Day 312 of the Invasion of Ukraine: With Drones marked "Happy New Year", Russia Attacked Kyiv on New Year's Day

@euronews.com

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

With drones marked "Happy New Year", Russia attacked Kyiv on New Year's Day

Russia continued its intense attacks on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine in the early hours of the New Year, following a barrage of rockets fired on Saturday. Air raid sirens wailed for hours on the night of January 1, Reuters reports.

Ukraine's Air Force Command said it had destroyed 45 Iranian Shahed 32 drones after midnight on Sunday and another 13 late on Saturday.

As sirens wailed for more than four hours in Kyiv, some people shouted from their balconies "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!", Reuters reported, citing witnesses.

A 7 p.m. to midnight curfew remained in place across the country, making celebrations for the start of 2023 impossible in public places.

Fragments of destroyed rockets caused minimal damage in the center of the capital, and preliminary reports indicated no injuries or casualties, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said on social media.

Andriy Nebitov, Kyiv's police chief, posted a photo on his Telegram messaging app of what he said was part of a drone used in the attack on the capital, with a handwritten inscription in Russian saying "Happy New Year".

"These remains are not at the front where fierce battles are taking place, they are here at a sports ground where children are playing," said Nebitov.

Ukraine's high command said on Sunday that Russia had carried out 31 missile and 12 airstrikes across the country in the past 24 hours.