Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denounced strikes on Ukraine and accused Vladimir Putin of hiding, as explosions rocked locations across the country on the final day of the year.
People throughout Ukraine were urged to take cover on New Year’s Eve amid what Ukrainian officials said was a barrage of Russian missiles.
One person has been killed and 20 wounded in explosions in Kyiv, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko.
In a video message on Telegram, President Zelenskyy vowed that Russia would lose and the “terrorist state” would not be forgiven.
He added: “Thank you to everyone who protects Ukraine! Thanks to everyone who is now on the front line!”
He also praised energy workers who have been repairing damage to Ukraine’s power networks after waves of Russian strikes.
Switching to Russian, he appeared to address ordinary citizens across the border, saying Vladimir Putin “hides behind the military” and “burns” their country’s future.
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Strikes were also reported in the Zaporizhzhia and Khmelnytskyi regions of Ukraine.
Mr Klitschko earlier said via his Telegram account: “The buildings of two schools in the Solomyansk district of the capital, one in Pechersk, suffered varying degrees of damage. There is one kindergarten in the Solomyan district. There are no casualties at these facilities.
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“As a result of the Russian attack on civilian objects in the capital, one person died, 20 were injured. 14 victims were hospitalised, six were treated by medics on the spot.”
More explosions were heard in the capital city and surrounding region following the first wave of Russia’s missile attack, Reuters reported.
The reports come after a series of Russian missile strikes in recent days, with the most intense aerial bombardments of the war to date on Thursday, according to Ukrainian officials.
A presidential aide, in the capital, said a hotel was among buildings to have been damaged in the barrage.
The governor of the surrounding Kyiv region had warned shortly beforehand of a possible incoming missile attack, and that air defences in the region were engaging targets.
Putin moves to justify the war to Russians
The latest violence took place as Vladimir Putin used a New Year broadcast to Russians to reiterate that their country was fighting in Ukraine to protect its “motherland” and to secure “true independence” for its people.
Image: ‘The West lied about peace,’ Vladimir Putin claimed in his New Year message
In a nine-minute message – the longest New Year’s address of his two-decade rule – the Russian president accused the West of lying and of provoking Moscow to launch what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“For years, Western elites hypocritically assured us of their peaceful intentions,” he said.
“In fact, in every possible way they were encouraging neo-Nazis who conducted open terrorism against civilians in the Donbas”.
He added: “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.
“We have never allowed this, and will never allow anybody to do this to us,” state-run news agencies quoted Mr Putin as saying.
The West and Ukraine have rejected Moscow’s claims relating to the start of the conflict and say Mr Putin launched a baseless war of aggression in a bid to seize territory and topple Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
‘We will clean up the glass and cook more dumplings’
A wail of shock breaks through the low murmurs of emergency service workers in a central neighbourhood, Sky News correspondent Yousra Elbagir reports from Kyiv.
Resident Oksana Trufanova came out of the shelter of her basement to find the house across the street in ruins and the area cordoned off.
The falling wreckage of one of the rockets launched by Moscow into Ukraine today hit her neighbourhood.
The blast shook through her home as she prepared food for New Years Eve celebrations.
“I was cooking dumplings in the morning with cherries and potatoes and now they’re scattered in the street.
But nevermind, as my son said, we will clean up the glass and cook more dumplings,” says Oksana, sobbing.
One person was confirmed to have been killed and three wounded by the blast in Oksana’s neighborhood alone, according to the advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs.
Any remaining residents in Gaza’s largest city should leave for a designated area in the south, Israel’s military has warned.
Israeli forces are carrying out an offensive on suburbs of Gaza City, in the territory’s north, as part of plans to capture it – raising concern over an already-devastating humanitarian crisis.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced pressure to stop the attack and allow more aid in, the military has announced a new humanitarian zone in the south.
Spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Gaza City residents should head to a designated coastal area of Khan Younis.
There, he said they would be able to receive food, medical care and shelter.
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On Thursday, Israel said it has control of around 40% of Gaza City and 75% of the entire territory of Gaza.
Many of the city’s residents had already been displaced earlier in the war, only to return later. Some of them have said they will refuse to move again.
That’s despite the military claiming it is within a few kilometres of the city centre, coming after weeks of heavy strikes.
But the war in Gaza has left Israel increasingly isolated in the diplomatic sphere, with some of its closest allies condemning the campaign that’s devastated the territory.
Just two weeks ago, a famine was declared in Gaza City and surrounding areas by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity.
Image: A resident runs with his belongings in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
There is also concern within Israel, where calls have grown to stop the war and secure the release of the remaining 48 hostages.
Israel believes 20 of those hostages are still alive.
Even as relatives of those hostages lead protests, Mr Netanyahu continues to push for an all-or-nothing deal to release all hostages and defeat Hamas.
On Friday, Donald Trump said Washington is in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas to release the captives.
“We said let them all out, right now let them all out. And much better things will happen for them but if you don’t let them all out, it’s going to be a tough situation, it’s going to be nasty,” he added.
Hamas is “asking for some things that are fine”, he said, without elaborating.
A man was heard screaming in the water moments before he died after a shark attack in Sydney, witnesses have said.
Emergency services responded to reports that a man in his 50s had suffered critical injuries at Long Reef Beachshortly after 10am (1am in the UK) on Saturday.
The man, whose identity has yet to be confirmed, was brought to shore but died at the scene, authorities have said.
Two sections of a surfboard have been recovered and taken for examination, and beaches near the area are closed as drones search for the animal.
Police are liaising with wildlife experts to determine the species of shark involved.
Image: Pic: Sky News Australia
Surfer screamed ‘don’t bite me’
Speaking to Sky News Australia, witness Mark Morgenthal said he saw the attack and that the shark was one of the biggest he had ever seen.
“There was a guy screaming, ‘I don’t want to get bitten, I don’t want to get bitten, don’t bite me,’ and I saw the dorsal fin of the shark come up, and it was huge,” Mr Morgenthal said.
“Then I saw the tail fin come up and start kicking, and the distance between the dorsal fin and the tail fin looked to be about four metres, so it actually looked like a six-metre shark.”
Image: Mark Morgenthal said it ‘looked like a six metre shark’ in the attack. Pic: Sky News Australia
Victim was a father and experienced surfer
New South Wales Police Superintendent John Duncan said at a press conference that the victim was 57 years old, calling the incident a “terrible tragedy”.
“The gentleman had gone out about 9.30 this morning with some of his friends, about five or six of his mates,” he added. “He’s an experienced surfer that we understand.
“Unfortunately, it would appear that a large, what we believe to be a shark, has attacked him. And as a result of that, he lost a number of limbs.
“His colleagues managed to make it back to the beach safely, and a short time later, his body was found floating in the surf, and a couple of other people went out and recovered it.”
Mr Duncan added that officers “understand he leaves behind a wife and a young daughter… and obviously tomorrow being Father’s Day is particularly critical and particularly tragic”.
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Two of the three Britons killed in the Lisbon funicular crash have been named.
Kayleigh Smith, 36, and William Nelson, 44, were a couple and died alongside 14 others in Wednesday’s incident.
Ms Smith graduated from the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester, where Mr Nelson ran the master’s degree in directing.
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3:53
Lisbon crash: What happened?
The identity of the third British victim has not yet been confirmed.
MADS theatre in Macclesfield, Cheshire, said Ms Smith was a “valued member of our society” who will be “greatly missed”.
It said she was an award-winning director and actress, who had also done multiple crew and front-of-house roles.
Five Portuguese citizens died when the packed carriage plummeted out of control – four of them workers at a charity on the hill – but most victims were foreigners.
Police said the other fatalities were two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one French citizen, one Swiss and one Ukrainian.
All but one were declared dead at the scene – and 21 others in the packed carriage were injured.
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2:50
‘We felt no brakes anymore’
The yellow carriages of the Gloria funicular are a big draw for tourists, as well as a proud symbol of the Portuguese capital.
The journey is just 265m (870ft) up a steep hill and takes three minutes, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions on a linked cable.
Witnesses reported seeing one of the carriages hurtle down the hill before derailing and crashing 30m from the bottom.
The aftermath shows it crumpled and twisted against the side of a building.
People who were in the bottom carriage said they were a few metres into the climb when it started going backwards.
When they saw the other car speeding towards them, many jumped through the windows to escape.
Image: The crash happened around 6pm on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro called the crash “one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past” and authorities are under intense pressure to quickly identifying the cause.