Here is a summary of today's events so far:
Russia’s Ministry of Defence has hinted at retaliation to Ukraine’s shelling of Belgorod. The number of people killed by a Ukrainian strike in the Russian city of Belgorod has risen to 14, with 108 injured, Russia’s emergencies ministry said on Saturday.
It appears Ukrainian forces had struck military targets in Belgorod in response to Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities the previous day. At least 39 people were killed in Friday’s strikes, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said. Ukrainian forces have called it the most ferocious airstrike launched by Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Russia experienced a sharp rise in the number of killed and wounded troops in 2023, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence. In its daily intelligence briefing, the MoD said the average daily number of Russian casualties (killed and wounded) had risen by almost 300 a day compared with 2022.
Moscow is not going to give an explanation for a missile in Polish airspace until it is provided with “hard evidence” it was Russian, said Andrei Ordash, Russia’s chargé d’affaires in Poland, after being summoned to the Polish foreign ministry. Poland’s armed forces said an unknown airborne object, which they identified as a Russian missile, entered the country’s airspace from the direction of Ukraine for less than three minutes.
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Ukraine shelling of Belgorod will "not go unpunished", Russia warns
Russia’s Ministry of Defence has hinted at retaliation over Ukraine’s shelling of Belgorod.
The ministry said in a statement: “The Kyiv regime, which committed this crime, is trying to distract attention from defeats at the front, and also provoke us to similar actions.
“We emphasize that the Russian armed forces work only on military facilities and infrastructure directly related to them.
“We will continue to do so. This crime will not go unpunished.”
The Ukrainian news outlet RBC-Ukraine quoted sources as saying Ukrainian forces had struck military targets in Belgorod in response to Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities the previous day.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what it calls a “special military operation”, unleashed its biggest air attack of the war on Friday.
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The number of people killed by a Ukrainian strike in the Russian city of Belgorod has risen to 14, with 108 injured, Russia’s emergencies ministry said on Saturday.
“According to updated information, 12 adults and two children were killed in Belgorod. Another 108 people, including 15 children, were injured,” the ministry said.
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Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has been briefed about a Ukrainian strike on the Russian city of Belgorod that killed at least 10 people, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
“President Vladimir Putin has been informed about the Ukrainian armed forces’ strike on residential neighbourhoods in Belgorod,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS news agency.
Peskov added that the president ordered a Russian health ministry team led by Minister Mikhail Murashko and emergencies ministry’s rescuers to the city to help those affected.
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Ten people including a child were killed and 45 injured by Ukrainian strikes on the centre of the Russian provincial capital of Belgorod on Saturday, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.
The regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said a residential area had been hit, and in a Telegram posting urged all residents to move to air raid shelters as sirens sounded around the city.
The Belgorod region, which adjoins northern Ukraine, has like other Russian border zones suffered shelling and drone attacks all year that authorities have blamed on Ukraine.
Images posted by the state-run RIA news agency showed at least three cars on fire, and other images posted online showed black smoke rising from the city.
Two residents told Reuters they had seen air defence missiles rising into the sky followed by explosions in the air and then louder blasts.
The Kommersant newspaper cited a source close to the Russian Investigative Committee as saying missiles fired from a multiple rocket launcher in Ukraine’s Kharkov region had hit a skating rink on the central Cathedral Square, a shopping centre, residential buildings and a car.
No official comment was immediately available from Kyiv, which rarely claims responsibility for attacks inside its neighbour.
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At least 39 people were killed in Friday’s strikes, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said.
“Work is still underway to eliminate the consequences of yesterday’s Russian attack,” he wrote in a post on social media Saturday.
“In total, 159 people were injured in this terrorist attack. Unfortunately, 39 of them have been killed so far,” he said.
Relief operations in the aftermath of yesterday’s Russian attack continue. Almost 120 cities and villages have been affected, with hundreds of civilian objects damaged.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 30, 2023
I thank all of our State Emergency Service rescuers, municipal employees, police officers, and everyone who is… pic.twitter.com/bWFq2Wv0CU
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There will be no fireworks in Moscow again this year on Russia’s biggest family holiday, but in almost every other way, the capital is as bright and bustling as at any new year before the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Last year, the fallout of what Russia calls its “special military operation”, which had begun 10 months earlier, and a military call-up dented Muscovites’ appetite for entertainment. This year, only soaring prices are dampening the celebrations.
“Last year we bought a two-metre fir tree [for New Year] and it cost 10,000 roubles [$110],” said Viktorina Petrova, visiting the Moscow Circus. “This year it costs 17,000 roubles. So we decided not to have a real fir tree at home this year.”
Bookings for corporate parties and events at the Riesling Boyz bar, which were almost absent last year, have picked up again, said co-owner Georgy Karpenko.
The Russian political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin said a background of sharply rising prices - inflation is running at about 7% - and economic growth fuelled by a war with no end in sight were influencing spending.
“This kind of outlook, suggesting things are kind of OK right now and nothing good is likely to happen later, of course encourages spending rather than saving,” she said.
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Two children were killed and several people were injured as a result of a Ukrainian strike on the centre of the Russian provincial capital of Belgorod, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Saturday.
Gladkov said a residential area had been hit, in a post on Telegram.
He said: “The Ukrainian armed forces shelled the centre of Belgorod. According to preliminary information, there are two dead children and injured. There is also a hit in the residential sector. All details later”
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Sharp rise in Russian deaths due to 'degradation' of military quality
Russia experienced a sharp rise in the number of killed and wounded troops in 2023, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
In its daily intelligence briefing, the MoD said the average daily number of Russian casualties (killed and wounded) had risen by almost 300 a day compared with 2022.
It added:
The increase in daily averages, as reported by the Ukrainian authorities, almost certainly reflects the degradation of Russia’s forces and its transition to a lower quality, high quantity mass army since the “partial mobilisation” of reservists in September 2022.
It will likely take Russia five to 10 years to rebuild a cohort of highly trained and experienced military units.
If casualties continue at the current rate through the next year, by 2025 Russia will have sustained over half a million personnel killed and wounded over three years of war. This is compared to the Soviet Union’s 70,000 casualties in the nine-year Soviet-Afghan war.
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32 drones shot down over Russia, says Moscow
Thirty-two Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia, Moscow officials reported, a day after an 18-hour aerial barrage across Ukraine killed at least 32 civilians.
Drones were seen in the skies over the Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol and Kursk regions on Saturday, the country’s defence ministry said in a statement. It said all of the drones had been destroyed by air defences.
Russian drone strikes against Ukraine also continued, with the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces reporting that 10 Iranian-made Shahed drones had been shot down across the Kherson, Khmelnytskyi and Mykolaiv regions on Saturday.
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The Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said yesterday’s attack was the deadliest one yet for Kyiv in terms of civilian casualties.
Posting on Telegram, Klitschko said: “The attack on the capital on 29 December was the largest in terms of the number of victims among peaceful residents of the capital.
“At this time, 16 bodies were recovered from the rubble of a warehouse in the Shevchenkiv district. Rescuers continue to work and will clear the rubble until tomorrow.”
Klitschko said that 1 January will be declared a day of mourning in Kyiv.
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On Saturday morning the governor of the Bryansk region in Russia, adjoining Ukraine, said a child had been killed in strikes on “civilian objects” in two villages. Alexander Bogomaz did not specify when the attacks took place.
Bogomaz wrote on Telegram: “Ukrainian terrorists shelled the villages of Kister and Borshchovo, Pogarsky district.
“More than 10 shells were fired from MLRS at civilian targets. Unfortunately, a child born in 2014 died as a result of a terrorist attack. I express my sincere condolences to the family of the deceased. All necessary assistance to the family will be provided.”
The Russian military also said it had destroyed a Ukrainian maritime drone moving towards the Crimean peninsula.
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Moscow’s aerial bombardment of Ukraine has left 32 dead, AP reports.
At least 144 people were wounded and an unknown number buried under rubble in the assault, which damaged a maternity hospital, apartment blocks, and schools.
Shelling continued through the day across eastern and southern Ukraine and in Russia’s border regions. One man was killed by a missile in a private home in Russia’s Belgorod region late on Friday evening, regional head Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media. A further four people were injured, including a 10-year-old child, he said.
Western officials and analysts recently warned that Russia had limited its cruise missile strikes for months in an apparent effort to build up stockpiles for massive strikes during the winter, hoping to break the Ukrainians’ spirit.
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Poland will continue searching for the missile that entered its airspace until this evening.
“The Ukrainian side and allies have initially confirmed our radar records that the object had left Polish territory,” a spokesperson for the country’s operational command told Reuters.
The search was scheduled to run until 1900 GMT after being paused overnight, he added.
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Poland was renewing a search operation for elements of a suspected Russian rocket on Saturday, which it said had violated the country’s airspace on Friday morning, the Polish army said.
“We inform that on 30 December ... a ground search will be carried out in the Lublin Voivodeship for possible elements of the object that violated Polish airspace yesterday,” the Polish army’s operational command wrote on social media platform X.
“The aim of the search is to definitively confirm that no element of the object remains on Polish territory.”
Polish military officials said on Friday that the object had left the country’s airspace within three minutes of entry from the direction of its border with Ukraine.
Some 480 soldiers of the Territorial Defense Force were to take part in the search near the city of Zamosc in southeastern Poland, the operational command said.
On Friday evening Poland’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian charge d’affaires, demanding an explanation for the violation of its airspace by a guided missile.
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Moscow wants 'hard evidence' missile in Poland was Russian before giving explanation
Moscow is not going to give an explanation for the missile in Polish airspace until it is provided with “hard evidence” it was Russian, said Andrei Ordash, Russia’s chargé d’affaires in Poland, after being summoned to the Polish foreign ministry.
According to RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet, Ordash said: “Until hard evidence is provided, we will not give any explanations, because these accusations are unfounded.”
He pointed out the incident in November 2022, when a missile killed two people in a Polish border village.
“Back then, they also tried to blame the Russian side for this incident. Later it turned out that the missile was fired by the Ukrainian military,” Ordash claimed.
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Here are some of the latest images coming through from Ukraine:
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Air raid alerts have been activated across Ukrainian regions and in the city of Kyiv at about 10.30am local time today after reports that a MiG fighter jet that can carry Kinzhal missiles took off from an airbase in Russia, the Kyiv Independent is reporting.
Ukraine’s defence ministry claims Russia has now lost 358,270 military personnel since it launched its invasion, an increase of 750 in the last day.
According to the Ukrainian figures, which have not been independently verified, Russia lost 88 cruise missiles, 29 vehicles and fuel tanks, 20 armoured combat vehicles and 15 drones.
It comes after an aerial attack from Russia in which Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia launched about 110 missiles.
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Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, has spoken with the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, by phone regarding Russia’s air attack on Ukraine and the situation on the frontline.
Austin said: “I underscored that the support of the US and our coalition of some 50 allies and partners for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression will remain.”
Today, I spoke with my 🇺🇦 counterpart @rustem_umerov to discuss the latest on the ground, including Russia’s brutal air attacks. I underscored that the support of the 🇺🇸 and our coalition of some 50 Allies and partners for 🇺🇦 in its fight against Russian aggression will remain…
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) December 30, 2023
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Ukraine attacks Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions
Russia’s defence ministry said its anti-aircraft units had destroyed 13 Ukrainian rockets over the southern Belgorod region on Friday and the regional governor said one person was killed and four injured in the incidents.
The governor of Bryansk region, also in southern Russia, said six Ukrainian drones had been downed.
Reuters reports that a ministry statement said units in Belgorod region had thwarted “an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack”, with 13 rockets downed.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod region, on the Ukrainian border, said a man had been killed when a house was struck.
Four people were being treated for injuries. Ten private homes sustained damage and the water supply in the city of Belgorod had been disrupted, Gladkov said.
The Ukrainian armed forces posted video on Telegram of what it described as the sky above Belgorod, showing at least one building on fire.
In Bryansk region, governor Alexander Bogomaz said six drones were downed in Ukraine’s attack. There had been no casualties, he said.
Opening summary
Welcome to our continuing live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here’s an overview of the latest developments.
Ukraine launched air attacks on southern Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions on Friday, with Russian officials saying air defences destroyed almost 20 rockets and drones.
Belgorod’s governor said one person was killed and four injured in the region, while Russia’s defence ministry said its anti-aircraft units had destroyed 13 Ukrainian rockets.
The governor of Bryansk region said six Ukrainian drones had been downed.
On Friday morning, Russia launched a huge wave of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, in what Ukraine’s defence minister called the biggest air attack of the nearly two-year-old war. At least 30 civilians were killed and 160 injured.
More on those stories shortly as well as below, along with a summary of other news.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 87 cruise missiles and 27 drones of a total 158 aerial “targets” fired by Russia. Kyiv’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, said it was the “most massive air attack of this war”, which began in February 2022, and involved 18 strategic bombers. The army chief, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said infrastructure and industrial and military facilities had been targeted.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia launched about 110 missiles in the attack. “Today, Russia used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal,” the Ukrainian president said on social media. “Russian terror must and will lose.”
Poland’s armed forces said an unknown airborne object, which they identified as a Russian missile, entered the country’s airspace from the direction of Ukraine for less than three minutes. “It was monitored by us on radars and left the airspace,” said Poland’s defence chief, Gen Wiesław Kukuła. The object penetrated about 40km (25 miles), Poland said, adding that Nato radar also confirmed the object left Polish airspace. The Russian charge d’affaires, summoned to the Polish foreign ministry, said Warsaw had provided no evidence of a missile entering its airspace.
At a hastily convened meeting of the UN security council, most council members – including the US, France and Britain – condemned the attacks. “Tragically, 2023 is ending as it began, with devastating violence against the people of Ukraine,” UN assistant secretary general Khaled Khiari said after briefing the council on the attacks.
Britain will send about 200 air-defence missiles to Ukraine after the Russian strikes, the UK defence minister said on Friday. Grant Shapps posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Britain was “moving rapidly to bolster Ukraine’s air defence in the wake of Putin’s murderous airstrikes”. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said on social media: “These widespread attacks on Ukraine’s cities show Putin will stop at nothing to achieve his aim of eradicating freedom and democracy.”
A Ukrainian strike on a residential building in the Russian city of Belgorod left one person dead, the regional governor said late on Friday. The attack killed one person and wounded four others, Vyacheslav Gladkov said, adding that the city’s water supply system was damaged. The Russian defence ministry said air defence systems destroyed a total of 13 missiles over the region, which borders Ukraine.
The US president, Joe Biden, demanded Congress “step up” and overcome divisions on sending aid to Ukraine, saying the massive Russian air attack demonstrated that the Kremlin hoped to “obliterate” the pro-western country. Biden said in a statement: “Unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defence systems Ukraine needs to protect its people. Congress must step up and act without any further delay.”
Ukrainian officials urged the country’s western allies to provide it with more air defences to protect itself against aerial attacks such as Friday’s. Their appeals have come as signs of war fatigue strain efforts to keep support in place.
Russia has suffered huge human and material losses in Ukraine and its army will emerge weakened from the conflict, a senior German military figure said in an interview published on Friday. Christian Freuding, who oversees the German army’s support for Kyiv, said: “The Russian armed forces will emerge from this war weakened, both materially and in terms of personnel.”
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