Russian invasion of Ukraine: Day 676

Summary for Sunday, 31st December 2023 - DAY 676

• Russia launched a bombardment on Ukrainian regions in the hours leading into New Year’s Eve, targeting Kyiv and inflicting damage on residential areas of the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said. Ukraine’s air defence systems in the region surrounding Kyiv were engaging Russian drones, the military administration of the region said on Telegram.
  
  
• The Kharkiv mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said the drone attack came in several waves, hitting residential buildings in the city centre and starting fires. “All relevant emergency services are already on the site. Information about potential casualties is being clarified.”
  
  
• Ukraine carried out a series of strikes on the Russian border city of Belgorod, the day after an 18-hour aerial barrage across Ukraine killed at least 41 civilians. Russian officials said the shelling in the centre of Belgorod on Saturday killed 21 people, including three children, and injured 110 more. Ukrainian media – citing law enforcement agencies – said the attacks only hit military targets and were retaliation for Friday’s mass bombardment of Ukrainian cities.
  
  
• A Ukrainian security source, though, told the BBC that casualties in Belgorod were the result of “incompetent work of Russian air defence”, suggesting debris from failed Russian interceptors fell on the city. The Guardian could not independently verify the claim. Online observers posted videos purporting to show Russian air defence missiles falling back on to Belgorod.
  
  
• The Guardian could not independently confirm the death toll. If the numbers were correct, the strike would be one of the deadliest on Russia during the war so far.
  
  
• The Belgorod attack came a day after Ukraine said a barrage of Russian missile strikes on several cities killed at least 40 people, wounding dozens more.
  
  
• Russia experienced a sharp rise in the number of killed and wounded troops in 2023, due to “degradation” of military quality, 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. “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.”
  
  
• Moscow would not give an explanation for a missile in Polish airspace unless 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 Polish airspace from the direction of Ukraine for less than three minutes. “Until hard evidence is provided, we will not give any explanations, because these accusations are unfounded,” Ordash said.
  

Russian Defense Ministry admits that destruction in Belgorod caused by Russia’s air defense work

Ukrainian forces launched a counterstrike on Russian missile launchers responsible for the recent devastating strikes on Kharkiv.

Russia has sentenced more than 200 Ukrainian fighters to prison terms - Lavrov

The courts of the Russian Federation have already sentenced more than 200 representatives of Ukrainian armed formations to long terms of imprisonment for committing atrocities.

They include not only members of radical nationalist associations, representatives of Ukrainian security forces and mercenaries, but also representatives of the military and political leadership of Ukraine.
Those of them who were charged in absentia have been put on the international wanted list.

Ukraine’s military destroyed 21 out of 49 attack drones launched by Russia in its latest overnight air strike

Death toll from Ukrainian rocket attack on Belgorod rises to 24 - Russian official

Ukrainian officials have given more details on Russia’s attacks overnight.

On the eve of the New Year, the Russians want to intimidate our city, but we are not scared - we are unbreakable and invincible!

Some of the most recent images from Ukraine:

Russian drone attacks injure 28 in Kharkiv

The Ukrainian Air Force claims to have shot down 21 drones in the latest attack

Russia launched fresh drone attacks on Ukraine, officials said, after two days of aerial assaults from both sides.

High-precision missiles struck “decision-making centres and military installations” in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, the Russian Defence Ministry said. On Sunday, Ukrainian officials said that civilian buildings were also hit.

Kyiv said that it had destroyed 21 of 49 Iranian-made Shahed drones, which Russia used in its attack overnight.
These had been targeted at “the front line of defence, as well as at civilian, military and infrastructure facilities in the front-line territories”, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Sunday.

Six guided missiles had also been launched at the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.

Oleg Sinegubov, the head of Kharkiv's military administration, said there had been 28 civilians wounded in the attack on the city, including two teenagers and a foreign citizen, according to AFP.

Residential buildings, offices and cafes were hit in the latest overnight attacks. Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said: “On the eve of the New Year, Russians want to intimidate our city, but we are not scared.”

Russia and Ukraine both carried out air strikes this weekend, after Russia launched a series of strikes across Ukraine on Friday, killing at least 39 and wounding dozens.

Schools, a maternity hospital, shopping centres and flats were among the buildings hit in Friday's barrage, one of the most violent since the start of the war.

Britain announced it would send hundreds more air-defence missiles to Kyiv, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stating that the UK would continue to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.

Ukraine retaliated with an attack on the Russian city of Belgorod, a city 30km from the Ukrainian border, on Saturday. At least 24 people were killed and over a hundred wounded, according to Russia’s Emergency Ministries.

Moscow said Saturday's attack included the use of cluster munitions and told an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council that Kyiv had targeted a sports centre, an ice rink and a university.

Ukraine's allies blamed civilian deaths on Russian President Vladimir Putin following the Russian invasion of the country about two years ago.
“If Russia wants someone to blame for the deaths of Russians in this war, it should start with President Putin,” said British envoy to the UN Thomas Phipps.

President Vladimir Putin avoided mentioning the conflict in Ukraine in his New Year’s Eve address while promising that Russia would “never back down”.
“We have repeatedly proved that we are able to solve the most difficult tasks and will never retreat, because there is no force that can separate us,” Mr Putin said, praising his military personnel.

Ukraine is urging Western allies to maintain military support.
“Next year will be a time of many decisions – global decisions. And Ukraine needs to be able to influence them to be able to achieve its goals,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Saturday.
“We will fight for our influence, for justice for Ukraine, and I am grateful to all the leaders who help, who have been with us since February 24th and will be with us in 2024.”

January 1 has been declared a day of mourning in the capital Kyiv.

The Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko has said Russia is “targeting and hitting civilian buildings”, following the fresh bombardment on Ukrainian regions.

There has been destruction of so many civilian buildings, the administration, the hotels, just the debris fron the drones and the missiles which were hitting just residential areas.
Now Russia is launching these missiles – it’s the C-300s along with the drones – not even covering up that they’re trying to hit energy infrastructure, which essentially is civilian infrastructure, but actually targeting and hitting civilian buildings.

The weapons are coming, there’s ammunition, but we need to have guarantees that these deliveries and this military assistance will be coming for as long as it takes.

Ukraine denies Russian attack killed intelligence agents

As for the latest nonsense from what is called the Ministry of Defence of the aggressor state, we can assure you that no DIU [Defence Intelligence of Ukraine] officers, nor any DIU soldiers from Ukraine’s Kraken special unit, were injured during another terrorist attack on Kharkiv yesterday [30 December].
However, the aggressor has once again attacked civilian targets, not military ones. This is a common practice of the Russian Federation and its terrorist missile strikes, which target civilian infrastructure and civilians. All other claims about the imaginary ‘blows’ to DIU are just another sick fantasy of people living in a parallel reality and waging a genocidal war against Ukraine, for which they will undoubtedly be punished.

More pictures from Ukraine:

Dozens of Shaheds flying over Ukraine, air defence responding

As of the evening of 31 December, several dozen Russian attack drones are in Ukrainian airspace.

One man injured as result of enemy attack on Novoberyslav – regional authorities

Closing Summary

• Russia launched a bombardment on Ukrainian regions in the hours leading into New Year’s Eve, targeting Kyiv and inflicting damage on residential areas of the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.
  
  
• The Kharkiv mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said the drone attack came in several waves, hitting residential buildings in the city centre and starting fires. “All relevant emergency services are already on the site. Information about potential casualties is being clarified.”
  
  
• The death toll from a Ukrainian rocket attack on the Russian city of Belgorod just north of Ukraine rose to 24 on Sunday, the governor of the Belgorod region said.Russian officials said 110 were wounded. The Guardian has not been able to independently verify Russian reports.
  
  
• Ukrainian officials said that two boys aged 14 and 16 and a security adviser for a team of German journalists were among those injured in Kharkiv.
  
  
• Russia’s defence ministry said it hit “decision-making centres” and military facilities in Kharkiv in response to the shelling of Belgorod.
  
  
• Ukraine has denied Russia’s claims that a missile strike on a Kharkiv hotel killed Ukrainian intelligence officers and military “involved in the planning and execution of the attack on the city of Belgorod”.
  
  
• A Ukrainian security source told the BBC that casualties in Belgorod were the result of “incompetent work of Russian air defence”, suggesting debris from failed Russian interceptors fell on the city. The Guardian could not independently verify the claim.
  
  
• Ukraine’s military destroyed 21 out of 49 attack drones launched by Russia in its latest overnight air strike, Kyiv’s air force said on Sunday.
  
  
• The Kharkiv mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said the drone attack came in several waves, hitting residential buildings in the city centre and starting fires.
  
  
• Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko has said Russia is “targeting and hitting civilian buildings”, following the fresh bombardment on Ukrainian regions.
  
  
• Vladimir Putin has spoken of Russia’s “united society”, hailing Russian soldiers as heroes while making only a passing reference to the war in Ukraine in his New Year address. Putin described 2024 as the “year of the family”.
  
  
• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine must have “sufficient potential” to achieve its goals irrespective of “political changes or moods” in other countries.
  
  
• 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. “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.”
  
  
• Russia has lost 359,230 combat personnel since its invasion of Ukraine last year, according to the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces. A further 5,977 tanks and 11,070 armoured combat vehicles have been lost.
  
  
• Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko has said Russia is “targeting and hitting civilian buildings”, following the fresh bombardment on Ukrainian regions.
  
  
• China’s president, Xi Jinping, said on Sunday that the foundation of Chinese-Russian ties had grown stronger in 2023, as he exchanged New Year greetings with his counterpart Vladimir Putin, state media reported.
  
  
• Russian courts have sentenced more than 200 Ukrainian fighters to “long” prison terms since the beginning of the conflict, Moscow’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said in an interview with the state-run RIA news agency reported.