Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv rocked by explosions in early hours of new year; one dead, dozens injured

Several people were hurt and at least one person was killed in Saturday's attacks on Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, according to the AFP news agency. There were reports of about ten explosions throughout different parts of Ukraine.

Reuters published this just after Ukrainian leaders threatened another major missile assault from Russia. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, stated that three explosions had happened in the city as air raid sirens sounded throughout the nation. One of the bombings had occurred in a residential section of the Solomyanskyi district, he added.

Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reported that a vehicle was damaged by debris from a missile that was intercepted and destroyed by Ukrainian air defences, but that there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The military administration of Kyiv said that 23 "air objects" fired by Russia had been shot down.

Minutes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wished his nation success in the ongoing struggle he wished for a peaceful new year, the country came under assault.

Reuters sources said they continued to hear explosions after that, but no damage reports came in right thereafter.

The southern district of Kherson and the northern region of Zhytomyr both had unconfirmed reports of explosions.

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's ombudsman for human rights, branded the Saturday bombardment of more than 20 cruise missiles throughout the country "Terror on New Year's Eve."

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Telegram messages from Kyiv city and area authorities confirmed the functionality of air defence systems. Kyiv area governor Oleksiy Kuleba said drones were used in attacks on the region. It was unclear whether or not any targets had been successfully struck.

In a separate development, Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the southern Russian province of Belgorod bordering Ukraine, said that nighttime bombardment of the outskirts of Shebekino town resulted in damages to residences but no injuries.

However, Ukraine has labelled the bombings "karma" for Russia's incursion on February 24 and has never admitted responsibility for them publicly.

(With inputs from Reuters)