Ukrainians woke up to a grim 2023 Sunday, reeling from more sirens and fresh missile attacks as the death toll from Russia’s massive New Year’s Eve assault across the country climbed to at least three.
KYIV, Ukraine —
Shortly after midnight, air raid alerts sounded in the capital, followed by a barrage of missiles that interrupted. Ukrainian officials say Russia is now deliberately targeting civilians, seeking to create a climate of fear and destroy morale.“Of course it was hard to celebrate fully because we understand that our soldiers can’t be with their family,” Evheniya Shulzhenko said while sitting with her husband on a park bench overlooking the city.
But a “really powerful” end-of-year speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on New Year’s Eve lifted her spirits and made her proud to be Ukrainian, Shulzhenko said. She recently moved to Kyiv after living in Bakhmut and Kharkiv, two cities that have experienced some of the heaviest fighting of the war.
Multiple blasts rocked the capital and other areas of Ukraine on Saturday and through the night, wounding dozens. An AP photographer at the scene of an explosion in Kyiv on Saturday saw a woman’s body as her husband and son stood nearby. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two schools were damaged, including a kindergarten.
The strikes came 36 hours after widespread missile attacks Russia launched Thursday to damage energy infrastructure facilities. Saturday’s