For millions of Ukrainians, many of them under Russian bombardment and grappling with power and water shortages, New Year’s celebrations will be muted as Russia’s 10-month war rumbles on with no end in sight. Explosions rang out across the country as a new wave of russian attacks was reported Saturday.
But for some families, the new year is nevertheless a chance to reunite, however briefly, after months apart.
At Kyiv’s central railway station on Saturday morning, Mykyta, still in his uniform, gripped a bouquet of pink roses tightly as he waited on platform 9 for his wife Valeriia to arrive from Poland. He hadn’t seen her in six months.
“It actually was really tough, you know, to wait so long,” he told The Associated Press after hugging and kissing Valeriia. Nearby, another soldier, Vasyl Khomko, 42, joyously met his daughter Yana and wife Galyna who have been living in Slovakia due to the war, but returned to Kyiv to spend New Year’s Eve together.
Multiple explosions were heard across country Saturday, and air defenses were activated in several regions.