Deadly Russian strikes hit Ukraine on New Year's Eve

Explosions hit the capital, Kyiv, and other cities on the last day of a year marked by Russian invasion. Flanked by soldiers, Vladimir V. Putin called the invasion a "sacred duty" of the Russians.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia rained down missiles and detonated drones over Ukraine's capital and other cities on Saturday in a deadly New Year's assault, punctuating President Vladimir V. Putin's declared determination to continue a war he called a "sacred duty to our ancestors and our descendants".

Airstrikes killed at least one person and partially destroyed a hotel in the capital, Kyiv, inflicted damage elsewhere and forced public services to war-torn Ukrainians to preemptively shut off the power.

"There are explosions in Kyiv!" Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "Stay in shelters!"

Describing the New Year's Eve assault as "inhumane" and Russia as a "terrorist state", Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky led his rage against Mr. Putin and his subordinates, saying in a videotaped reaction that “those who order such strikes, and those who carry them out, will not receive a pardon. That's an understatement."

Even for locals accustomed to the brazen Russian bombardments, the howl of anti-aircraft sirens and explosive bangs on New Year's Eve were particularly If Mr. Putin's intention was to demoralize them, the air assault only generated more hatred.

ImageA photograph released by the Ukrainian presidential office showing President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena during their New Year's speech.Credit.. .Ukrainian Presidential Office, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images< /figure>

"We know how despicable they are and everyone knew they were ready to attack during the holidays, in theory," said Viktoria Dubrovina, a Kyiv metro retiree who joined others inspecting the damage. ts after sirens stop. “But we hoped something would change. But they did."

In his New Year speech, Mr. Zelensky said that Ukrainians woke up on February 24, the first day of the invasion, "in another life." He said the first Russian missile barrage "finally destroyed the labyrinth of illusions. We saw who was who. What friends and foes are capable of, and above all, what we we are capable."

He added about the coming year, "may this year be the year of return" of soldiers to families, of prisoners to Ukrainian homes and land to Ukraine."Those temporarily occupied will become free forever," he said.

The attacks began in mid afternoon, just hours before Mr. Zelensky delivers a much-anticipated speech in a nation where the Russian invasion has shaped the past 10 months and could last much longer or much longer.

Air defense teams shot down 12 of at least 20 cruise missiles launched by Russia on Saturday afternoon, Ukraine's top military commander said , General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, on Telegram. The missiles had been launched from Russian strategic bombers over the Caspian Sea and land-based launchers, he said.

In his own traditional speech New Year's Eve, Mr. Putin broke away from training and gave the speech not in the Kremlin, but surrounded by soldiers at an unspecified military base. He adopted a defiant tone, repeating that his invasion of Ukraine was a defensive struggle for Russia's existence.

Mr. Zelensky, whose impassioned late-night speeches have become a rallying cry for Ukrainian patriotism and defiance of Russa, had warned on Thursday that the Russian military could launch another wave of missile attacks before any year-end commemoration. Moscow