Explosions over Kiev, Kherson and Kharkiv
According to Kiper, several buildings in the port city were hit by parts of “downed drones”. Fires broke out in residential buildings in various parts of the city. There were also three injured. In Donetsk, Russian-appointed regional administrator Denis Pushilin spoke of four dead and 13 injured. Ukrainian media also reported explosions over Kiev, Kherson and Kharkiv. Explosions of New Year’s Eve rockets and firecrackers also cause unrest, although these are actually forbidden during wartime.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted his country’s strength in his New Year’s address. “The most important result of the year, his greatest achievement: Ukraine has become stronger. Ukrainians have become stronger,” Zelensky said on Sunday in a 20-minute video message from his office in Kiev. “When at the beginning of 2023 … we survived, without exaggeration, the harshest winter in history. When we proved that Ukrainians are tougher than cold and darkness. Stronger than power outages and the threat of blackouts.” The Ukrainians are stronger “than all blockades and vetoes, than all disbelief and skepticism.”
“… so that the enemies may recognize our anger”
In his speech, Zelensky highlighted the start of EU accession negotiations, the establishment of a corridor for grain deliveries on the Black Sea and the total of 156 military support packages for his country in the past year as successes. Also, the Ukrainian pilots have already mastered the F-16 fighter jets “and we will definitely see them in the air so that the enemies will realize our true wrath. And next year the enemy will also face the wrath of domestic (arms) production sense.”
Regarding the question of whether the Ukrainian army has enough troops, he called on those who “are still hesitant to make a courageous decision next year to defend, work for and help their own country “.
Hardly any information about the situation on the front line
Zelensky’s message contained little direct reference to the situation on the 1,000-kilometer-long front line or to the counteroffensive that began in June, which has not brought resounding success. Nor did he mention the political and diplomatic difficulties of obtaining further military and other aid from both the US Congress and the European Union. “Just like last December 31, we say today: ‘We don’t know with certainty what the new year will bring us.’ But this year we can add: ‘No matter what happens, we will be stronger.'”
