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Ukraine will fight the Russian invasion until victorious, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in , paying tribute to all those taking part in the war effort, Agence France-Presse reported.
"We fight and will continue to fight. For the sake of the main word: 'victory,'" he said, as his country saw the old year out.
Hours after Ukraine suffered another wave of Russian missile attacks, Zelenskyy remained defiant in an emotional speech in which he heaped praise on all of the people involved in the war in Ukraine.
"I want to say to all of you: Ukrainians, you are incredible! See what we have done and what we are doing!
"How our soldiers have been smashing this 'second army of the world' since the first days.
"How our people stopped their equipment and infantry columns ...
"There are no small matters in a great war," Zelenskyy added.
"There are no unnecessary ones. Each of us is a fighter. Each of us is a front. Each of us is the basis of the defense.
"We fight as one team –- the whole country, all our regions. I admire you all. I want to thank every invincible region of Ukraine."
People in the center of Moscow prepared late Saturday to mark a somewhat muted New Year's Eve without the usual fireworks and celebrations on Red Square, with many saying they wanted peace in 2023, Reuters reported.
Authorities closed off the famous cobbled square in the heart of Moscow, citing restrictions to fight COVID-19, and increased the number of police in nearby side streets.
New Year's Day is Russia's main seasonal holiday, while Orthodox believers also celebrate Christmas on January 7.
"We hope that there will be a predictable year, we hope there will be world peace, as strange as it may sound in such a situation," said Moscow resident Alexander Tsvetov.
"We hope that people will be happy, on each side of this conflict, and there will be peace," he continued, in a reference to what President Vladimir Putin calls the 10-month "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Deprived of the chance to gather on Red Square and watch a traditional New Year's Eve firework display, people walked along the wet streets, looking at Christmas markets, brightly lit storefront displays and trees set up with baubles.
The canceled fireworks display, said 68-year-old Yelena Popova, was an act of solidarity with what was happening in Ukraine.
"One should not pretend that nothing is happening - our people are dying there. A holiday is being celebrated, but there must be limits," she said.
France will stand by Ukraine until its victory, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a New Year's Eve speech, Reuters reported.
"In the year that is starting, we will stand by you without fail," he said.
In his speech, he also urged the French to continue with energy savings, saying this was one way for the country to avoid electricity cuts, as the war drags on in Ukraine.
Thirty percent of Kyiv is without power, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
“The municipal 'life support system' of the capital is operating normally. Currently, 30% of consumers are without electricity. Due to emergency shutdowns,” Klitschko said in a Telegram post Saturday, according to CNN.
Kyiv residents have water and heat, he added.
Klitschko also said there are restrictions on the open section of a metro line in the city to check “for the presence of remnants of missile debris.”
"Specialists are on the way to that area,” he said. “We will inform you further about the resumption of traffic on the red line.”
As the frontline Donbas city of Bakhmut has turned into the site of some of the fiercest fighting under way in Ukraine, tensions between the notorious Russian mercenary company, the Wagner Group, and the Russian military have spilled out into the open.
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin took aim at Russia’s military leadership and the stalling war effort in Ukraine days after an expletive-filled video surfaced of Wagner mercenaries near Bakhmut cursing out Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the General Staff of the armed forces and complaining about a lack of ammunition in their battles against Ukrainian forces, RFE/RL reports.
Several Russian media outlets and pro-war bloggers initially suggested that the video was fake, featuring alleged “Ukrainian nationalists” dressed up as fighters trying to undermine Russian resolve, but Prigozhin debunked that theory during a December 27 message shared on the Telegram channel of Concord Management’s press service, which is owned by the Russian oligarch.