At least three civilians were killed across the country on New Year’s Eve, and Ukrainians faced a grim start to 2023 as Russian missile and drone attacks resumed on Sunday.
After midnight, a barrage of missiles halted the quiet celebrations being held in homes across the city. Officials in Ukraine say that Moscow attacked civilians and important infrastructure in order to make people afraid and discouraged before the long winter.
Sunday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lauded his countrymen for their “sense of unity, of authenticity, of life itself.” “They will not take away a single year from Ukraine,” he declared. “We can keep our autonomy from them and will not give them anything.”
According to Zelenskyy, Ukrainian air and ground forces successfully shot down 45 Russian explosive drones made in Iran on Saturday night and early Sunday morning.