What happened in Russia and Ukraine on the last day of 2022 and in the first hours of 2023?

Meduza offers a brief summary of December 31, 2022, and the start of January 1, 2023.

Missile attacks continued

After midnight, Ukrainian officials ended air raid alerts in several regions across the country, but defenses remained active in Kyiv and the surrounding region at the time of this writing. Around 3 a.m., local time, city officials claimed that more than 20 “airborne targets” over the capital had been destroyed. According to earlier reports, Russian attacks utilized more Iranian-made Shahed 129 UAVs, though Kyiv has not confirmed this information.

Russian artillery fire at Kherson (recently abandoned by Moscow’s occupation forces) has left the city and surrounding area completely without power. 

About 20 miles inside Russia, air defenses in the Belgorod region reportedly shot down at least four inbound projectiles. The local governor says some private residences were damaged, but no one was hurt.

Explosions and activated air-defense systems were also reported in two parts of Crimea: Yevpatoria and Dzhankoi. 

New Year’s speeches from Putin and Zelensky

Breaking with tradition, Vladimir Putin staged his latest New Year’s address not in front of the Kremlin but surrounded by people in military uniform. He talked about the “consolidation of Russian society” and the West’s supposed attempts to “use Ukraine” to drive a wedge through Russia.

In his own holiday address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed hope that 2023 will be “the year of return” — the return of Ukriane’s people, families, refugees, and lands.

Another prisoner exchange

Russia traded 140 Ukrainian prisoners of war to Ukraine for 82 Russian POWs. 

A fire at the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant

In the evening on Saturday, Rosenergoatom reported a fire at a power station located outside Volgodonsk (a city home to roughly 170,000 people). It’s still unclear why a block transformer caught fire, but the blaze was extinguished. At least one person reportedly died, and another was injured.