The Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball drops during New Year’s celebration in Times Square Sunday in New York. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) — New Year’s celebrations swept across the globe, ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks — and marking an end to a year that brought war in Europe, a new chapter in the British monarchy and global worries over inflation.

The new year began in the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati in the central Pacific, then moved across Russia and New Zealand before heading deeper, time zone by time zone, through Asia and Europe and into the Americas.

The ball dropped on New York City’s iconic Times Square as huge crowds counted down the seconds into 2023, culminating in raucous cheers and a deluge of confetti glittering amid jumbo screens, neon, pulsing lights and soggy streets.

Across the world, at least for a day, thoughts focused on possibilities, even elusive ones like world peace, and mustering — finally — a resolve to keep the next array of resolutions.

In a sign of that hope, children met St. Nicholas in a crowded metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Fireworks illuminate the Elizabeth Tower, part of the Houses of Parliament, in central London during the New Year celebrations Sunday. (AP Photo)

Yet Russian attacks continued New Year’s Eve. At midnight, the streets of the capital, Kyiv, were desolate.

The only sign of a new year came from local residents shouting from their balconies, “Happy New Year!” and “Glory to Ukraine!” And only half an hour into 2023, air raid sirens rang across Ukraine’s capital, followed by the sound of explosions.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported an explosion in Holosiivskyi district, and authorities reported that fragments of a missile that had been shot down had damaged a car in a central district.

In Paris, thousands celebrated on the Champs Elysees, while French President Emmanuel Macron pledged continuing support for Ukraine in a televised New Year’s address. “During the coming year, we will be unfailingly at your side,” Macron said. “We will help you until victory, and we will be together to build a just and lasting peace. Count on France, and count on Europe.”

Big Ben chimed as more than 100,000 revelers gathered along the River Thames to watch a spectacular fireworks show around the London Eye. The display featured a drone light display of a crown and Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait on a coin hovering in the sky, paying tribute to Britain’s longest-serving monarch who died in September.

Fireworks are seen over Victoria Harbour at midnight on New Years Sunday in Hong Kong. (AP Photo)

Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach welcomed a small crowd of a few thousand for a short fireworks display, and several Brazilian cities canceled celebrations this year due to concern about the coronavirus. The Brazilian capital’s New Year’s bash usually drew more than 2 million people to Copacabana before the pandemic.

Turkey’s most populous city, Istanbul, brought in 2023 with street festivities and fireworks. At St. Antuan Catholic Church, dozens of Christians prayed for the new year and marked former Pope Benedict XVI’s passing. The Vatican announced Benedict died Saturday at age 95.

In New York, rain that was fierce at times did not deter the crowd at a dazzling Saturday night spectacle kicking off celebrations across the United States. The Times Square party culminated with the descent from One Times Square of a glowing sphere 12 feet (3.6 meters) in diameter and comprised of nearly 2,700 Waterford crystals.

“I just wish everyone a lot of prosperity, peace and love,” reveler Tina Wright, who was visiting from the Phoenix area, said after the countdown. “And let’s just get things moving in the world right now.”

In Australia, more than 1 million people crowded along Sydney’s waterfront for a multi-million-dollar celebration based around the themes of diversity and inclusion. More than 7,000 fireworks were launched from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and another 2,000 from the nearby Opera House.

People light up their smartphones as they celebrate New Year’s Eve in front of the Bosingak Pavilion in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday. (AP Photo)

In Auckland, New Zealand, large crowds gathered below the Sky Tower, where a 10-second countdown to midnight preceded fireworks. The celebrations in New Zealand’s largest city returned after COVID-19 forced them to be canceled a year ago.

A man in a Santa Claus costume meets children at a subway station decorated for Christmas and New Year in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday. (AP Photo)

Fireworks explode over the ancient Parthenon temple at the Acropolis hill during New Year celebrations in Athens, Greece, Sunday. (AP Photo)

Revellers gather under the rain as they wait for the countdown during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Times Square on Saturday in New York. (AP Photo)

A firework display explodes off Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper Taipei101 to usher in the New Year in Taipei, Taiwan, Sunday. (AP Photo)

Viking reenactors use flaming torches to write 2023 at the Flamborough Fire Festival, a Viking themed parade in aid of charities and local community groups, held on New Year’s Eve in Flamborough near Bridlington, England, Saturday. (AP Photo)

Revelers watch a sound and light show projected on the Arc de Triomphe as they celebrate the New Year on the Champs Elysees, in Paris, France, Saturday. (AP Photo)