New Year’s Day was a day of mourning for Ukraine for those killed from Russia’s massive missile strikes Friday.
Five more bodies have been found under rubble in Kyiv after massive Russian airstrikes three days ago, city authorities said Monday, raising the death toll in the Ukrainian capital from that attack to 28.
"Sincere condolences to all those who lost relatives and loved ones ... terrorists who kill civilians will never be forgiven for the blood spilled on Ukrainian soil," Kyiv's military governor, Serhiy Popko, wrote on Telegram.
Russia and Ukraine charge each other with reported deadly attacks Monday.
The Russia-installed head of the occupied Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine — Denis Pushilin said shelling in the city of Donetsk, killed four people and injured 13 others.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry called the shelling of Donetsk a "terrorist act" that it said was aimed at civilian infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Kyiv said Russia had hit the country with a "record" number of drones on New Year's Day.
In southern Ukraine, Governor Oleh Kiper said falling debris from a thwarted Russian drone attack hit residential buildings in Odesa, killing one person and wounding three others.
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down several drones in the Lviv region in western Ukraine, officials there said.
Overall, Ukraine’s air force said Monday that Russia launched a record 90 drones in multiple waves, with Ukrainian air defenses downing 87 of them.
Intensified Russian strikes
President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia would intensify strikes on military targets in Ukraine, after the deadly Ukrainian attack on the Russian city of Belgorod Saturday, which killed 24 people and left over 100 wounded and came after Moscow’s massive attacks across Ukraine.
During a visit at a military hospital Monday, Putin called Ukraine’s attack in Belgorod “a terrorist act,” accusing Ukrainian forces of targeting "right in the city center, where people were walking around, before New Year's Eve" and alleged they had "purposefully hit the civilian population."
He said Russia would continue to hit what he called "military installations" and added that he believed the "strategic initiative" in the drawn-out conflict in Ukraine was on the Russian side. He claimed that Moscow wanted an end to the almost two-year long war but, he stressed, "only on our terms," according to Russia's state-run TASS news agency.
The Russian president repeated his assertion that Ukraine is being used by the West to "settle its problems" with Russia.
Zelenskyy address
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a New Year’s address that in 2024, Russia “will feel the wrath of our domestic production,” including “at least a million” Ukrainian drones.
He alluded to the recent Ukrainian attack on a Russian ship in Crimea, saying “our actions in the Black Sea have become a dark chapter” in the history of Russia’s fleet.
“And no matter how many missiles the enemy fires, no matter how many shellings and attacks – vile, ruthless, massive – the enemy carries out in an attempt to break Ukrainians, intimidate them, knock Ukraine down, drive them underground, we will still rise,” Zelenskyy said. “Because the one who brings hell to our land will one day see it from his own window.”
Zelenskyy said that while Ukraine does not know for certain what the new year will bring, “Whatever it brings, we will be stronger.”
Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
