MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Residents of major urban centers in Europe and the Middle East welcomed 2023 with countdowns and fireworks, and many cities around the world celebrated New Years without COVID restrictions for the first time. since the beginning of the pandemic.
Many children filled a metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine to meet St. Nicholas and enjoy a special show before the new year. For their part, some soldiers who said they regularly celebrate the end of the year with their families have decided to stay in the trenches to defend their country.
Others in Ukraine have returned to the capital, Kiev, to spend New Year’s Day with loved ones. Russia continues to attack power plants, leaving millions without electricity and no major celebrations have been planned. The curfew would be in effect from midnight.
French President Emmanuel Macron launched “a message of unity and trust” in a televised address on Saturday. Macron, who has mentioned the war in Ukraine several times, also sent a message to “Ukrainian friends,” whom “we respect and admire,” he said.
“Next year we will remain steadfast by your side. We will help them to victory and we will be together to build a just and lasting peace. Count on France and Europe,” she said.
In London, tens of thousands of people watched the New Year’s Eve fireworks display on the banks of the Thames for the first time since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions on mass gatherings marred festivities in both 2020 and 2021, as drone light shows replaced traditional fireworks.
Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach welcomed a small crowd of a few thousand for a short fireworks display, and several Brazilian cities have canceled festivities this year due to coronavirus concerns. Before the pandemic, the Brazilian capital’s New Year’s Eve party attracted more than 2 million people to Copacabana.
Turkey’s most populous city, Istanbul, has welcomed 2023 with street parties and fireworks. At the Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua, located on Istanbul’s busy Istiklal Avenue, dozens of Christians prayed for the new year and mourned the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The Vatican has announced that Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95.
Kiribati, a Pacific nation, was the first to receive 2023 an hour earlier than its neighbors, such as New Zealand, due to its time zone.
In Auckland, huge crowds gathered in front of the Sky Tower, where a 10-second countdown to midnight preceded a fireworks display. Celebrations in New Zealand’s largest city have gone very well after being canceled by COVID-19 a year ago.
Associated Press writers Henry Hou in Beijing, Renata Brito in Kiev, Yuri Kagayema in Tokyo, Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul and Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to this report.
