Europe 1 with AFP 4:36 p.m., December 31, 2022

On the 311th day of the Russian invasion, Russian strikes targeted several regions of Ukraine on Saturday, including the capital kyiv, where the bombings left at least one dead and several injured, according to local authorities.

In kyiv, the authorities broadcast images from the scene of one of the bombings, which gutted a hotel in the center of the capital.

THE ESSENTIAL

On the last day of 2022, several Ukrainian cities including kyiv were targeted by Russian strikes on Saturday, leaving at least one dead and around 30 injured, at a time when Vladimir Putin affirmed in his New Year's wishes that he had the "correctness moral" on his side.

In Kyiv, AFP journalists heard at least 11 explosions in the early afternoon as the city prepared to celebrate the New Year despite more than ten months of fierce fighting at the front since the invasion of the country by Russia launched in February.

Information to remember:

  • Russian forces fired 20 missiles at several Ukrainian towns, 12 of them were shot down by Ukrainian air defense

  • At least one dead and several wounded are to be deplored after the Russian offensive

  • Vladimir Putin affirmed during this New Year's Eve that "moral and historical correctness" is "on the side" of Russia

At least one dead after Russian strikes 

According to the mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, these strikes left at least one dead and 20 injured.

They tore open the facade of the four-star Alfavito hotel in the center, spreading rubble in the street, according to AFP.

Nearby sidewalks were covered in glass from blown windows, including those in the National Palace of the Arts.

Filmmaker Yaroslav Mutenko, 23, who lives in the area, said he was showering before going to a New Year's Eve party when he heard an explosion.

The latest Russian bombings haven't dampened her desire to go to the party.

"Our enemies, the Russians, can destroy our calm but they cannot destroy our spirit. This year, it is important to have people close to you", he justifies himself.

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 One dead and eight injured in Ukrainian strikes against the Russian region of Belgorod

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian strikes caused destruction and fires in Mykolaiv in the south, where at least six people were injured, and in Khmelnytsky in the west, where four people were injured.

According to Ukrainian Chief of Staff Valery Zalouzhny, Russian forces fired 20 cruise missiles, including from strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea, 12 of which were shot down by anti-aircraft defense.

After several military setbacks on the front, Russia has opted since October for a tactic of bombing Ukrainian infrastructure, which regularly causes massive cuts in electricity and running water.

Almost at the same time as these strikes, Russian television in the Far East was broadcasting Vladimir Putin's New Year's speech, given the difference in time zones with Moscow.

Standing alongside soldiers who fought in Ukraine and whom he had just decorated in an army headquarters in southern Russia, Mr. Putin assured that “moral and historical correctness” was “on the side” from his country.

"This is what we are fighting for today, protecting our people in our own historical territories, in the new constituent entities of Russia," he said.

Russia claimed in September the annexation of four Ukrainian territories that it controls at least partially, on the pattern of that of the Crimean peninsula in March 2014.

An "inevitable" Russian victory in 2023 for the Minister of Defense

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in his wishes to the military for the new year that their victory in Ukraine was "inevitable", after more than ten months of fighting.

"For next year, I want to wish everyone good health, courage, reliable and dedicated comrades (...) Our victory, like the new year, is inevitable", he launched in a video released by his ministry.

Sergei Shoigu acknowledged that the year 2022 had been marked by "serious challenges" and that the "military-political situation" was "difficult" as the Russian offensive in Ukraine, launched in February, suffered serious setbacks these last months.

A counter-offensive by Ukrainian troops notably forced the Russian army to withdraw from the Kharkiv region in the northeast and from the city of Kherson on the Dnieper in the south of the country.

Russian troops, however, claimed on Saturday the capture of the small village of Dorojnianka, in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, a rare claimed gain as positions are largely frozen with winter.

"The year that is ending will forever enter the military chronicle of the homeland, filled with your immortal deeds, your selfless courage and your heroism in the fight against neo-Nazism and terrorism", Sergei Shoigu further declared in his message to the Russian military.

“We will always remember our comrades who sacrificed themselves performing combat missions in the name of protecting civilians from genocide and violence, just for the right to speak Russian,” he added.

Russia has justified its offensive in Ukraine in particular by a desire to defend the Russian-speaking population of the country against the authorities in kyiv.

This rhetoric has been denounced as propaganda by the Ukrainian authorities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday for his New Year's greetings that "moral and historical correctness" was "on the side" of Russia, in the midst of an offensive in Ukraine and a crisis with Westerners.

According to Mr. Putin, the past year has been marked by "truly decisive and important events" which "lay the foundations (...) for our true independence".

“That is what we are fighting for today, protecting our people in our own historical territories, in the new constituent entities of Russia,” he added.