Ukraine war: Kyiv rocked by explosion less than an hour into the new year

An explosion rocked the capital of central Ukraine less than an hour into 2023, prompting the mayor saying the air defense system was working to protect the city from Russian attacks.

"Explosion heard in the capital. Air defence is working," Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram after the blast.

The blast happened at at approximately 12:35 am local time.

At least one person was killed and 14 people were injured in a series of explosions that shook Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, indicating that the tempo of Russian strikes had accelerated before the new year.

However, this didn’t stop several Ukrainians from going home for the holidays to be with their relatives.

According to Ukrainian officials, Russia is now purposefully targeting people in an effort to sow anxiety that the year will end gloomily and that 2023 will be horrible.

Olena Zelenska, the first lady, voiced her astonishment that such significant missile attacks could happen so close to New Year's Eve celebrations.

“Ruining lives of others is a disgusting habit of our neighbors,” the woman said.

Moreover, the explosions occurred at an alarmingly rapid pace, only 36 hours after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on Thursday to target energy infrastructure facilities.

Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, emphasized the heavy toll that this most recent onslaught has taken on the civilian population, saying that "this time, Russia’s mass missile attack is deliberately targeting residential areas, not even the energy infrastructure”.

According to Ukrainian military leader Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Russia launched 20 cruise missiles over Ukraine on Saturday afternoon, 12 of which were shot down by Ukrainian forces.

Immediately following Russia's New Year's Eve cruise missile launch over Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video speech in which he claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "hiding behind the military, behind missiles, behind the walls of his residences and palaces."