10:26 Rescue workers recover another body under rubble in Kiev

Bodies are still being recovered from under rubble in Kiev following the heavy air strikes on Friday. Ukrainian forces found another body under a destroyed building on New Year's Day. This brings the death toll to a total of 28 people.

09:49 Stoltenberg sees Sweden joining NATO in the near future
According to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO will complete the long-planned accession of Sweden in the new year. He is confident that the country will be included as the 32nd member of the alliance at the alliance summit in July, said Stoltenberg. Sweden had fulfilled its promises to Turkey. Talks are currently underway between the USA and Turkey on the F-16 fighter jet deal additionally demanded by the government in Ankara.

08:44 Images show destruction after massive Russian drone attacks
Although Ukrainian forces were able to shoot down most of the Russian drones, falling debris has caused extensive damage in parts of Ukraine. In Odessa, several residential buildings were damaged by the crash of several drones, the Ukrainian state emergency service reported on Telegram. One person was killed and three others were hospitalized. "99 rescuers and 26 units of the fire and rescue service were deployed to deal with the consequences of the night terror", it said. They also shared several pictures of firefighters extinguishing fires in destroyed buildings caused by the attacks. Russian forces also carried out airstrikes on a museum and a university in the city of Lviv in western Ukraine. Photos show the destroyed buildings and a large fire.

08:08 Kiev cites high number of Russian casualties at the turn of the year
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense puts the number of Russian losses in the past 24 hours at 780, including the destruction of a number of pieces of equipment such as artillery and armoured vehicles. The figures cannot be independently verified.

07:32 Ukraine shoots down record number of Russian drones in just one night
According to Kiev, Russia shot down a record number of 90 combat drones in Ukraine on New Year's Eve. The Ukrainian air force chief Mykola Oleshchuk announced on Telegram that 87 of these could have been repelled across the country. That is almost twice as many unmanned aerial vehicles as on New Year's Eve a year ago, when a total of 45 were shot down.

07:15 Germans have no hope of the war ending in 2024
A clear majority of Germans do not expect the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to end in 2024. According to a survey conducted by the opinion research institute Yougov on behalf of Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 70 percent of respondents believe it is unlikely that Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which has been ongoing for almost two years, will end before the end of the year. Only 15 percent rate such a scenario as likely. The hope for an end to the war in Gaza is somewhat higher, but here too a majority of 52% do not expect this to happen. Only 32% consider an end to the war in 2024 to be likely, with 16% not specifying.

06:42 Five dead after Russian attacks in Donetsk and Odessa
According to local authorities, five people have been killed in attacks on several areas in Ukraine. In the city of Donetsk in the east of the country, four people were killed and 13 others injured, as the Russian-appointed administrator, Denis Pushilin, announced on the online service Telegram. According to local governor Oleg Kiper, one person was killed in a Russian drone attack in the south-western region of Odessa. Three other people were injured. Several buildings were hit by parts of "downed drones", Kiper explained on Telegram. Fires had broken out in residential buildings in various parts of the city.

06:20 Zelenskyi threatens Russia with urgent message
In his New Year's address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia about the power of "domestic" weapons production. Ukraine will have at least "one million" additional drones in its arsenal by 2024, Selensky said on Sunday. In addition, there would be F-16 fighter jets supplied by Western partners. "Our pilots have already mastered the F-16 fighter jets and we will definitely see them in our skies," said Zelensky, whose televised address was accompanied by images of Ukrainian artillery and fighter jets. Moscow's armed forces would see "what our true wrath looks like", he assured.

At the same time, Selensky emphasized Ukraine's strength. "The most important result of the year, its greatest achievement: Ukraine has become stronger. Ukrainians have become stronger," Zelensky said in the 20-minute video message from his office in Kiev. "When we survived the hardest winter in history at the beginning of 2023 ... without exaggeration. When we proved that Ukrainians are tougher than cold and darkness. Stronger than power cuts and the threat of blackouts." Ukrainians are stronger "than all blockades and vetoes, than all disbelief and skepticism". Regarding the question of whether the Ukrainian army had sufficient troop strength, he called on those who "still hesitate to make a courageous decision next year to defend their own country, to work for it and to help it".

05:59 Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of attacks on New Year's Day
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of attacks early on New Year's morning. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia flew attacks on the regions of Mykolaiv, Odessa and Dnipro. At least one person was killed in the Russian airstrike on Odessa, the governor of the Odessa region, Oleh Kiper, announced via Telegram. Although the Ukrainian air defense fended off the drone attack, falling debris caused several fires in residential buildings in various parts of the city and injured several people. At the same time, Russia spoke of "heavy shelling" by Ukrainian forces in the center of Donetsk. Four people were killed in the shelling, wrote Denis Pushilin, the head of the expanded Donetsk region appointed by Russia, on Telegram. 14 people were injured.

23:30 Selensky: A better tomorrow will not come by itself
At the turn of the year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls on Ukrainians to shape the new year according to their own ideas and not to lose sight of the future of their homeland. "We Ukrainians know better than anyone that a better tomorrow does not come by itself, because we defend each of our tomorrows with our own hands," he says in his video address, in which his wife Olena also appeared alongside him. "That's why our new year will be exactly what we want it to be and how we will shape it." Selenskyj points out that a new year is also associated with energetic action - he addresses the people directly: "Not only the New Year's miracle, but also the year-round miracle is all of you: determined, responsible, caring and efficient." At the same time, he reminded the Ukrainians that the country was still under attack from Russia and wished them strength and confidence. "Life and strength for the people who are defending a free and secure future - not just their own, but that of the whole world."

22:45 Putin critic Duntsova sends hopeful New Year's greetings
Journalist Ekaterina Duntsova, who has been suspended from the presidential election , also addresses Russians in a New Year's message. "The heart of each of us is full of hope that things will get better in the New Year. (...) And those who are dear to us are with us, not somewhere far away, risking their lives while performing tasks whose goals cannot really be explained to us," Duntsova notes. "New Year is when we live in peace. With ourselves and our neighbors," she says. Finally, she calls for unity: "Only together can we bring the future back to our country!"

22:16 Medvedev calls on Russians to fight neo-fascism at New Year
In a video address published on Telegram, Dmitry Medvedev congratulates Russians on the New Year. The deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council and former Russian president also says that his "thoughts are with those on the front". He calls on Russians to "make 2024 the year of the final defeat of neo-fascism". He also repeats Putin's claim that Russia invaded Ukraine to fight "neo-Nazis".

21:55 Pope prays for "the martyred Ukrainian people"
Pope Francis emphasizes the importance of gratitude and hope during the solemn service on New Year's Eve with a view to the new year. The 87-year-old head of the Catholic Church delivers the sermon at the vespers service with the traditional hymn of praise "Te Deum" in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Following the Angelus prayer, he calls for prayers for all countries suffering from war: "Let us not stop praying for the peoples suffering from wars: for the martyred Ukrainian people, for the Palestinian and Israeli people, for the Sudanese people and for many others." The Pope refuses to take sides in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. He called for an end to the fighting, but blamed "several empires" for Russia's war. "At the end of the year, let us dare to ask: How many people have lost their lives in armed conflicts? How many dead? And how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty?" he preaches.

21:27 BBC report: Russia sentences student to four years in prison for treason
BBC News Russian Service reports that a court in the North Caucasus has sentenced 18-year-old Kevin Lik to four years in prison for treason. According to the report, this is the first time that a schoolboy has been convicted of "espionage". According to the BBC, the court report accuses Lik of "conducting visual observations" and photographing the "deployment sites" of the Russian military unit in Maikop from December 23, 2021 to February 8, 2023. Lik allegedly sent these photos to the email account of a "representative of a foreign state". Addresses and photos of Maikop military units can be found on the Internet, BBC emphasizes. According to the BBC, the age of the convicted man and his academic achievements are said to be mitigating circumstances. Lik is said to have won the German Language Olympiad in Adygeya four times and was also a medal winner at the 2021 History Olympiad.

20:50 Navalny sends New Year's greetings from the Arctic Circle
Imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny sends "Arctic hugs and polar greetings" from the remote "Polar Wolf" prison camp in the far north of Russia. The 47-year-old sent his personal New Year's greetings to his subscribers on social media. Navalny writes there that he misses his family, his parents and his brother very much. "I even miss the opportunity to insult those who send stupid, identical congratulations and pictures to the entire list of recipients on WhatsApp on New Year's Eve. It used to make me angry, but now I think: this is so sweet," the opposition figure's message reads. Navalny's post is illustrated with an image created with the help of artificial intelligence. The picture shows Navalny with his wife, daughter and son.

You can read about all previous developments here.

Read also:

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported a high number of Russian casualties and destroyed equipment at the turn of the year, citing 780 losses in the past 24 hours.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia about the power of Ukraine's military production, stating that the country will have at least "one million" additional drones and F-16 fighter jets by 2024.

Swedish NATO accession is expected to be completed in the new year, according to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He stated that Sweden would become the 32nd member of the alliance at the alliance summit in July.

NATO is currently in talks with Turkey on the F-16 fighter jet deal, which is a condition for Sweden's accession to the alliance, as demanded by the Turkish government.

Source: www.ntv.de