Russian assaults assault Kyiv, killing one and injuring 20

Not less than one particular person has been killed and 20 wounded within the current spate of Russian assaults on the Ukrainian capital, in accordance with Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

14 of the injured had been taken to hospital and 6 had been handled on the scene. A lodge and a household residence had been hit by rockets, in accordance with Deputy Head of the President’s Workplace Kyrylo Tymoshenko. One of many injured was a Japanese journalist who was staying on the lodge.

Klitschko mentioned different assaults hit Pechersk and Holosiivsk districts within the central and western components of town.

Ukraine’s army commander mentioned 12 missiles fired at Kyiv had been intercepted by air defenses.

Preventing continues within the east

In the meantime, the conflict within the East drags on. Ukrainian troops are combating laborious in Kreminna whereas Russian troops are attacking Bakhmut within the Donetsk area, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday described because the scene of a number of the fiercest combating of the conflict.

Ukrainian official Kirill Budanov mentioned that “the Russian military virtually fully destroyed town of Bakhmut.”

“The town itself is a catastrophe… In my understanding, this metropolis mainly now not exists as a metropolis. Sure areas are undoubtedly not topic to restoration. I am not a builder, but it surely’s simpler to construct this metropolis from scratch than to rebuild it,” Budanov mentioned on TV.

Putin’s New 12 months’s speech

Throughout his New 12 months’s tackle to the nation, Russian chief Vladimir Putin slammed Western nations’ “aggression” and claimed they had been attempting to make use of the battle in Ukraine to undermine Moscow.

In his nine-minute message, President Putin accused the West of scary Moscow and mentioned Russia was combating in Ukraine to realize “true independence” for its individuals.

“It was a 12 months of inauspicious, obligatory choices, crucial steps in the direction of gaining full sovereignty of Russia and highly effective consolidation of our society,” he mentioned.

“The West lied in regards to the peace however ready for aggression and at present admits this overtly and now not embarrassed. And they’re cynically utilizing Ukraine and its individuals to weaken and divide Russia,” Putin mentioned.