The Ukrainian crisis

– After an unsuccessful attempt to capture Soledar, the enemy gathered, changed tactics and launched a new intense attack, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar writes in Telegram.

He claims that it is mainly Russian private army Wagner mercenaries who are leading the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has also spoken out and argues that the situation is difficult, but that Ukraine still has control over both Soledar and Bakhmut. Both cities are key to control of the entire Donbas region, and it is here that the most intense fighting of the war has taken place in recent weeks.

In a brutal New Year attack, Russia sent dozens of drones and rockets into Kiev and other Ukrainian cities overnight. In Kiev, the flight alarm went off half an hour after midnight.

The Air Force says 13 of the drones were shot down before midnight and 32 after midnight Sunday night. It was not disclosed whether any of the drones hit its targets in Kiev

Three people were killed and around 50 injured in the New Year’s weekend attacks.

In Kherson, one person was killed and one injured in a massive rocket attack as hundreds of windows were blown out in a children’s hospital, according to government adviser Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

Cynical New Year’s greeting

A 22-year-old woman who was seriously injured in a rocket attack in Khmelnytskyi in eastern Ukraine has died of her injuries, the city’s mayor, Oleksandr Symchyshyn, said.

Kiev police chief Andry Nebitov posted on Facebook a photo of the remains of a downed drone with “Happy New Year” painted on the outside in Russian.

– That’s all you need to know about the terrorist state and its army, he writes.

Celebration indoors

Thanks to the drone attacks, the population of the capital was forced to celebrate the New Year indoors due to the flight alert and the curfew.

Russia said on Sunday that the wave of attacks over the New Year’s weekend targeted Ukrainian production of drones and that they had succeeded in undermining Ukraine’s “terrorist attacks” on Russia.

The wave of New Year’s attacks came just 36 hours after Russia fired dozens of rockets at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. In the past, a week or ten days often elapsed between large waves of attacks.

Furious First Lady

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska was outraged that such massive attacks occurred on the New Year’s weekend, right before the New Year’s celebrations.

– Ruining other people’s lives is a shameful habit of our neighbors, he said.

On Saturday morning, an AP photographer saw a woman’s body lying in the street while her husband and son stood next to it. Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said two schools and a kindergarten were also damaged on Saturday.