Russia strikes Ukraine hours before the New Year
The Russian President broadcast his New Year message, with soldiers in tow – but one line showed a huge double standard.
Vladimir Putin is showing no signs of regret or rethinking of his war in Ukraine, telling his nation on New Year’s Eve that “historical rightness” was on their side.
But in a bold show of hypocrisy, Putin claimed he was protecting Russia’s “sovereignty” while simultaneously going about destroying the sovereignty of another nation Russia had sworn to protect and respect.
Putin’s nine-minute long holiday message came as Russian missiles targeted Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, just hours before New Year’s Eve celebrations.
One person is reported to have died in the attack and 30 per cent of Kyiv had no electricity.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky hit back at Russia in his own New Year message, which he pointedly gave in Russian as well as Ukrainian.
New Year is a major holiday in both countries.
“A terrorist state will not be forgiven. And those who give orders for such strikes and those who carry them out, will not receive a pardon,” Mr Zelensky said in the video message which came after the attacks.
“Ukraine will not forgive”.
One dead in fresh attacks
Russia’s latest wave of attacks came in the early afternoon.
According to Ukraine’s army, Russia launched 20 cruise missiles on Saturday, with 12 shot down.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on social media that at least one person died as a result of the attacks and 20 others were injured.
An explosion tore open one corner of the four-star Hotel Alfavito in Kyiv, spilling rubble into the street.
Filmmaker Yaroslav Mutenko, 23, lives in a nearby apartment complex and said he was in the shower preparing to go to a New Year’s Eve party when he heard a boom.
As he watched rescue workers cordon off the street in front of the hotel, he told AFP he still planned to go to the party.
“Our enemies the Russians can destroy our calm but they cannot destroy our spirit,” he said.
“Why do I go celebrate with friends? Because this year I understand that it is important to have people near.”
Strikes were also reported in the southern city of Mykolaiv where a local official said six people were injured. In the west, at least seven people were wounded in the Khmelnytskyi region.
Putin’s stunning hypocrisy in New Year message
As Russian regions in the Far East rang in 2023, the Russian leader delivered his midnight address — usually set against the backdrop of the Kremlin — this year standing among servicemen and women who fought in Ukraine.
Footage released by Russian state TV showed Putin raising a glass of champagne with soldiers, some with awards pinned to their chest.
In his traditional New Year’s Eve address, broadcast by channels just before midnight, Putin seemed in no mind to cease what he calls a “special military operation”, telling Russians that “moral, historical rightness is on our side”.
Putin said that this year was marked by “truly pivotal, fateful events” which became “the frontier that lays the foundation for our common future, for our true independence”.
“Today we are fighting for this, protecting our people in our own historical territories, in the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation,” he added, referring to four Ukrainian regions that Russia claimed to have annexed.
“Historical territories” could also refer to areas outside of Russia’s borders that Putin covets under the justification that they are part of some wider Russian world – no matter what the residents of these nations want.
But there was one line that was even more jarring.
“We always knew, and today it is confirmed to us yet again, that a sovereign, independent and secure future for Russia depends only on us, on our strength and will,” he said.
Putin spoke of “sovereignty” yet ignored the rights of a sovereign Ukraine to look after its own affairs and decide its own destiny.
In fact, in 1993, Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum. This stated that in return for Ukraine delivering it’s share of the former USSR’s nuclear weapons to Moscow, Russia would “respect the signatory’s independence and sovereignty in the existing borders” and not threaten its neighbours.
The Russia leader also said the invasion was the West’s fault for “provoking” Moscow.
“The West lied about peace. It was preparing for aggression … and now they are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and split Russia,” he said.
‘Putin wants to stay in power until he dies’
For his part, President Zelensky gave a message in both Ukrainian and Russian. He said Putin’s aim was simply to remain as President.
“All this war that you are waging, you – Russia, it is not the war with NATO, as your propagandists lie.
“It is not for something historical. It’s for one person to remain in power until the end of his life.”
Mr Zelensky claimed that Putin “was not concerned” about how that aim might affect everyday Russians such as those sent into battle.
“(The) Russian leader is hiding behind the troops, behind missiles, behind the walls of his residences and palaces.
“He hides behind you and burns your country and your future. No one will ever forgive you for terror,” Mr Zelensky said.
He once again called for more arms from Western nations to combat Russia’s attacks.
Also on New Year’s Eve, Moscow and Kyiv did a prisoner swap without about 140 prisoners returning to Ukraine.
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