KYIV – Ukrainians braced for further attacks as they ushered in another likely difficult year on January 1, with death and destruction from Russian missile strikes continuing to terrorize Ukrainian cities and dampening any New Year's celebrations.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities on December 31 said the death toll from a purported Ukrainian attack on the Russian city of Belgorod reached 24 people, with dozens of others injured as the Kremlin vowed revenge for the strike, which took place some 25 kilometers inside the border.
Kyiv did not immediately comment on the Belgorod attack, but it regularly says the region is used by the Kremlin’s forces to launch air strikes against Ukrainian cities.
Both sides regularly deny targeting civilian areas, although Russia has been regularly condemned for such attacks.
One year ago, Russia launched a rocket and drone onslaught against Ukraine, with New Year’s Day blasts killing at least three civilians and wounding dozens of others.
This year, in a New Year's Eve message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that "we Ukrainians know better than anyone else that a better tomorrow does not come on its own, because we defend each of our tomorrows with our own hands.
"Not only a New Year's, but also a year-round, a miracle is within all of you: decisive, responsible, caring, and effective.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin in his annual address broadcast on state television called on Russians not to look back but to “move forward and create the future.”
He praised Russia’s military, which invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022 on a full-scale basis and has been fighting there ever since. Putin stood against a background of the Kremlin during the low-key address. He did not mention the December 30 incident in Belgorod.
Ukrainian officials said 28 people were injured in the attacks on Kharkiv -- a city of some 1.4 million people -- and that 12 people had been hospitalized.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported that “among the victims is a journalist from Great Britain,” without providing additional information. One of the missiles struck the five-star Kharkiv Palace Hotel.
WATCH: Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, woke up to Russian missile and drone strikes on December 31. Ukrainian authorities say 28 people were injured in the barrage.
Separately, Germany’s ZDF broadcaster said a seven-person television crew was hit by the Russian missile strike on the hotel, with a Ukrainian translator being seriously injured.
“This is another attack by Russia on the free press,” ZDF Editor in Chief Bettina Schausten said.
Following the purported Ukrainian attack on Belgorod, Russian authorities said New Year's celebrations had been canceled in a number of Russian cities.
While the attack on Belgorod and the Kremlin’s retaliatory strike on Kharkiv took the spotlight as 2023 came to an end, deadly fighting and missile strikes continued elsewhere as well.
Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Ukrainian regional military administration in Kherson, said a Russian strike killed a teenager and injured another child in the southern Ukrainian city on December 31.
Prokudin wrote on Facebook that a 14-year-old boy died on the spot when a store was hit in the city, while a 9-year-old boy was in “extremely serious” condition with a traumatic brain injury. Prokudin later said that two women were also injured in the attack.
