Most regions in Ukraine are experiencing emergency blackouts in the wake of Russian shelling and there will be ‘difficult days’ ahead, Ukraine’s energy minister said Saturday. Russian missile strikes were reported throughout Ukraine on Saturday, including a hit on infrastructure facilities in Kyiv and explosions in the Dniprovskiy district of the Ukrainian capital, the city's mayor said. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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10:37pm: Shock in Ukraine after Russian strike on residential building during holiday season
Rescue efforts are ongoing following a Russian strike on a residential building in Dnipro on Saturday. “The attack really shocked Ukraine,” says FRANCE 24’s Correspondent Gulliver Cragg, reporting from Kyiv.
“It’s a holiday today – Old New Year – and it’s a Saturday. The fact that the strikes happened today is reminding Ukrainians of the Russian strikes that took place two weeks ago on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.”
7:06pm: Zelensky says Russian 'terror' can only be stopped on the battlefield
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday Russian "terror" could only be stopped on the battlefield, after a residential building and energy infrastructure were hit in a new wave of attacks.
"Is it possible to stop the Russian terror? Yes, it is. Can it be done in any other way than on the battlefield in Ukraine? Unfortunately, no," Zelensky said in his daily address, adding that his forces shot down more than 20 out of 30 Russian missiles fired Saturday.
5:52pm: Ukraine shot down 21 Russian missiles in latest attack, commander says
Ukraine shot down 21 out of 33 incoming missiles fired by Russia at targets across the country on Saturday, Ukraine's top commander Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram.
Ukraine shot down 18 of 28 inbound cruise missiles and three out of five guided air-to-surface missiles, he said.
5:48pm: Japan PM says G7 countries must show 'strong will' on Ukraine invasion
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Saturday that the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May should demonstrate a strong will to uphold international order and rule of law after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a news conference in Washington a day after a summit with US President Joe Biden on Friday, Kishida made no mention of a comment by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who accused the Japanese leader on Saturday of shameful subservience to the United States and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself.
5:34pm: Moldova says missile debris found in north of the country
Missile debris was found in the north of Moldova following the latest barrage of Russian air strikes on Ukraine, Moldova's interior ministry said on Saturday.
"Following Russia's massive bombardment of Ukraine, a border police patrol discovered ... the remains of a missile, originating from Russia's air attacks on Ukraine," the ministry said on Facebook.
5:05pm: Ukraine's energy minister says 'difficult' days ahead after latest Russian attacks
Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Saturday that the coming days would be "difficult" on the energy front after Russia's latest missile attack hit critical infrastructure in several regions.
"Due to the shelling in the majority of the regions, emergency cut-offs are being introduced. The coming days will be difficult," he wrote on Facebook.
"Today the enemy attacked the country's energy generation facilities and power grid again. There are attacks in Kharkiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions. Due to the shelling, emergency blackouts have been introduced in most regions," Galushchenko added.
4:46pm: Five dead, 27 wounded in Russian missile attack in Dnipro, says governor
A Russian missile attack that struck an apartment building on Saturday in the east-central Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed five people and wounded 27, including 6 children, Valentyn Reznichenko, the regional govenor, said.
"Twenty-seven people are injured. Six children are among them. All are in hospital," he said.
3:55pm: At least 10 wounded in Dnipro apartment strike, say Ukrainian officials
At least 10 people, including two children, were injured by a Russian strike on an apartment block in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Saturday, the regional governor said.
An official from the Ukrainian President's Office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said 15 people had already been rescued from the rubble. He also posted a picture which showed a nine-storey apartment block, part of which had collapsed entirely.
3:43pm: Russian embassy to UK warns that tank delivery will 'intensify' conflict
Britain's pledge to send heavy Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine will only "intensify" the conflict, the Russian embassy to the UK warned on Saturday.
"Bringing tanks to the conflict zone, far from drawing the hostilities to a close, will only serve to intensify combat operations, generating more casualties, including among the civilian population", the embassy said.
3:39pm: Russia hits key infrastructure in Kharkiv, Lviv, say officials
Russia hit key infrastructure in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv and in the western Lviv region, officials said Saturday, while a power facility in Kyiv was targeted earlier.
"Emergency power cuts are currently being applied" in the Kharkiv region, governor Oleg Synegubov said, after critical infrastructure was hit twice.
Lviv regional administration head Maksym Kozytsky warned of potential "interruptions in electricity and water supply" after "the enemy hit a critical infrastructure facility in the Lviv region."
2:07pm: Turkey ready to push for 'local ceasefires' in Ukraine
Turkey said Saturday it was ready to push for local ceasefires in Ukraine and warned that neither Moscow nor Kyiv had the military means to "win the war".
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's foreign policy adviser Ibrahim Kalin conceded that it seemed unlikely that the warring sides were ready to strike an "overarching peace deal" in the coming months.
But he said that the brutal cost of fighting might soon see them reconsider and accept localised truces in specific parts of the war zone.
"Turkey is willing to push for local ceasefires and small localised de-escalations," Kalin told reporters. "Neither party is in a position to win the war militarily, on the ground."
1:48pm: Air raid sirens sound across most of Ukraine, officials say
Air raid sirens wailed across most of Ukraine on Saturday and officials told residents to take shelter from a possible Russian air attack.
The regional governor of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, said Russian missiles had already been spotted flying in Ukraine's south and that air defences were working.
1:43pm: Sunak says Britain will send tanks to Ukraine
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday said the UK will provide tanks to Ukraine to help Kyiv's forces "push Russian troops back".
Sunak made the pledge to supply Challenger 2 tanks and additional artillery systems as a sign of the UK's "ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine", according to a readout of a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The move makes the UK the first Western power to supply the Ukrainians with main battle tanks, the PA news agency said. France on January 4 said it would supply Kyiv with the French-made AMX-10 RC – a light tank model.
"In a conversation with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, I thanked (him) for the decisions that will not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but also send the right signal to other partners," Zelensky responded on Twitter.
1:14pm: 'Russians do seem to prefer a symbolic date' for attacks on Ukraine infrastructure
Kyiv has been hit by "what seems to be another Russian missile strike, the first in around about two weeks," FRANCE 24's Luke Shargo reported from Mykolaiv. "It's the old [Orthodox calendar] New Year today and Ukrainians have been saying that the Russians do seem to prefer a symbolic date, and this would be the first time they've struck since the New Year."
11:21pm: 'Ukrainian authorities do not want to admit having lost control of Soledar'
"The picture that seems to be coming through from journalists who are near Soledar relating what they have observed, and from some Ukrainian military figures or military bloggers posting on social media, it does appear as though even from the Ukrainian side there is an admission that Ukrainian forces have had to leave the town centre of Soledar," FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reported from Sumy in northeastern Ukraine. "I think that they have not entirely been pushed beyond the city limits; that's the picture that I am getting.
"Certainly the Ukrainian authorities do not want to admit having lost control of Soledar. President Volodymyr Zelensky in his evening address to Ukrainians said that the battle for Soledar continues. This morning in their morning the Ukrainian general staff don't really give any specific details about the situation in Soledar, [they were] just talking about the broader battle for Bakhmut, which was the nearest big city to Soledar, which is in a way the real prize in this particular part of the Russian offensive, in saying that that battle continues."
9:41am: Ukrainian governor says massive Russian missile attack possible later on Saturday
The governor of the central Cherkasy region warned Ukrainians that Russia could launch a massive missile strike later on Saturday and urged residents to take shelter during air raid sirens.
Separately, Vitaly Kim, regional governor of the southern Mykolayiv region, said that 17 Russian Tupolev bombers had taken off from their air bases. His statement came shortly after air attacks in Kyiv and Kharkiv hit critical infrastructure.
8:53am: Russian missile attack hits infrastructure in Kyiv
Several explosions resonated in Ukraine's capital on Saturday morning, AFP journalists heard, as officials reported strikes on key infrastructure.
"Missile attack on critical infrastructure facilities" in Kyiv, the Deputy Head of Presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram. The city administration said an infrastructure facility had been hit.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the Dniprovskiy district and urged residents to "stay in shelters!". Fragments of a rocket fell in the Golosiivskiy district without causing any casulaties, Klitschko added.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
