Explosions rocked Kyiv and the environs during the night of 31 December and the early hours of 1 January. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, 45 kamikaze drones launched by Russia against Ukraine during the night have been downed. According to data of the Russian occupation authorities, the Ukrainian forces have shelled Donetsk and other Russian-occupied regions.

In his New Year address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated: “I want to wish all of us one thing – victory. May this year be the year of return. The return of our people. Soldiers – to their families. Prisoners – to their homes. Immigrants – to their Ukraine. The return of our lands (…) We say: we have no other option than to win.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, on his part said, in his New Year address, that the West had lied about peace and was “cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and divide Russia.” In his words, the events of 2022 “lay the foundation for our common future, our true independence”. “This is what we are fighting for today,” Putin said. Speaking after Vladimir Putin delivered his New Year speech, Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russian President was “hiding behind his military, his missiles, the walls of his residences and palaces. "He's hiding behind you, and he's burning your country and your future.”

140 Ukrainian and 82 Russian prisoners of wars have been exchanged in a New Year prisoner swap.

According to the Russian TASS news agency, as of today the ruble is the only currency in the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk, Lukansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.