Ukrainian minister tells Russians that Putin is set to begin a new round of troop mobilisations. This blog is now closed
Russia’s leadership may be preparing a new mobilisation order and could close its border to men within a week, according to Ukraine’s defence minister.
Oleksii Reznikov addressed Russian citizens in a video message on Friday. Speaking in Russian, he warned people who might qualify for mobilisation. “I know for a fact that you have about one week left before you still have any choice.
“In early January, the Russian authorities will close the borders to men, declare martial law, and begin another wave of mobilisation. Borders will also be closed in Belarus.”
Reznikov warned that Russians living in cities would be at particular risk.
Kryrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s intelligence directorate told the BBC on Friday that Russia’s new mobilisation order would start on 5 January.
A man has been killed in the latest wave of airstrikes on Ukraine by Russian forces. His death, in the capital Kyiv, came as another 20 were injured. Of them 14 were taken to hospital. At least one is in a critical condition.
A hotel was one of the buildings hit, as well as a residential area in the centre and west of the city. The affected areas of Kyiv were Solomyansk, Solomyan, Pechersk and Holosiivsk.
Among those injured was a Japanese journalist, reporting on the conflict, who was staying in the hotel. A series of 10 explosions were heard in the first wave.
The attacks mimic those on Christmas Eve, as Russia looks to damage Ukrainian morale ahead of holidays.
Six people were injured in the southern region of Mykolaiv, with another two hurt in the western city, Khmelnytskyi.
Homes were damaged in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.
Water and electricity supplies are still working in Kyiv, although some were turned off preventively amid the air raid alert.
The attacks were condemned by first lady, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s wife, Olena Zelenska. “Ruining lives of others is a disgusting habit of our neighbours,” she said.
Meanwhile Ukrainians are marking their first new year since the invasion, including with a rave organised by servicemen and women.
Russian leaders have issued a series of defiant messages ahead of new year. President Vladimir Putin said Russia would “never give in” to the west, and was fighting for its “motherland, truth and justice … so that Russia’s security can be guaranteed”. It was his longest new year’s address in his two decades in charge.
The defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said victory for Russia over Ukraine was “inevitable”.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said that Russia may be preparing a new mobilisation order and could close its border to men eligible to fight within a week.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged more than 200 captured soldiers, the latest prisoner swap between the two sides.
The US is concerned by China’s alignment with Russia as Moscow continues its invasion of Ukraine, the US said after the presidents of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, held a video meeting on Friday.
Russian authorities have announced that soldiers and state employees deployed in Ukraine will be exempt from income tax, in the latest effort to encourage support for its military operation there.
The second barrage of major Russian missile attacks in three days, which killed at least one person, badly damaged a Kyiv hotel and a residential building.
Energy minister German Galushchenko wrote on Facebook the strikes had not caused serious damage to the national power system.
DTEK, the country’s largest private energy company, later said it had cancelled emergency power outages in Kyiv and the surrounding region, Reuters reports.
At least one person has been killed and 20 injured in a wave of airstrikes on Ukraine by Russian forces on New Year’s Eve after a hotel and a residential area in the centre and west of the capital were targeted.
The FT’s Christopher Miller has tweeted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s video message addressing Russians in Russian after the cruise missile attack.
Zelensky, addressing Russians in Russian after todays NYE missile attack: “Your leader wants to show that he has the military behind him, that he is leading. But he’s just hiding. Hiding behind the military, behind missiles, behind the walls of his residences and palaces…” pic.twitter.com/maHONoi2pA
Zelensky to Russians continued: “He hides behind you and burns your country and your future. Terror will never forgive you. No one in the world will forgive you for this. Ukraine will not forgive.”
Here is more from Vladimir Putin’s new year video message that his country is fighting in Ukraine to protect its “motherland”, and to secure “true independence”, as Russia unleashes its second major wave of rocket attacks on the country in three days.
Ukrainian officials said explosions were reported throughout the country on New Year’s Eve.
In the nine-minute message aired on Russian state television – the longest such address of his two-decade rule – Putin blamed the west for provoking the war and attempting to “weaken and split Russia”.
Standing in front of a group of men and women in military fatigues, Putin said: “It was a year that put a lot in its place … This year demonstrated that there is no higher power than love for one’s family and friends, loyalty to friends and comrades, devotion to one’s fatherland.”
The time is approaching 6pm on New Year’s Eve in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, on a day where a man has been killed in missile attacks on the city.
A man has been killed in the latest wave of airstrikes on Ukraine by Russian forces. His death, in the capital Kyiv, came as another 20 were injured. Of them 14 were taken to hospital. At least one is in a critical condition.
A hotel was one of the buildings hit, as well as a residential area in the centre and west of the city. The affected areas of Kyiv were Solomyansk, Solomyan, Pechersk and Holosiivsk.
Among those injured was a Japanese journalist, reporting on the conflict, who was staying in the hotel. A series of 10 explosions were heard in the first wave.
The attacks mimic those on Christmas Eve, as Russia looks to damage Ukrainian morale ahead of holidays.
Six people were injured in the southern region of Mykolaiv, with another two hurt in the western city, Khmelnytskyi.
Homes were damaged in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.
Water and electricity supplies are still working in Kyiv, although some were turned off preventively amid the air raid alert.
The attacks were condemned by first lady, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s wife, Olena Zelenska. “Ruining lives of others is a disgusting habit of our neighbours,” she said.
Meanwhile Ukrainians are marking their first new year since the invasion, including with a rave organised by servicemen and women.
Russian leaders have issued a series of defiant messages ahead of new year. President Vladimir Putin said Russia would “never give in” to the west, and was fighting for its “motherland, truth and justice … so that Russia’s security can be guaranteed”. It was his longest new year’s address in his two decades in charge.
The defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said victory for Russia over Ukraine was “inevitable”.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said that Russia may be preparing a new mobilisation order and could close its border to men eligible to fight within a week.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged more than 200 captured soldiers, the latest prisoner swap between the two sides.
The US is concerned by China’s alignment with Russia as Moscow continues its invasion of Ukraine, the US said after the presidents of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, held a video meeting on Friday.
Russian authorities have announced that soldiers and state employees deployed in Ukraine will be exempt from income tax, in the latest effort to encourage support for its military operation there.
That’s all from me today. I’ll leave you in the company of Nadeem Badshah, who will keep you up to date for the rest of the evening.
A piece here from US news network NBC, as it reports on partygoers in Kyiv who are seeking to gather to celebrate the first new year since Russia’s invasion.
An industrial warehouse vibrated to the thud of speakers ahead of the new year as a group of young revelers in the Ukrainian capital seized the opportunity to briefly forget the bitter tune of warning sirens and missile blasts that has dominated the past 10 months.
Dozens gathered in this dilapidated corner of Kyiv on Friday to party, determined to celebrate – if only for one DJ set – despite the destruction Russia continued to rain down ahead of 2023.
It was one of a number of smaller events planned around Kyiv and other cities to mark the occasion, as a show of defiance against Moscow’s bombardment and in some cases as an opportunity to raise funds for Ukraine’s military.
“The main message of this party is that the war isn’t stopping and we shouldn’t stop either. We should continue to do our thing, to work, to party, to be strong,” said one of the party’s organisers, who goes by the nickname Ugly Boy and declined to provide his real name out of fears for the safety of his wife, an active servicemember who also helped to organise the event.
Dressed in a skin-tight black vinyl top, hot pants, tights, platform boots and black contact lenses, Ugly Boy looked every bit a holiday partygoer. But the timing of the event – daytime on Friday, the day before New Year’s Eve – was unusual.
He and fellow party organiser Tamara, 24 – who declined to give her last name out of security fears because she is an active service member – explained that many of the revelers were military personnel on leave, and the event had been held early to allow them to celebrate the new year with their families.
The timing was also set to comply with a strict curfew of 11 pm local time (6 pm ET), that will be in place when the clock strikes midnight.
“The purpose of this event, first of all, is to let people rest a bit before the new year. It’s primarily for the servicemen and women to have a good time, and also a form of gratitude to them,” Tamara said.
In a nod to the party’s patriotic underpinnings, the raving paused at one point for a blast of Ukraine’s national anthem.
In other attacks on Ukrainian cities, six people have been injured in the southern region of Mykolaiv, according to governor Vitalii Kim on regional TV.
Reuters reported that in a separate post on Telegram, Kim said Russia had targeted civilians with the strikes, which would constitute a war crime. Russia has repeatedly denied this.
Two people were hurt in a drone attack on the western city of Khmelnytskyi on Saturday. A strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia had damaged residential buildings.
Another update on the air strikes on Kyiv from the Ukrainian capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
He said one person has been confirmed as killed, with 20 injured.
Of those 20, 14 have been taken to hospital and six treated on the scene. One of those hurt was a Japanese journalist staying at the hotel hit by a missile.
The air raid alert for Kyiv has now ended, according to a Ukrainian official.
Ukraine’s military commander said 12 of the 20 missiles fired at Kyiv were stopped by air defences.
More explosions have been heard in Kyiv and the surrounding region, reports Reuters.
It comes after a first wave of Russian missile attacks were launched earlier after a warning went out to people across Ukraine (see also 12:08).
Reuters reported that 10 explosions were heard in the first wave.