NEW YEAR’S EVE: Ukraine Shoots Down 12 Of 20 Russian Missiles, As Explosions Rock Kyiv

Ukraine’s air defence shot down 12 out of 20 missiles launched by Russia on Saturday afternoon, hours before New Year’s Eve celebrations, the Ukrainian army said.

Russia “launched more than 20 cruise missiles… Our air defence destroyed 12 cruise missiles,” Ukraine’s commander-in-chief General Valeriy Zaluzhny said on social media, adding that six of them were shot down over the capital Kyiv.

Earlier , several blasts shook Kyiv on Saturday afternoon with air raid sirens sounding in the Ukrainian capital.

At least ten explosions were heard in the city, according to AFP journalists, with local authorities announcing an air raid alert and urging residents to go to shelters.

The strikes targeted several regions of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, where the attacks killed at least one person and wounded several others, Ukrainian officials said.

People gather at the bottom of a hotel, which has been partially destroyed by a Russian strike in the center of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv on December 31, 2022. AFP.

“An elderly man died in Kyiv and seven others were injured as a result of two explosions… in Solomyanskyi district,” Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on social media.

He added that one person was in an “extremely severe condition”.

AFP journalists in Kyiv heard at least 10 explosions in the early afternoon.

Rescuers and policemen work at the bottom of a hotel, which has been partially destroyed by a Russian strike in the center of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv on December 31, 2022.

Attacks were also reported in the southern Mykolaiv region, where governor Vitaliy Kim said at least two people were wounded, “one of them badly”.

Oleksandr Sienkievych, the mayor of the region’s main city of the same name, said a fire broke out in one of its districts and several residential buildings sustained damage as a result of the strikes.Several people were also injured, he added.

In the west, at least four people were wounded in the Khmelnytskyi region, governor Sergiy Gamaliy said, urging residents to stay in shelters.

 

AFP