December 31, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. You can read more on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here, or scroll through the updates below.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr?Zelensky speaks during his nightly address on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr?Zelensky?said that he thinks Ukraine’s air defense can become “the most powerful in Europe” and help uphold security for his country and Europe.?

“Ukrainian air defense can become the most powerful in Europe, and this will be a guarantee of security not only for our country, but also for the entire continent,” Zelensky said in his nightly address Friday.?

Latest round of attacks: Ukrainian officials again praised the efforts of their air defense crews when a new round of Russian strikes pounded several regions Saturday.

The country’s military said it was able to knock away 12 of the more than 20 missiles launched at Ukraine.

“Air Defense Forces are heroes and a real shield of our sky. We thank them!” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in?a post on Telegram.

A resident walks into his house after a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 31.

With 2023 on the horizon, Russia launched more than 20 missiles at Ukraine on Saturday, according to the Ukrainian military.

These are the latest developments.

Russian strikes: Explosions left at least one person dead and at least 20 wounded in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Saturday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko?said?in a statement. About 30% of the city has been left without power due to emergency shutdowns.

Missile strikes also hit the Ukrainian regions of Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv and Zhytomyr.

Ukrainian air defense systems shot down 12 cruise missiles after Russian forces launched more than 20 from land and sea Saturday, according to Ukraine’s military.

Zelensky addresses the Russian people: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky?switched from speaking Ukrainian to Russian in his nightly address Saturday, issuing a message to Russia and its citizens.

Zelensky said that Russia is waging a war to ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power “until the end of his life.”?

“He hides behind you and burns your country and your future. No one will ever forgive you for terror,” Zelensky said.?

Kyiv residents hopeful: Despite many being forced to shelter from Saturday’s explosions, people in Kyiv told CNN they will celebrate the new year and they wish for a more peaceful future.

“We expect victory and peaceful skies from 2023,” said Natalia Vaganova, who lives in the Kyiv region.?

Prisoner exchange: Both Ukraine and Russia reported an exchange of prisoners of war on Saturday.?Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said 140 prisoners of war had been released — including those from Mariupol and Snake Island. In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said 82 servicemen had been returned as well.

A window view from a damaged building in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday.

A fresh wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s capital city on New Year’s Eve forced Kyiv residents to spend the day in shelters instead of preparing for celebrations.

Mila Andriyash, who lives in central Kyiv, told CNN she had just put her 5-month-old son to bed when the first explosion shook the city.

“We hid in the bathroom and began to pray loudly, even though I am an atheist. When it was all over, we just went to the New Year tree,” Andriyash said.

“I hate them. It is pointless to expect something human from nonhumans,” Andriyash continued.?

Kyiv resident Oleksandr Doniy was not at home when the attacks started. It was only when friends started calling and sending him photos of his apartment that Doniy discovered that the attacks had blown out his windows and doors.

After the war started, Doniy sent his family, including his 5-year-old daughter, to western Ukraine.

“With such attacks, Russia only increases hatred and disrespect for itself. We will rebuild everything anew,” Doniy added.?

Resident Tatiana Vysotskaya said she had been bracing for a Russian attack on New Year’s Eve.

“Everybody in Kyiv was waiting and knew there would be shelling. So I had no fear, only hope for our air defense forces so that the consequences would be less terrible,” Vysotskaya said.

Ukrainian air defense systems shot down 12 cruise missiles after Russian forces launched more than 20 from land and sea Saturday, according to Ukraine’s military.

Moscow’s forces attacked using Tu-95MS bomber planes over the Caspian Sea, and with Iskander-M missile systems from the ground, the Ukrainian Air Force Command wrote on Telegram.?

“According to preliminary data, about 20 missiles were launched in total. Several of them did not reach Ukraine and fell on the territory of Russia (information is being clarified),” the statement said.

Air defenses shot down missiles over several Ukrainian regions, according to Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the?commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s military.

“The forces and means of our air defense destroyed 12 cruise missiles: 6 within Kyiv, 5 in Zhytomyr and 1 in Khmelnytskyi regions,”?Zaluzhnyi said in a message on Telegram.

Ukrainian defenses also shot down an enemy drone, “which was conducting aerial reconnaissance during a missile attack and trying to identify the positions of our air defense,” the Air Force Command said.

Residents and visitors in Kyiv on New Year’s Eve expressed a resolve to celebrate the new year, and also hope that 2023 could bring peace, as Russia’s invasion grinds on.

Anastasia Grimaylo and Daria Zhabinska.

Daria Zhabinska, a 19-year-old student who works for Visit Ukraine, said her wish for 2023 is for Ukraine’s 1991 borders as an independent state to be restored.

“For us to return to the borders of 1991 is the only dream. And I want all my loved ones to be healthy,” she told CNN.?

“All this adrenaline, all this stress, when you read the news or talk to someone, you just want to celebrate this new year,” she added.

Twenty-year-old student Anastasia Grimaylo said she has stocked up on candles as Russian strikes cause repeated power outages across Ukraine.

“We’re ready for anything,” she told CNN.

Yurii Nagotnuk and Dariya Chesnokova.

Dariya Chesnokova is a schoolteacher, and Yurii Nagotnuk works in the information technology sector. Both are 25 years old and are from the southern city of Kryvyi Rih.

“We came to Kyiv to visit friends, to get a sense of the New Year’s mood. We are also taking presents to our friends,” she said.

Chesnokova said her wish for 2023 is for Ukraine to win the war, “and then we will rebuild everything.”

Natalia Vaganova.

Natalia Vaganova, 27, an employee of a consulting company who lives in Brovary in the Kyiv region, said she will celebrate at home with family.

“We expect victory and peaceful skies from 2023,” she said. ?

Olexander Oleksiyenko.

Olexander Oleksiyenko, a 26-year-old who works in IT and lives in Kyiv, said he will not celebrate this New Year’s because his girlfriend is abroad, adding that he plans to “just drink some wine and eat something delicious.”

“In 2023, of course, I don’t expect the war to end, but I would like it very much. I am a realist, and I think the war could last another 2 years. But I would like minimum stability and some peace,” he said.

Alyona Bogulska.

Alyona Bogulska, a 29-year-old financier from Kyiv, said she plans to celebrate the new year with “a glass of champagne and … a sandwich with red caviar.”

“From 2023 I really want to win, and also to have more bright impressions and new emotions. I miss it very much. I also want to travel and open borders. And I also think about personal and professional growth, because one should not stand still. I have to develop and work for the benefit of the country,” she said. ?

Tatiana Tkachuk.

Tatiana Tkachuk, a 43-year-old pharmacy employee in Kyiv, said her Christmas tree this year symbolizes survival and victory.

“And from the new year we expect only victory. And I know for sure there will be one. It is the desire of all Ukrainians, and if everyone wants something, it will happen,” she said.?

“I want to thank everyone who helps Ukraine. We’ve made a lot of friends. And in order to understand that we have a lot of good things, unfortunately, we had to go through terrible things. But so many people are doing real miracles for Ukraine. In other circumstances, we would never have known that we were capable of it,” she added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky?switched from speaking Ukrainian to Russian in his nightly address Saturday, issuing a message to Russia and its citizens.

Zelensky said that Russia, which carried out another wave of missile attacks Saturday, is “following the devil,” and the country is waging a war to ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power “until the end of his life.”?

Zelensky said that Putin “is hiding behind the troops, behind missiles, behind the walls of his residences and palaces” and his citizens.

Zelensky added that most Russian missiles fired at Ukraine have been intercepted by air defense forces.??

“If it were not for air defense, the number of casualties would have been different. Much bigger,” he said. “And this is yet another proof for the world that support for Ukraine must be increased.”?

Families shelter in a metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 31.

Thousands of Ukrainian families hid in the Kyiv metro station as Russian missiles hit the city on New Year’s Eve, according to UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency.

Among those sheltering in the subway was Liudmila, who the charity said had saved her 3-year-old son Mykhailo from missile attacks “instead of giving him New Year’s gifts.”

“We were going home to celebrate the New Year. I prepared gifts for my son and was going to wrap them. We missed the bus, I heard an explosion and saw smoke, my son got scared and we ran to the subway. We have never had such a New Year before,” Liudmila was quoted by UNICEF as saying.

The charity said that Liudmila and Mykhailo had moved to Kyiv at the beginning of Russia’s invasion, when her home in the Zhytomyr region was destroyed by shelling.

Families shelter in a metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 31.

Both Ukraine and Russia reported an exchange of prisoners of war on Saturday.?

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said 140 prisoners of war had been released — including those from Mariupol and Snake Island.

This is the 35th such exchange of the war, according to the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

The agency said 1,596 people — including both military personnel and civilians — have been released from Russian captivity through negotiations. That includes 187 women freed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, according to the officials.

In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said 82 servicemen had been returned.

“The liberated personnel will be delivered to Moscow by military transport airplanes for further treatment and rehabilitation at healthcare facilities of Russian Defence Ministry,” the statement said.?

Thirty percent of Kyiv is?without?power due to emergency shutdowns, 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.?

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.”?

Another series of Russian strikes dealt a blow to Ukraine’s fragile energy infrastructure this weekend. Crews worked for days ahead of New Year’s Eve to repair systems and fortify the grid, but Ukrainian officials said Saturday that Moscow’s attacks aim to plunge cities into darkness on the holiday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the headquarters of his country’s southern military district and recorded a New Year’s video message Saturday.

In the nine-minute recording – the longest New Year’s address of his rule – Putin said that “moral, historical righteousness is on our side.”?

“It was a year of truly pivotal, fateful events. These events have become this frontier, which lay the foundation for our common future, our true independence,” he said, in a veiled reference to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.?

“It was a year of difficult necessary decisions, the most important steps towards gaining the full sovereignty of Russia and the powerful consolidation of our society,” he added.

Putin recorded the address at a military base in the city of Rostov-on-Don.

During his visit Saturday, the Russian leader spoke with army commanders and handed over battle flags to new military formations. He also presented state awards to servicemen who showed “courage and heroism” in Russia’s so-called “special military operation,” which is how Moscow describes its invasion of Ukraine.

Although Russia has been hit by western sanctions for years, Putin said “a real sanctions war has been declared against us this year.”

“Those who started it expected the complete destruction of our industry, finances and transport. This did not happen, because together we have created a reliable margin of safety, what we have done and are doing in this area is all aimed at strengthening our sovereignty in the most important area, the economy,” he continued.?

More context: Thousands of people have been killed, entire villages wiped out and billions of dollars of infrastructure destroyed since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24.

That day, Putin used the term “special military operation” to describe his attack. He has framed the ongoing brutality as a campaign of “denazification” – a description dismissed by historians and political observers – and has increasingly described Russia’s unprovoked invasion as a patriotic and almost existential cause.

CNN’s Radina Gigova and Rhea Mogul contributed to this report.

Explosions left at least one person dead and 20 more wounded in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Saturday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko?said in a statement on his official Telegram channel.?

Out of the 20 injured, 14 were hospitalized, while six others were given medical care on the spot, he said.?

Several school buildings in the capital suffered severe damage from the explosions, the mayor added.

Air raid sirens, which were activated earlier following the attacks, are now off in Kyiv.?

As 2022 comes to a close in Ukraine, Russia wants to cause darkness and inflict damage on the country with continued attacks, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

Moscow intends to “intimidate, leave us in the dark for the new year, cause as much damage to civilian infrastructure as possible,” Shmyhal said in a post on Telegram.?

Despite the attacks, the power system remains stable, he said.?

“Air Defense Forces are heroes and a real shield of our sky. We thank them!” the prime minister added.?

Attacks in the Ukrainian capital left at least 11 people hospitalized Saturday, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Tymoshenko shared the new injury toll in an update on Telegram.

“We thank our doctors and emergency services for saving people in these moments,” he added.

Ukrainian officials said earlier Saturday that at least five explosions have rocked central districts of Kyiv, killing at least one person.

A deputy commander in the Ukrainian armed forces slammed Russia for its latest attacks on civilian areas in a statement on Telegram.?

“Another insidious and cynical missile attack of the enemy continues,” said Oleksandr Pavliuk, chief of staff and deputy commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.?

Kyiv air raid alert ongoing: Oleksiy Kuleba, the head of the Kyiv region military administration, said the air raid alert in the capital city continues.

“There is a threat of repeated missile attacks and drone strikes,” he said in a Telegram post, adding that “Russia is massively attacking the country.”?

At least four civilians were injured in Ukraine’s western Khmelnytskyi region as a result of Russian attacks, according to the regional military administration.?

Serhii Hamaliy, the head of the Khmelnytskyi region military administration, shared the news in a post on Telegram.?

“Air raid alert is on! Stay in shelters!” he said.?

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said Khmelnytskyi city “was attacked by missiles.”?

Attacks left at least six people wounded in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine, according to the regional military administration.

Rescuers work at the site of a building damaged after a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 31.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that at least one person has been killed in explosions in the capital city.

“According to preliminary information, one person died in the Solomyansky district (of the city). Several people are injured,” he said on Telegram.

“Doctors are hospitalizing three injured women. Rescuers are working at the sites of explosions,” Klitschko said.

The Kyiv city military administration said that a private house was damaged as a result of a missile attack in Solomyansky district.

A hotel was hit in Pechersk district, and there was also destruction in Holosiivskyi district, it said.

Elsewhere: Residential buildings were damaged as a result of a strike in the region of Zaporizhzhia, according to the president’s office.?

“Information about the victims and destruction is being clarified,” according to?Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Tymoshenko did not specify the location of the strike.?

Smoke rises after a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 31.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram post that there have been explosions in two central districts of Kyiv.

“Explosions in Pecherskiy and Golosiivskiy districts. There are damages,” Klitschko said. “Emergency workers and medics are on the way.”

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, confirmed the location and said that “there are destructions, a hotel facility was damaged.”

Air defense systems have been activated in the Ukrainian capital, according to the Kyiv city military administration, as at least five explosions were heard in the city?by CNN’s team on the ground.?

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned people to stay in shelters. “Explosions in Kyiv! Stay in shelters!” he wrote on his Telegram channel.?

Air raid sirens are active across Ukraine.

At least six people died on Friday in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions of Ukraine due to Russian strikes, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko said Saturday in a Telegram post.

In his latest update on civilian casualties, Tymoshenko said that three people died and three more were wounded in the Donetsk region. One person was wounded in the Zaporizhzhia region. Two were killed and one wounded in the Kharkiv region. Two people were wounded in the Kherson region, while one died in the Chernihiv region.

It comes after Russia conducted five missile and 29 air strikes on Friday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Saturday.

It said that Russia “continues to conduct offensive actions at the Lyman and Bakhmut directions and is trying to improve the tactical situation at the Kupiansk and Avdiivka directions.”

Russian forces fired on several towns and villages, including in Lyman, in the direction of Bakhmut, in the areas of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.