Multiple explosions rang out in Kyiv on December 31 after a reported Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian capital and amid further Russian attacks elsewhere in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said its defense forces had shot down 12 of the more than 20 missiles fired on December 31 ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations. At least six were targeted toward the capital.
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Russian forces fired "more than 20 cruise missiles,” the commander in chief of the armed forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, said. “Our air defense destroyed 12 [of them]."
Oleksandr Pavlyuk, deputy commander of Ukrainian land forces, wrote on Telegram that civilian sites in three districts of Kyiv were damaged, including a private home and a hotel.
"For the occupiers, there are no laws and customs of warfare,” he wrote. “They think they will defeat us: If not on the battlefield, then by destroying our cities.
“But…they are doomed to failure,” he added. “Because we will not stop fighting until we regain every inch of our land."
The fresh attacks come just two days after Russia launched what has been described as one of its largest air assaults on Ukraine since the start of the war.
In a post on Telegram, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person had been killed and 20 wounded in the attack, including a Japanese journalist. He added that 30 percent of Kyiv residents were without electricity.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on social media that Ukraine will never forgive Moscow after the latest rocket and drone attacks.
"There were several waves of missile attacks on New Year's Eve. Missiles targeting people.... No one in the world will forgive you for this. Ukraine will not forgive," he said.
Pictures and video showed the facade of the Alfavito Hotel in Kyiv charred and destroyed.
Russian missile strikes were reported elsewhere, including in the Mykolayiv region and the Khmelnytskiy region in the west.
In Mykolayiv, regional military administration chief Vitaliy Kim said in a social media post that Russian missile launches had been reported.
"The occupiers have decided to try to spoil the day for us," he said.
On December 30, Kyiv was targeted with seven drones, according to Klitschko, who said two of the drones were shot down "on approach to the capital" while five others were intercepted over the city.
No casualties were reported in that attack.
WATCH: As fighting rages in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Russian forces around the city of Bakhmut are said to be exhausted. Ukrainian troops are relying upon their extensive air reconnaissance operations to track enemy movements.
A day earlier, a widespread Russian missile attack targeted power stations and other vital infrastructure. Four civilians were killed during the barrage, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office.
Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address that Russia hasn’t abandoned plans to capture all of Donetsk, aiming to accomplish the goal by New Year's Day. Zelenskiy also warned Ukrainians there could be another widespread air assault.
“There are two days left in this year. Perhaps the enemy will try once again to make us celebrate the New Year in the dark. Perhaps, the occupants are planning to make us suffer with the next strikes on our cities," he said. "But no matter what they plan, we know one thing about ourselves: We will survive. We will. We will drive them out. No doubt about it. And they will be punished for this terrible war.”
In his New Year’s address on December 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that "moral, historical rightness" is on Russia's side amid international condemnation for his country’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine is investigating more than 58,000 potential Russian war crimes -- killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings, and sexual assaults.
Separately, the sides announced a new prisoner swap on December 31.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights commissioner, said that "140 Ukrainians released from Russian captivity will celebrate the New Year and Christmas holidays at home," listing the soldiers as 132 men and eight women.
Among those released, he said, were "defenders of Mariupol and Snake Island" and others captured near Bakhmut, the site of intense fighting over recent weeks.
Russia's Defense Ministry said 82 of its soldiers had been handed over by Ukraine.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
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