Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expected Saturday victory over Russia in the war in 2023, saying that this will be achieved through hard work, not miracles, as well as the assistance of foreign partners, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his speech on the occasion of the New Year that "the moral and historical right is on the side." Russia.
Zelensky said in his message via Telegram, "Do you want faith and hope? Both have been in the (Ukrainian) armed forces for a long time (...) Do you want light? It is in each of us, despite the power outages," whose supply is experiencing major disruptions due to the heavy Russian bombing. .
He concluded his message, "Happy New Year. The year of our victory," and that was 10 and a half months after the start of the war against his country on February 24, 2022, calling on his citizens to "work, struggle, and exchange assistance."
Zelensky alluded to the repeated Russian strikes that have severely damaged the power generation system, saying that light can be found inside every person, even when the electricity is out.
In a previous speech addressed to the Russian people, Zelensky said that Putin wants to burn Russia and its future, as he put it, stressing that the Ukrainian army will win the war and that it will restore freedom and security to all Ukrainians, as he put it.
"A terrorist state will not be forgiven," he added in the daily message, which was published earlier than usual on Saturday. "Those who order such attacks and those who carry them out will not be spared."
"No one in the world will forgive you. Ukraine will never forgive you," he said.
Part of the effects of the Russian bombing of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv (Anatolia)
Putin and the moral right
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed yesterday, Saturday, in his speech to congratulate the Russian people on the occasion of the New Year, that "the moral and historical right is on the side" of his country.
Putin accused the West of lying and hypocrisy about efforts to resolve the conflict in Donbass peacefully.
He said that the past year was a year of difficult decisions, and that the West wanted to exploit Ukraine to weaken and divide Russia, as he put it.
The Russian President emphasized that his country will never give in to Western attempts to use Ukraine as a tool to destroy Russia, he said.
For his part, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev confirmed that the coming year will not be easy, and said in a message on the occasion of the new year that Russia's enemies will try to break it and subdue it, and that victory will be his country's ally.
In turn, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a video message to congratulate members of the Russian armed forces on the occasion of the New Year, that victory in the Russian military operation is a must.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country will not surrender to Western attempts to use Ukraine as a tool to destroy Russia (Anatolia)
Explosions rock Kyiv
At the field level, violent explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as a result of missile strikes, as part of a wave of Russian missile strikes that targeted several Ukrainian cities.
The Ukrainian military command said it shot down 12 missiles, six in Kyiv, five in Zhitomir and one in Khmelnytskyi, out of 20 launched from the Caspian Sea by Russian forces.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that the Russian attack on the center of the capital, Kyiv, on Saturday, did not target any military sites.
The Ukrainian authorities reported that the Russian bombing of Kyiv killed one person and wounded 13 others, including a Japanese journalist.
She said that two schools were subjected to varying degrees of damage as a result of the Russian bombing, as well as a hotel in the capital was destroyed, and the theater of the Ukraine Palace was damaged due to the missile attack.
In Mykolaiv, the mayor of the city said that six people were injured as a result of Russian bombing of the province, and the Ukrainian army declared air alert in the provinces of Odessa, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south of the country, after its air defenses shot down a number of Russian missiles in these provinces.
In the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, the Acting President of the pro-Russian Luhansk Republic, Leonid Baschenk, said that the situation on the front is complicated because the fighting is not only against the Ukrainian army, but there are thousands of foreign mercenaries fighting in the ranks of what he called the hostile side.
For its part, the Ukrainian Operations Command in Donbass said that it had regained control of the town of Novoselevska in Lugansk province, after days of battles with the Russian army.
For his part, the governor of the Ukrainian Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, said that the liberation of the city of Kremina is imminent.
All-out missile attack
For his part, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the Russian comprehensive missile attack, this time deliberately targeting residential areas.
Kuleba described the Russian president as a war criminal who celebrates the New Year by killing people.
For his part, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushenko said that thanks to the excellent air defense systems and the early technical measures taken, serious damage to the Ukrainian energy system has been avoided, he said, noting that energy sector employees are working non-stop to restore energy supplies.
The Ukrainian minister described what happened as the most difficult Christmas and New Year holiday in the country's history.
In a related context, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said that 1596 Ukrainians have been returned from Russian captivity since the beginning of the war in the country.
She added that 140 of them were exchanged on Saturday and that the Ukrainian authorities will continue their efforts to return all the prisoners.
In turn, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the recovery of 82 Russian military personnel from captivity through an exchange operation conducted with the Ukrainian side on Saturday.