• Zelenskyy predicted Ukrainians wouldn’t forgive Russia after Saturday’s attacks.
• Overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force destroyed 45 Iranian kamikaze drones.
• Some citizens chanted the national anthem as explosions shook the city.

Russians have been told by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that their president is ruining their nation.

Mr. Zelenskyy claimed that Vladimir Putin was hiding behind his troops rather than leading them after the Russian president delivered a New Year’s address flanked by soldiers.

Ukraine had a day of horrific attacks on Saturday, and Mr. Zelenskyy predicted that Ukrainians would not forgive Russia.

In the attacks, at least one person killed and numerous more were hurt.

Valerii Zaluzhny, the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, reported that 12 out of 20 Russian cruise missiles were destroyed on Saturday by air defenses.

Just hours into the New Year on Sunday, more missile attacks were reported on Kyiv, according to officials. 45 Iranian-made kamikaze drones, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, were destroyed overnight.

However, the strikes, which occurred in the first few hours of 2023, inflamed Ukrainians who were already fed up with Russia’s relentless aerial onslaught.

Some citizens chanted the national anthem as explosions shook the city, and officials accused Russia of purposefully targeting people who were gathered to ring in the New Year.

The head of the Kyiv police, Andriy Nebitov, shared a photo on social media of a wrecked drone with the Russian greeting “Happy New Year” scrawled over it.

He said that the remains had crashed in a playground and remarked on Facebook, “That is everything you need to know about the terror state and its army.”

Two days had passed since one of the biggest airstrikes since the beginning of the war before the most recent round of bombings. Numerous attacks in recent weeks have resulted in numerous power outages.

Although Mr. Putin recently acknowledged bombing vital energy facilities, Moscow has consistently denied targeting civilians.

In a speech on his Telegram channel, Mr. Zelenskyy referred to those responsible for the attacks on Saturday as cruel.

He then criticized Mr. Putin in Russian after switching to Ukrainian.

“Your leader wants to show you that he’s leading from the front, and his military is behind him,” he said.

“But in fact he is hiding. He’s hiding behind his military, his missiles, the walls of his residences and palaces.

“He’s hiding behind you, and he’s burning your country and your future. No-one will forgive you for terror. No-one in the world will forgive you for that. Ukraine will not forgive.”

Mr Zelenskyy later gave a new year’s address to the Ukrainian people, thanking them for their “incredible” efforts in repelling Russian advances.

“We fight as one team – the whole country, all our regions. I admire you all. I want to thank every invincible region of Ukraine,” he said.

Mr. Putin also issued a new year address which was broadcast for each of Russia’s 11 time zones as they saw in 2023.

The Russian leader tried to rally people behind his troops fighting in Ukraine, saying the country’s future was at stake.

In combative mood, Mr. Putin said: “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 presented the invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory as “defending our people and our historical lands” and said “moral, historical rightness is on our side”.

Mr. Putin also accused the West of “provoking” Moscow to launch its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

“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.

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