Month: December 2022

Russian Missiles Pummel Ukraine on New Year’s Eve

On New Year’s Eve, Russian missiles rained on Ukraine nationwide. At least one person was killed and at least 28 were wounded as eight massive explosions rocked the city of Kyiv.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that at least one person was killed in the western Solomianskyi district, and that among the 11 wounded in Kyiv is a Japanese journalist, and another person is in critical condition. Klitschko warned residents to remain in shelters.

In downtown Kyiv, missiles hit residential buildings, including a hotel, as well as the Ukraine Palace and concert hall.

Explosions also were reported in other regions of Ukraine, including the embattled eastern Donetsk oblast. Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko said that a missile strike hit targets in an industrial zone, but no casualties have been reported.

Mykolaiv oblast Governor Vitaliy Kim said at least six people were wounded in the southern city of Mykolaiv. Three of them were hospitalized, with one listed in critical condition.

Deputy head of the president’s office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said two people were wounded by a missile strike in the western city of Khmelnytskyi.

In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, residential buildings were damaged, but information about casualties and destruction is being clarified, Tymoshenko noted.

‘Intensive wave’

Multiple reports on social media earlier said the air defense was working in Kyiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, and Zhytomyr oblasts.

Russia’s nationwide barrage comes three days after another massive attack was waged on Ukraine December 29.

Britain’s Defense Ministry had warned in an intelligence update that Russia is expected to continue an “intensive wave” of long-range strikes across Ukraine, “primarily targeting the power distribution network.”

The Saturday report, posted on Twitter, said, “Russia is almost certainly following this approach in an attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. There is a realistic possibility that Russia will break this pattern to strike again in the coming days in an effort to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian population over the new year holiday period.” 

In a combative nine-minute New Year’s video address, the longest New Year’s address of his two-decade rule, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Russia would never give in to the West’s attempts to use Ukraine as a tool to destroy Russia.  

 

Putin lashes out

In the video message broadcast on Russian state TV, Putin said Russia was fighting in Ukraine to protect its “motherland” and to secure “true independence” for its people.

He accused the West of lying to Russia 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 a speech recorded in front of Russian service personnel at the headquarters of Russia’s southern military district.

“In fact, in every possible way they were encouraging neo-Nazis who conducted open terrorism against civilians in the Donbas,” Putin said.

“The West lied about peace,” Putin said. “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,” Russian state-run news agencies quoted Putin as saying in the clip, which was broadcast at midnight in Russia’s far east.

Earlier Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed victory in Ukraine was “inevitable” as he praised the heroism of Russian soldiers fighting on the frontlines and those who had died during the 10-month war.

Kyiv and the West reject Moscow’s claims, calling the Russian invasion of Ukraine a baseless war of aggression in a bid to seize territory and topple Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In a tweet Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said, “War criminal Putin celebrates New Year by killing people. Russia must be kicked out of its UN Security Council seat which it has always occupied illegally.” 

 

On Saturday afternoon local time, explosions were heard at the Dzhankoi airport in Russian-occupied Crimea, according to local Telegram channels. The Dzhankoi airport is a military airbase currently operated by Russian occupying forces. Ukrainian armed forces also reported explosions at the airport.

Telegram channels monitoring launches of missiles reported that Dzhankoi was allegedly hit by a high-precision weapon.

Ukrainian authorities didn’t comment on the incident, and occupation authorities didn’t either. 

On the eastern front, Ukrainian forces killed and wounded up to 10 Russian troops, destroyed two vehicles and damaged three more near the occupied city of Donetsk, according to the Ukrainian General Staff’s evening briefing on Telegram.

Intense fighting continues in Donetsk oblast, as Russian forces continue to assault the city of Bakhmut and the area around Lyman, while strengthening their tactical positions near Avdiivka, as well as Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast.

A dozen towns near Bakhmut have been damaged by recent shelling, according to the report. Russian forces are also continuing to hit the southern city of Kherson with multiple rocket launchers, aircraft and kamikaze drones.

In the weeks following the liberation of Kherson in November, Russia has intensified its attacks on the frontline in Donbas, particularly around Bakhmut, where it has made small incremental gains supported by mass artillery bombardment.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine continues to endure and repel waves of Russian air attacks and that Ukrainian air defenses have been made “stronger than ever.”

“In the new year,” he added, “Ukrainian air defense will become even stronger, even more effective.”

He said Ukrainian air defense “can become the most powerful in Europe,” a guarantee of security “not only for our country, but for the entire continent.”

The United States last week announced nearly $2 billion in additional military aid, including the Patriot Air Defense System, which offers protection against aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles.

Some material for this article came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 

Libya Intercepts Boat with 700 Europe-Bound Migrants 

A vessel carrying at least 700 migrants was intercepted off the eastern coast of Libya, the coast guard said. It was one of the largest interceptions in recent months of migrants seeking a better life in Europe through the war-torn North African country.

The coast guard said the boat was stopped Friday off the Mediterranean town of Moura, 90 kilometers (56 miles) west of the eastern city of Benghazi.

It said in a statement that the migrants hail from different nations and that those who illegally entered Libya would be handed over to their home countries.

The statement did not provide further details.

The coast guard posted images on Facebook showing a large, overcrowded vessel with most of those on board appearing to be young people.

It was one of the largest interceptions in recent months of migrants sailing to Europe, a destination for thousands fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

In August last year, Italian military vessels aided a boat crammed with 539 migrants off the southern island of Lampedusa. The boat was launched from Libyan shores.

Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants seeking a better quality of life in Europe. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Human traffickers in recent years have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants across the country’s lengthy borders with six nations. The migrants are then packed into ill-equipped rubber boats and other vessels and set off on risky sea voyages. Officials didn’t say what kind of vessel was found over the weekend.

The International Organization for Migration has reported 1,522 dead or missing migrants in the Mediterranean this year. Overall, the IOM says 24,871 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014, with the real number believed to be even higher given the number of shipwrecks that never get reported. 

Lebanese Navy Helps Rescue 200 Migrants from Sinking Vessel

Lebanon sent a navy force to help rescue dozens of migrants Saturday from a boat sinking in the Mediterranean Sea a day after it left northern Lebanon’s coast, the military said in a statement.

The short army statement said the vessel was carrying people “who were trying to illegally leave Lebanon’s territorial waters.” It said three Lebanese navy boats and one from the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, were rescuing the approximately 200 migrants. 

Reports from the northern city of Tripoli — Lebanon’s second largest and most impoverished — said Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian men, women and children were on the boat that left northern Lebanon Friday night. Residents in the city who are in contact with survivors said that everyone on board was rescued, with only one person suffering a minor injury.

Lebanese security forces have been working to prevent migrants from heading to Europe at a time when the small nation is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.

A crowded boat capsized Sept. 21 off the coast of Tartus, Syria, just over a day after departing Lebanon. At least 94 people were killed, among them at least 24 children. Twenty people survived and some remain missing.

It was one of the deadliest ship sinkings in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in recent years, as more and more Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians try to flee cash-strapped Lebanon to Europe to find jobs and stability.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says risky sea migration attempts from Lebanon over the past year have surged by 73%.

Lebanon’s economic meltdown that began in October 2019, has left three-quarters of the country’s 6 million people, including a million Syrian refugees, living in poverty. 

 

Despite War, Some Ukrainian Families Reunite for New Year

For millions of Ukrainians, many of them under Russian bombardment and grappling with power and water shortages, New Year’s celebrations will be muted as Russia’s 10-month war rumbles on with no end in sight.

But for some families, it is a chance to reunite, however briefly, after months apart.

At Kyiv’s central railway station on Saturday morning, Mykyta, still in his uniform, gripped a bouquet of pink roses tightly as he waited on platform 9 for his wife Valeriia to arrive from Poland. He hadn’t seen her in six months.

“It actually was really tough, you know, to wait so long,” he told The Associated Press after hugging and kissing Valeriia.

Nearby, another soldier, Vasyl Khomko, 42, joyously met his daughter Yana and wife Galyna who have been living in Slovakia because of the war, but they returned to Kyiv to spend New Year’s Eve together.

The mood contrasted starkly with that from 10 months ago when families were torn apart by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Back in February, fathers, husbands and sons had to stay behind as their wives, mothers and daughters boarded trains with small children seeking safety outside the country. Scenes of tearful goodbyes seared television screens and front pages of newspapers across the world.

But on the last day of the year marked by the brutal war, many returned to the capital to spend New Year’s Eve with their loved ones.

As Russian attacks continue to target power supplies leaving millions without electricity, no big celebrations are expected, and a curfew will be in place as the clock rings in the new year. But for most Ukrainians being together with their families is already a luxury.

Valeriia first sought refuge from the conflict in Spain but later moved to Poland. Asked what their New Year’s Eve plans were, she answered simply: “Just to be together.”

The couple declined not to share their family name for security reasons as Mykyta has been fighting on the front lines in both southern and eastern Ukraine.

On platform 8, another young couple reunited. University student Arseniia Kolomiiets, 23, has been living in Italy. Despite longing to see her boyfriend Daniel Liashchenko in Kyiv, Kolomiiets was scared of Russian missiles and drone attacks.

“He was like, ‘Please come! Please come! Please come!’” she recalled. “I decided that (being) scared is one part but being with beloved ones on the holidays is the most important part. So, I overcome my fear and here I am now.”

Although they have no electricity at home, Liashchenko said they were looking forward to welcoming 2023 together with his family and their cat.

In an attempt to ensure residents have light during their celebrations, the regional government of Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa province is planning to limit the work of the most energy-intensive industries on Dec. 31 and Jan 1.

Regional head Maksym Marchenko made the announcement on Friday via Telegram and said that power engineers in the province had used all means possible to “eliminate the consequences” of Russia’s barrage of attacks on Ukraine on Thursday and reinstate the power supply.

In Kyiv, recent attacks have left many on edge, unsure about whether the skies will be peaceful on the last day of the year.

“We are hoping there will be no surprises today,” said Natalya Kontonenko who had traveled from Finland. It was the first time she had seen her brother Serhii Kontonenko since the full-scale invasion began on February 24. Serhii and other relatives traveled from Mykolaiv to Kyiv to meet Natalya.

“We are not concerned about the electricity, because we are together and that I think is the most important,” he said.

UN Chief Appeals for Peace in the New Year

As the old year gives way to the new, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued a heartfelt appeal to the citizens of the world to put peace at the center of their words and actions in 2023.

Every new year is a moment of rebirth and hope. It is a time for reflection and for resolve to make things better in the year to come than they were in the year gone by.

In reviewing the events of 2022, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres considered the difficulties and the heartbreak of the past year.  In his New Year’s message, he said millions of people around the world have literally swept out the ashes of the old year.

He said they are preparing for a new dawn and a brighter day in the year ahead.

“From Ukraine to Afghanistan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and beyond, people left the ruins of their homes and lives in search of something better.  Around the world, one hundred million people were on the move, fleeing wars, wildfires, droughts, poverty, and hunger.  In 2023, we need peace, now more than ever,” said Guterres.

He said conflicts can end and peace can be assured through dialogue.  He said a more sustainable world can be achieved by making peace with nature and climate.  He appeals for peace in the home, so women and girls can live in dignity and safety.

Guterres said peace on the streets and communities, peace in places of worship, and freedom from hate speech and abuse online depend upon the full protection of human rights.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Tuerk echoes those sentiments. He said the shape of the New Year will be determined by the individual and collective actions people take.

His hope for the next year, he said, is for people to lead their lives with kindness, empathy, unity, and protection of human rights.

“We must ensure women’s rights, for example, are respected at home and in public, that women and girls have full equality and freedom from discrimination.  We must open our children’s eyes to the mistakes of the past, we can inspire them to write a story of hope and unity and instill in them a commitment to creating a better world,” said Guterres.

The 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be celebrated in 2023.  The core message inherent in this document – that there cannot be progress and peace without human rights – is as relevant now as it was in 1948.

U.N. rights chief Tuerk appeals to all nations and peoples to strive to make the world more dignified, to create a world where everyone’s rights are respected.