It turns out my colleague Helena Smith was actually within sight of that fireworks display in Athens. She reports: Over in Greece fireworks illuminated the skies over buildings and antiquities beneath the Acropolis in Athens as people enjoyed the arrival of the New Year in a way not seen since before the Covid-19 pandemic. Here are some more images of people gathered for new year celebrations from around the world. This one shows the scene in Kampala in Uganda. Athens naturally used the Parthenon as the backdrop for this display in Greece. Sharjah in the UAE has clearly splashed out. Also, someone appears to have helpfully lit up the Arc de Triomphe in case you had lost track of where you were. It is the new year in Germany. And lots of other places that are GMT +1, from Sweden to Spain in Europe, and from Morocco and Algeria down through Nigeria to Angola in Africa, but this is a picture from Berlin. London’s mayor Sadiq Khan has posted to social media to say that he is “delighted to welcome Londoners and visitors back to the Thames for our iconic New Year’s Eve fireworks”. The tweet includes a video clip of him being interviewed on Sky News, where he says: These are the biggest fireworks in Europe. I think the best fireworks in the world. The best we’ve had in London. The biggest we’ve had in London. There are at least three massive surprises that I can’t share with you, otherwise my team won’t forgive me. But some really special things tonight. A reflection on the last year, some really happy events, obviously one tragic event with the loss of her majesty but it’s a really important way to bring in the new year. It will be a message from London of love, sent to our friends across Europe and around the world. It is really important we have a full recovery after two-three years we’ve had because of the pandemic. US president Joe Biden has posted a brief new year’s message to Twitter where he says he looks forward to “more progress in the new year”, having touted his 2022 achievements as “historic legislation to lower costs for working families and seniors, help keep our communities safe from gun violence, and create good-paying jobs across the country”. We are a little way away from Paris and Berlin seeing in the new year and, like many countries, they have been dialling down the public use of energy due to rising costs, yet there are huge crowds on the streets to celebrate a new year without pandemic restrictions. I am not saying that the world is massive and that timezones are mind-blowingly large if you stop and think about it, but where I am writing in London it isn’t even midnight, yet in Seoul, South Korea, not only are they already into 2023, there are actually people out on the streets waiting to watch the first sunrise of the new year. Television’s favourite lexicographer and etymologist Susie Dent’s tweets are often interpreted as cryptic political messaging, but tonight she just seems to be trying to point us in the direction of happier times with her obscure words “respair” and “resipiscence”. Kenya is just over an hour into the new year, and here is a picture of what looks like a spectacular display in the capital Nairobi. Egypt has just joined Kenya in 2023, and here are some fireworks seen over the River Nile in Cairo. While in many places tonight will be a time of celebration, the political reality of the war in Ukraine keeps reasserting itself. As well as the text of his Telegram message earlier [see 21.46 GMT], Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared on TV in Ukraine just before midnight. The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has also taken time out of his evening to wish a happy new year to those in Ukraine, pledging further British support. Huge swathes of Europe and Africa have just passed midnight, including Finland and the Baltic states to the north, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus – where my immediate family are celebrating this evening. In Africa, from Libya and Egypt in the north, down through Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe and to South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia in the south they have also just entered 2023. Those celebrations in Edinburgh are not going to be dry, by the way. If you haven’t had enough bagpipes yet on your New Year’s Eve, the royal family can help you out. Earlier they published a video clip of a piper playing Auld Lang Syne at Buckingham Palace. I should imagine there will quite a few more bagpipes before the night is through, especially in Scotland, where fireworks have already been on display above Edinburgh Castle as the countdown to midnight in the UK continues. Zelenskiy says "let this be the year of return" in new year"s address Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has just posted to his Telegram channel as it approaches midnight in Kyiv. In the message he says: The year 2022 wounded us in the heart. We cried all the tears. We do not know for sure what the new year, 2023, will bring us. I want to wish all of us one thing – victory. And that’s the main thing. One wish for all Ukrainians. Let this year be the year of return. The return of our people. Soldiers – to their families. Prisoners – to their homes. Immigrants – to their Ukraine. The return of our lands. And the temporarily occupied will become forever free. Return to normal life. To happy moments without curfew. To earthly joys without air anxieties. Returning what was stolen from us. The childhood of our children, the peaceful old age of our parents. May the new year bring all this. We are ready to fight for it. In the UK, the Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East, Pat McFadden, has tweeted a new year’s message that reminds us that tonight is “not an easy night sometimes for those remembering loved ones”, but that it is “always the start of a new beginning with new hope”. That sombre note reminds me of a kind and thoughtful email I received from a reader earlier, on a similar theme about tonight being a difficult night for some. She explained that she would be spending the evening in, ill, as she has done for many years with a debilitating condition, and asked me to “give a shout out to all the people who are in a similar position because of ME or any other illness”. She added: “It would be so nice to be remembered, especially since the healthy are able to return to their celebrations again this year after the pandemic whilst we remain in the shadows.” There is a very impressive display this evening in Innsbruck in Austria. Meanwhile, the London Eye is getting ready for its close-up later tonight. Do you remember that when it was first installed on 31 December 1999 it was only intended to be a temporary attraction with a five-year licence? The curfews imposed in Ukraine mean that it will be a much quieter New Year’s Eve in Kyiv and other major cities than usual. This picture shows a couple embracing in front of the St Sophia Cathedral in the country’s capital. They have been doing their best to maintain some traditions. This picture shows children meeting a father frost figure in a grotto in the University Metro station in Kharkiv. Now one of my very favourite things about New Year’s Eve is Peter Hitchens. I thought I’d check on him to see if he was having a lovely evening, but he appears to be in the middle of a heated Twitter debate with Jordan Peterson. So if you had wanted to set yourself a low bar for how you are spending New Year’s Eve, there you have it. If you are lucky enough to have tickets for the Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations tonight, then you are in for a treat in my opinion, as Pet Shop Boys are one of the main events. PA Media reports that organisers confirmed all the events hosted in the capital to mark the traditional Hogmanay celebrations in Scotland were sold out. Fireworks will lift off every hour between 9pm and 11pm, counting down to the traditional midnight display. City of Edinburgh council leader Cammy Day said: “Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is the place to be to send off the 75th anniversary of Edinburgh as the festival city and kick off 2023. We are immensely proud that so many people choose to share their new year with us and enjoy everything our city has to offer.”