At least one dead in explosions across Kyiv as Russia launches dozens of missiles into Ukraine – and Putin’s defence minister tells troops victory ‘like New Year, is inevitable’

• Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed today’s strikes killed at least one person
• Russia has bombarded Ukraine with missiles and kamikaze drones this week 
• Latest series of strikes come as Putin’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu delivered an ominous New Year’s Eve address to Russian troops today

At least ten explosions rung out in the centre of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv amid a nationwide air raid siren today as bitter fighting continues to rage along the frontlines.

Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed that explosions could be heard in the city in a post on the Telegram app and said at least one person had been killed. 

It is the latest attack suffered by Ukraine in a week which has already seen one of the most brutal one-day bombardments of the war-torn country by Russian missiles and kamikaze drones of the war so far.

The strikes come as 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’.

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

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.’

Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said victory for Russia over Ukraine was ‘inevitable’ as he hailed his troops’ ‘heroism’ in a New Year’s video message.

Moscow’s defence chief, who has been heavily criticised by pro-war voices in Russia for battlefield failures during the 10-month campaign, said the situation on the frontlines remained ‘difficult’ and lambasted Ukraine and the West for trying to contain Russia.

A local resident Yana embraces a friend as she reacts next to her mother’s house damaged during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 29, 2022

Smoke rises after a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 31, 2022

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu salutes during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022

‘We meet the New Year in a difficult military-political situation,’ Shoigu said. 

‘At a time when there are those who are trying to erase our glorious history and great achievements, demolish monuments to the victors over fascism, put war criminals on a pedestal, cancel and desecrate everything Russian.’

With bloody fighting ongoing across the 600-mile frontline, and Russia not having secured any territorial gains since the first months of the war, Shoigu told Russian soldiers: ‘Victory, like the New Year, is inevitable.’

Shoigu also praised the ‘immortal actions, selfless courage and heroism’ shown by Russian troops fighting what he called ‘neo-Nazism and terrorism’.

Kyiv and the West have rejected Russia’s assertion it is fighting ‘Nazis’ in Ukraine as a baseless pretext for President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to seize territory and topple Volodymyr Zelensky in a war of unprovoked aggression.

Moscow had expected swift victory in what it calls a ‘special military operation’, but Ukraine’s spirited resistance and billions of pounds’ worth of Western military aid have helped Kyiv turn the tide of the war and mount a series of stunning counteroffensives.

Ukraine has now reclaimed more than half of the territory seized by Russia during the first weeks of its invasion.

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