Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issues rallying cry for 2023

2022-12-31

‘The year of our victory’: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issues rallying cry to mark the start of 2023 as he denounces strikes on his country and accuses Vladimir Putin of hiding

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a rallying New Year’s message
He proclaimed 2023 as ‘the year of our victory’ as Kyiv it hit with more missiles
Zelensky thanked those on the front line and ‘everyone who protects Ukraine’
He also addressed Russian citizens – accusing President Vladimir Putin of ‘hiding’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a rallying cry to mark the start of 2023 as he denounced strikes on his country and accused Russian President Putin of ‘hiding’.

In a video shared on social media platform Telegram, Zelensky roused his citizens and proclaimed 2023 as the incoming ‘year of our victory’.

Zelensky’s message was shared as people in the Ukrainian capital were urged to shelter themselves from what officials described as a barrage of missiles, Sky News reports.

The Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, stated that one person had been killed and 20 others wounded in explosions.

In a joint Twitter post, Zelensky and his wife Olenatold their followers: ‘Want light? It’s in each of us. Today there is only one wish. It will come true not by a miracle, but our work. Fight. Mutual aid. Humanity. Happy New Year! Year of our victory.’

Promising victory against Russia, Zelensky warned that the ‘terrorist state’ would not be pardoned.

He said: ‘Thank you to everyone who protects Ukraine! Thanks to everyone who is now on the front line!’

Switching to Russian, he appeared to tell citizens across the border that Putin ‘hides behind the military’.

Some Ukrainians have defied the danger to return to the country to reunite with families for the New Year’s holiday.

Ukrainian officials claimed Russia was deliberately targeting civilians, seeking to create a climate of fear to see out a grim 2022 and usher in a bloody new year.

First Lady Olena Zelenska expressed outrage that such massive missile attacks could come just before New Year’s Eve celebrations.

‘Ruining lives of others is a disgusting habit of our neighbours,’ she said.

Smoke rises from central Kyiv this morning amid the latest barrage of Russian missile strikes

Putin’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu told soldiers in an ominous New Year’s Eve address today that a Russian victory in Ukraine ‘like the New Year, is inevitable’.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin’s soldiers in an ominous New Year’s Eve address today that victory in Ukraine ‘like the New Year, is inevitable.’

Since October, Russia has been launching near weekly mass missile and drone strikes against civil infrastructure, leaving millions of Ukrainians with no heat or power in the dead of winter.

Moscow yesterday shelled Ukrainian towns across a long stretch of the frontline from north to south, Ukrainian officials said, a day after firing dozens of missiles in a savage barrage of critical infrastructure and civilian centres.

Air attack sirens blared overnight into Friday in Kyiv as Russian forces fired 16 Iranian-made Shahed drones, the officials said.

Meanwhile on the frontlines, Russian forces tried to advance near Bakhmut and Avdiivka, the focal points of their slow-moving campaign to take all of the Donetsk region in the east.

Putin’s troops fired on several towns and villages, including Bakhmut, Kudryumivka just to the south, nearby Soledar, Avdiivka, Maryinka and Nevelske.

A member of the military walks at the site of a building damaged during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 31, 2022

Ukrainian servicemen of an artillery unit fire towards Russian positions on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine on December 30, 2022

Ukrainian servicemen drive an armoured vehicle on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine on December 30, 2022

Rockets fired by Russian forces hit the centre of Ukrainian capital Kyiv on December 31, 2022 after a nationwide air raid siren

Areas of Zaporizhzhia region to the south, also came under Russian shelling, including the contested town of Hulyaipole. There was also shelling in and around Ukrainian-held Nikopol, on the opposite side of the Kakhovka reservoir from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.

On the southern front, there was renewed Russian shelling of infrastructure in the city of Kherson – abandoned by Russian forces last month – and Kachkarivka, further north on the west bank of the Dnipro River.

‘On the whole, we are holding our positions,’ President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the fighting in the east in his nightly video address on Friday.

‘There are also some areas of the front where we are advancing a bit.’

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