Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin accused of deadly drone attack on Odesa on New Year’s Day

Britain is said to be ramping up efforts to help Ukraine defeat Russia amid fears the US will withdraw support if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election.

A senior Whitehall source told The Times that the UK and European countries were keen to get more weapons and ammunition to the Kyiv frontline, ahead of any change in power in the White House.

The source said 2024 would be about “stretching Putin into 2025 and beyond — effectively calling his bluff and testing his resolve”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to boost the country’s military manufacturing in 2024, promising that Russia will feel the “wrath of domestic production”.

In his new year’s message, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine will build at least a million drones, adding: “All of which we will generously use.”

Russia pounded Odesa in southern Ukraine with missiles and drones earlier on New Year’s Eve, before the leaders of the two warring countries gave contrasting messages to their people.

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Ukraine’s military said on Monday that the overnight Russian drone attack on Odesa targeted port infrastructure, and that a fire had broken out in one of the port terminals as a result of a strike.

“The enemy’s clear priority remains the port infrastructure of Odesa, a large number of drones were directed from the sea to the coastal zone,” Ukraine’s Southern Military Command said on Telegram.

It said the fire was promptly extinguished and that there were no casualties.

Dashcam footage shows the moment an explosion takes place in the Russian city of Belgorod, where Russian authorities say 14 people have died in Ukrainian strikes on 30 December.

A further 111 people have been injured in the city close to the Ukraine border.

In Kyiv, the Ukrainian Air Force warned residents to listen to their air alarms, especially on New Year’s Eve, in case of rocket attacks.

Although there was no state-organised celebration, people danced and played folk music inthe city’s central square to mark the end of 2023.

In the city of Lviv there was no New Year’s Eve celebrations due to an ongoing curfew because of the war with Russia. There was, however, some street performances to mark the occasion.

Following the Russian attack on the Ukrainian southern port of Odesa in the early hours of New Year’s Day, the city’s mayor Henadii Trukhanov has reacted on social media.

One person is reported to have been killed in the drone attack, with falling debris causing several fires in residential buildings in the city.

In a video showing him inspecting a damaged apartment, Mr Trukhanov said: “They say that how you welcome the New Year is how you will live the year.

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

We’ve already brought you news of Ukraine shelling the city of Donetsk in the early hours of New Year’s Day - an attack which kileld four people, according to the region’s Russian-installed official.

Now Reuters is reporting that one person has been killed ina Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian southern port of Odesa.

Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region that encompasses the city of Odesa, said on Telegram that Ukraine‘s air defence systems were engaged in repelling the drone attack, but the falling debris caused several fires in residential buildings in different parts of the city, also injuring several people.

Ukraine‘s air force said that Russia’s air attack also targeted the Mykolaiv and Dnipro regions.

The Archbishop of Canterbury called on people to “stand with those suffering because of war and to seek to make peace” as he prayed for a peaceful 2024 in his New Year message.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said “wars seem everywhere at the moment” as he delivered his annual start-of-the-year address.

Speaking from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, he said: “Wars seem everywhere at the moment. Wars we know about, wars forgotten.

“I’ve seen for myself the ongoing human cost of war.

“In Ukraine I went to Bucha where evidence of atrocities was found.

“I’ve met Ukrainian refugees, most recently in Georgia and Romania: families having to start again in a new country...

“Jesus Christ tells us to stand with those suffering because of war, and to seek to make peace.”

In Russia, the country’s military actions in Ukraine overshadowed end-of-year celebrations, with the usual fireworks and concert on Moscow’s Red Square cancelled, as they were last year.

Even without the festivities, people gathered in the square, and some cheered and pointed their phones at a clock counting down the year’s final seconds.