On New Year, Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of attacks

Ukraine and Russia on New Year, Monday (January 1) accused each other of carrying out attacks. A Russianofficial alleged that Ukraine's shelling of Donetsk caused four deaths while Ukrainian officials said that Russian air attacks on Odesa killed at least one person.

Denis Pushilin, Russia-appointed head of Ukraine's Donetsk region said that in addition to four deaths, Ukrainian shelling on Donetsk city injured 14 people.

While, Oleh Kiper, governor of Ukraine's Odesa region said that at least one person was killed in Russian drone attack on the port city of Odesa city.

Watch | Russia-Ukraine war: Russia accuses Kyiv of 'terrorist' attack on Belgorod civilians

He said that though Ukraine's air defence systems engaged in order to repel the drone attack, falling debris started several fires in different parts of the city.

Odesa Mayor Henadii Trukhanov posted a video on social media that shows him inspecting a damaged apartment.

"They say that how you welcome the New Year is how you will live the year," Trukhanov said in a post.

"Well, this year Ukraine will break this rule: we will persevere and we will win."

Meanwhile, Ukraine's air force said Russian air attack targeted Mykolaiv and Dnipro regions.

Both, Russia and Ukraine, have denied targeting civilians in the ongoing war.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. After initial success, its army was forced to withdraw from large swathes of land. Meanwhile, the West, led by the United States, poured in billions of dollars to support Ukraine and even provided weapons and weapon systems. It was then anticipated that Ukraine would be able to recapture lost land in a swift offensive. But this has not happened at least till now.

This has led to murmurs within the Western camp as to whether it was economically feasible to continue assistingUkraine in the war. Several United States senators have expressed their opposition to supporting Ukraine indefinitely.

(With inputs from agencies)