Closing summary
The primary task of Sweden’s foreign policy in the coming years will be the support to Ukraine, Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, told a defence conference.
The UK said it plans to spend £300m on a new programme to produce advanced nuclear fuel suitable for the next generation of power-generating reactors, with the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Claire Coutinho, warning that Vladimir Putin won’t hold the UK “to ransom on nuclear fuel”.
In Russia, more than 100 residents of the Russian border city of Belgorod have evacuated to an area farther from Ukraine, local officials said. Belgorod is just over half an hour’s drive from the border with Ukraine, making it a vital stop in Russian supply lines. The city has come under extensive shelling and drone attacks for months.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, spoke to a conference in Sweden via video link. He said: “Even Russia can be brought back within the framework of international law. Its aggression can be defeated.”
Charles Michel has announced he will step down early as European Council president after running in the European parliament elections set for June. The surprise move means EU leaders will have to swiftly agree on a successor to take up his vacated council post, and could pave the way for Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to exert more influence over EU policymaking.
Five children were among the 11 people killed by a Russian missile strike that hit in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Saturday, the governor of the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk region said. According to Reuters, Vadym Filashkin told Ukrainian television that Russian forces engaged in “mass shelling” of Pokrovsk at around 3pm.
Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that its air defence systems shot down 21 out of 28 attack drones launched by Russia overnight. Posting on Telegram, the air force said Russia targeted mainly the south and east of Ukraine, with three cruise missiles also reportedly being launched at Ukraine overnight.
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Sweden says its main foreign policy task in coming years is support to Ukraine
The primary task of Sweden’s foreign policy in the coming years will be the support to Ukraine, Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, has told a defence conference.
Separately, Turkey looks set to ratify Sweden’s membership in Nato in the coming weeks, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Saturday.
Sweden made the bid in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, raised objections over what he said was Stockholm’s protection of people who Ankara deems to be terrorists.
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UK 'won't be held to ransom on nuclear fuel' by Putin, says minister after investment announcement
The UK said it plans to spend £300m on a new programme to produce advanced nuclear fuel suitable for the next generation of power-generating reactors, with a minister warning that Vladimir Putin won’t hold the UK “to ransom on nuclear fuel”.
The UK, along with countries including the US, France and South Korea, recently signed a pledge to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050 as part of international efforts to cut climate-damaging carbon emissions.
On Sunday, the UK said its new investment would help support domestic production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) – a type of fuel currently only produced on a commercial scale by Russia.
“The launch of the HALEU programme will enable the UK to supply the world with specialist nuclear fuel and further isolate Putin’s Russia,” the department for energy security and net zero said in a statement.
The secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Claire Coutinho, added:
We stood up to Putin on oil and gas and financial markets, we won’t let him hold us to ransom on nuclear fuel.
Britain gave the world its first operational nuclear power plant, and now we will be the first nation in Europe outside Russia to produce advanced nuclear fuel.
This will be critical for energy security at home and abroad and builds on Britain’s historic competitive advantages.
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The Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, has analysed the significance of the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, saying he is running as an MEP in June’s European elections and will stand down if elected.
You can read his story here:
Vladimir Putin vowed on the eve of Orthodox Christmas to back soldiers who “with arms in hands” defend Russia’s interests, according to Reuters.
“Many of our men, our courageous, heroic guys, Russian warriors, even now, on this holiday, defend the interests of our country with arms in hand,” Putin said on Saturday night at a meeting with families of Russian soldiers who have died in Ukraine.
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Belgorod: More than 100 residents of Russian border city evacuate farther away from Ukraine – officials
In Russia, more than 100 residents of the Russian border city of Belgorod have evacuated to an area farther from Ukraine, local officials said.
Andrey Chesnokov, head of the Stary Oskol district, about 71 miles (115km) from Belgorod, wrote on Telegram: “On behalf of the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, we met the first Belgorod residents who decided to move to the safest place. More than 100 people were placed in our temporary accommodation centres.”
Belgorod is just over half an hour’s drive from the border with Ukraine, making it a vital stop in Russian supply lines. The city has come under extensive shelling and drone attacks for months.
Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod on 30 December killed 25 people, local officials said, with rocket and drone attacks continuing throughout this week, the Associated Press reports.
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Russian attacks in the Donetsk region caused power outages at two mines while 18 workers were inside, Ukraine’s energy ministry has said, according to the Kyiv Independent.
The ministry did not comment on the status of the workers who were in the mines during the attacks.
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On 27 June, a Russian Iskander missile struck a bustling pizza restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. The attack claimed the lives of 13 people, including four children, and left 60 others wounded, some critically. The restaurant, a popular spot for local people and international journalists, was at full capacity when the missiles hit.
Among those present that day was Anastasia Taylor-Lind, a British-Swedish poet and photojournalist, along with her translator and friend Dima.
Taylor-Lind had spent a decade documenting the war in Donbas, which began in 2014, but until that moment her encounters with violence had been as an observer, bearing witness to its impact on the lives of others. This was the first time she had experienced the horrors of war on a bodily level. It took her time to process the pain and trauma. Months later, her response as a poet was to pour her feelings on to paper.
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Zelenskiy: 'Even Russia can be brought back within framework of international law'
Russia’s attack on Ukraine can be defeated, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said.
“Even Russia can be brought back within the framework of international law. Its aggression can be defeated,” Zelenskiy, who said the battlefield situation remains relatively stable, told a conference in Sweden via video link on Sunday.
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Japan will continue to support Ukraine, Japan’s foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, said during her visit to Kyiv.
“Japan is determined to continue to support Ukraine so that peace can return to Ukraine,” Kamikawa was quoted as saying at a joint news conference with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba.
“I can feel how tense the situation in Ukraine is now,” she added.
Japan has joined western sanctions against Russia and provided weapons to Kyiv.
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Summary of the day so far...
Charles Michel has announced he will step down early as European Council president after running in the European parliament elections set for June. The surprise move means EU leaders will have to swiftly agree on a successor to take up his vacated council post, and could pave the way for Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to exert more influence over EU policymaking.
Five children were among the 11 people killed by a Russian missile strike that hit in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Saturday, the governor of the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk region said. According to Reuters, Vadym Filashkin told Ukrainian television that Russian forces engaged in “mass shelling” of Pokrovsk at around 3pm.
Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that its air defence systems shot down 21 out of 28 attack drones launched by Russia overnight. Posting on Telegram, the air force said Russia targeted mainly the south and east of Ukraine, with three cruise missiles also reportedly being launched at Ukraine overnight.
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Kherson’s regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said late on Sunday morning that a market and residential buildings have been hit by Russian shelling in residential quarters.
He said on Telegram that two Kherson residents were killed and two others were hospitalised with injuries.
In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Rosgvardia, the Russian National Guard, is bolstering its resources and personnel because of upheavals in Russia’s internal security scene from the war in Ukraine.
The MoD wrote on X:
Elements of private military company Wagner group came under Rosgvardia from October 2023, followed on 3 January 2024 by the Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DNR) “Vostok” battalion.
Moscow has also been advancing its efforts to dissolve the DNR’s “Kaskad” group, which specialises in drone operations, and subordinate parts of it to Rosgvardia.
In July 2023, the Russian State Duma authorised Rosgvardia to employ heavier weaponry.
New capabilities, along with its augmentation with experienced veterans from other groups, will likely represent a significant increase in combat effectiveness.
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AFP has more on the Japanese foreign minister’s visit to Ukraine on Sunday (see earlier post at 08.45 for more details).
“Foreign minister Yoko Kamikawa arrived in Ukraine,” the Japanese embassy said, adding: “It’s her first visit abroad this year.”
Kamikawa went to Bucha, near Kyiv, where Russian forces are blamed for a 2022 massacre of civilians, as well as to Irpin, a past scene of heavy fighting.
She visited Ukraine to meet her counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and underscore Tokyo’s continued support for the country, a ministry official said.
🇯🇵Japanese Foreign Minister Yōko #Kamikawa arrived in #Kyiv on the morning of January 7.
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) January 7, 2024
📷: Embassy of Japan in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/82wbWSRiJy
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As of 1 January 2024, 3,428 educational institutions have been damaged and 365 destroyed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the education and science committee of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
The data, which has not been independently verified by the Guardian, was cited from saveschools.in.ua documents.
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Charles Michel to run in 2024 European elections, triggering scramble to fill European Council president post
The European Council’s president, Charles Michel, will reportedly run as a candidate for the European parliamentary election in June, meaning EU leaders will have to swiftly agree on a successor to take up his vacated council post.
“I have decided to run in the European elections in 2024,” Michel told Belgian newspaper De Standaard.
“If I get elected, I will take my seat. The European Council can anticipate and name a successor by end-June, early-July.”
A spokesperson for Michel confirmed the announcement to Politico, which reported:
Michel plans to take up his seat in the European parliament mid-July if he’s elected, meaning EU leaders will have to agree quickly on a successor for his vacated council post.
If they don’t, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, whose country will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July, would lead the meetings – a broker-role normally undertaken by the European Council president.
That scenario – an unchecked Orbán ruling the Council roost for the six months directly after the 2024 European election – is one most of the other 26 leaders of EU countries would be desperate to avoid, given escalating tensions between them and Orbán, for example over the union’s support for Ukraine and Hungary’s rule-of-law infractions.
Michel, 48, is a former Belgian prime minister and has served as chief of the EU Council, the group of government leaders of the 27 EU member states, since late 2019.
He will run as the top candidate for his Belgian centre-right Movement Reformateur party, De Standaard said.
The announcement comes after US Congress last month failed to approve $50bn (£39bn) in security aid for Ukraine as negotiators fell short of a deal, with Republicans demanding a domestic border crackdown.
Ukraine is separately waiting to receive a €50bn (£43.5bn) package from the EU, delivery of which has looked uncertain after Hungary blocked the EU from approving the aid.
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In a new post to Telegram on Sunday morning, Kherson’s regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said that Kherson is “under heavy fire” from the Russian army, with a residential building in the regional centre among the sites being targeted.
“As a result of a direct hit to the house, a woman from Kherson died, another woman was injured,” he wrote. See the post at 08.54 for his earlier comments.
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Dnipropetrovsk regional authorities said on Telegram that 12 people were injured in a drone attack in Dnipro city.
They also said an educational institution and its dormitory, two multi-apartment buildings and one administrative building were damaged, Reuters reports.
Here are some of the latest images coming out of Donetsk:
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Five children among the 11 people killed by Russian missile strike on Pokrovsk, says governor
Five children were among the 11 people killed by a Russian missile strike that hit in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Saturday, the governor of the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk region has said.
According to Reuters, Vadym Filashkin told Ukrainian television that Russian forces engaged in “mass shelling” of Pokrovsk at around 3pm.
He was quoted as saying:
As a result of this barbaric attack, 11 people died, including five children aged from three to 17 years.
Ten people were injured. Rescue operations are continuing. Closer to morning we will have a better understanding of the final numbers of those who were injured.
In response to the reports of the attack, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wrote on Telegram: “Russia must feel – always feel – that no such strike will go without consequences for the terrorist state.”
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Russian attacks in the Kherson region have injured five people, including two children, Kherson’s regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Sunday.
He said that over the past day, Russia fired 24 shells at the city of Kherson.
Posting on Telegram, Prokudin wrote:
The Russian military targeted the residential quarters of the populated areas of the region, a critical infrastructure facility in the Kherson district, territory of factories in Kherson. As a result of Russian aggression, five people were injured, including two children.
His claims are yet to be independently verified.
Japan’s foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, visited Ukraine on Sunday to meet with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, to show Tokyo’s continued support, a ministry official said.
The unannounced visit was a change to her original two-week tour plan of visiting Poland, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the US, Canada, Germany and Turkey from Friday, AFP reports.
During her visit, Kamikawa “will once again reiterate to the Ukrainian side that Japan’s consistent policy of standing with and supporting Ukraine remains unchanged,” the ministry statement said.
She will brief the Ukrainian side on the details of assistance projects Japan will offer to Kyiv, it said.
Japan plans to host a conference to promote Ukraine’s economic reconstruction in Tokyo in February, with Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal planning to attend.
Kamikawa will consult with the Ukraine side about details of the conference and will attend “the handover ceremony of large-scale power-related equipment for winterisation assistance,” the ministry statement added.
The statement said that during her visit Kamikawa:
Is to demonstrate Japan’s determination to uphold the international order based on the ‘rule of law’ from the perspective that unilateral changes to the status quo by force, such as Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, cannot be accepted.
Ukraine air force says it downed 21 of 28 attack drones launched by Russia overnight
Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that its air defence systems shot down 21 out of 28 attack drones launched by Russia overnight.
Posting on Telegram, the air force said Russia targeted mainly the south and east of Ukraine, with three cruise missiles also reportedly being launched at Ukraine overnight.
It said that Ukrainian air defence was at work above Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kirovohrad, Vinnytsia, and Cherkasy regions during the night.
No damage or casualties have been reported by military and civilian authorities.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said yesterday that Russia is continuing to struggle to establish air superiority over Ukraine.
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Opening summary
Welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Five children are among the dead in a Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a local official has said. Rescuers have continued to comb through the rubble of the at the site of the attack, searching for survivors.
More on that shortly, first here’s a roundup if the day’s other main news.
The Russian military is on course to lose 500,000 personnel within the next year, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence. The MoD tweeted: “The average daily number of Russian casualties in Ukraine has risen by almost 300 during the course of 2023. If the numbers continue at the current rate over the next year, Russia will have lost over half a million personnel in Ukraine.”
The UK’s Ministry of Defence says Russia is continuing to struggle to establish air superiority over Ukraine. Three Russian combat jets were shot down just before Christmas and that affected ground forces’ tactical objectives later in the month, the MoD said. It added that Russia has been increasing its aerial strikes in recent days “but at a lower level than before the shootdowns”.
Denmark’s transfer of 19 American-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will take place in the second quarter of 2024, once Ukrainian pilots have completed training, the defence ministry has said. The Danish ministry said in a statement: “Based on the current timetable, the donation should take place in the second quarter of 2024. It’s mainly an issue of finishing the training of Ukrainian personnel who will operate the planes.”
Polish farmers suspended their blockade of a major crossing into neighbouring Ukraine following the signing of an agreement with the Polish government. Truckers continue to blockade three other main border crossings into Ukraine in protest at “unfair competition” from Ukrainian counterparts and against the relaxation of access rules to the European Union for Ukrainian firms.
Reuters reports that the Kharkiv region prosecutor’s office has provided further evidence that Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea, showcasing the fragments. On Friday, a senior adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia hit Ukraine this week with missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time during its invasion.
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