Kyiv: In the early hours of January 1st, there were numerous explosions heard in Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, and air raid sirens sounded all over the place.

Some Kyiv residents shouted "Glory to Ukraine!" from their balconies as the sirens wailed. Honor to the heroes! witnesses were cited by Reuters. However, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, there were no injuries or casualties at this time. A car in the capital's centre was damaged by missile fragments that were shot down by Ukrainian air defence systems.

According to Kyiv's municipal military administration, 23 Russian-launched "air objects" had been annihilated.

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The attacks happened shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's New Year's message, in which he wished his nation victory in the conflict, which is now in its eleventh month with no sign of a resolution.

Following that, witnesses told Reuters they could still hear explosions but there were no immediate reports of damage. Unofficial reports of explosions in the northern Zhytomyr region and the southern Kherson region were also made.

Following a barrage of more than 20 cruise missiles fired at targets all over Ukraine on Saturday, Dmytro Lubinets, the human rights ombudsman for Ukraine, referred to the attacks as "Terror on New Year's Eve."

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Officials from Kyiv's city and region posted on the Telegram messaging app that the city's air defence systems were operational. The drones were attacking the area, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, the governor of the Kyiv region. Whether any targets were hit was not immediately known.

Separately, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, a region of southern Russia that shares a border with Ukraine, reported that although there were damages to houses as a result of the overnight shelling of the Shebekino town's outskirts, there were no casualties.

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Despite never publicly claiming responsibility for any attacks inside Russia, Ukraine has referred to them as "karma" for Russia's invasion on February 24.