Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that its military was holding positions and even making advances against Russian troops in the Donbas region. Earlier in the day Ukraines military said that it repelled 16 drones an overnight attack on the Ukraine, including on the capital Kyiv, a day after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on the war-battered nation. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1)
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10:01pm: Ukraine calls for more air defence weaponry as Russia steps up drone and missile attacks
Two days of attempted Russian missile and drone attacks have been largely rebuffed by Ukraine’s air defence system. Even so, “[Ukrainian] authorities have been multiplying their calls for such systems from the West, as Russia on Friday claimed their supply of caliber cruise missiles would never run out” said FRANCE 24’s Luke Shrago, reporting from Kyiv.
NATO has urged member states to provide more weaponry as “the fastest route to peace”.
8:32pm: Russia grants tax amnesty for soldiers in Ukraine
Russian authorities announced Friday that soldiers and state employees deployed in Ukraine will be exempt from income tax, in the latest effort to encourage support of its military operation there.
The new measure concerns all those fighting in the four Ukrainian territories Russia has declared as its own, although it does not completely control them: Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Under the rules, soldiers, police, members of the security services and other state employees serving in the four regions no longer have to supply information on "their income, their expenditure, their assets".
They also have the right to receive "rewards and gifts" if they are of "a humanitarian character" and received as part of the military operation in Ukraine.
It applies to the partners and children of those serving, and is back-dated to February 24, 2022 -- the date Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine.
7:23pm: Ukraine advancing in 'some parts' of Donbas, Zelensky says
Ukrainian forces are holding their positions against Russian troops in the eastern Donbas region and making small advances in some areas, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.
"On the whole, we are holding our positions," Zelensky said in his nightly video address. "There are also some areas of the front where we are advancing a bit."
Zelensky also said Ukraine, subject to waves of Russian air attacks, had strengthened its anti-aircraft capability and would further strengthen it in the new year to protect both itself and the entire European continent.
6:06pm: Russia, Belarus sanctions must remain in 2023, Olympics chief says
The sporting sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine must remain firmly in place in 2023, the head of the International Olympic Committee insisted Friday.
IOC president Thomas Bach said Ukrainian athletes had the Olympic Movement's full solidarity and the IOC wanted to see a strong Ukrainian team at the Paris 2024 Games.
The IOC sanctioned Moscow and Minsk following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with no international sports events being organised or supported in Russia or Belarus, and no national symbols of these countries being displayed at any sports event.
“These sanctions against the Russian and Belarusian states and governments must and will remain firmly in place," Bach said in a New Year message.
Earlier this month, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky insisted Russian athletes should face "complete isolation" and not be welcomed back at the 2024 Olympics.
2:27pm: Belarus official says 'unlikely' downed Ukrainian missile entered airspace by accident
The secretary of Belarus' Security Council said in an interview on Friday that it was "unlikely" that a Ukrainian air defence missile downed on Thursday had entered Belarusian airspace by accident.
"Kyiv is striving to provoke a regional conflict by any means," Alexander Volfovich told the Russian state-owned outlet Sputnik Belarus. " An example of this is the recent incident with the destruction of the Ukrainian S-300 missile, he added.
"There is little reason to believe that it entered our airspace by accident. By all appearances, it seems some plan was being realised here."
Belarus' defence ministry said on Thursday its air defence forces had shot down a Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile near the village of Harbacha in the Brest region, some 15 km (9 miles) from the Belarus-Ukraine border.
12:22pm: Xi tells Putin that road to peace talks on Ukraine will not be smooth
China's President Xi Jinping told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday that Beijing and Moscow should closely coordinate and cooperate in international affairs, according to Chinese state media.
Xi also told Putin in a video call that the road to peace talks on Ukraine would not be smooth and that China would continue to uphold its "objective and fair stance" on the issue, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
11:53am: Russia says extremely concerned by Ukrainian missile downed over Belarus
The Kremlin said on Friday it was extremely concerned over the downing of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile that had flown into Belarus' air space on Thursday.
Belarus' defence ministry said on Thursday its air defence forces had shot down a Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile near the village of Harbacha in the Brest region, some 15 km (9 miles) from the Belarus-Ukraine border.
The incident happened while Russia was firing dozens of missiles at cities across Ukraine in one of the biggest waves of strikes of the conflict.
10:45am: Putin tells Xi he wants to ramp up military cooperation
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday he was keen to ramp up military cooperation and hailed the two countries' efforts to counter Western influence.
Battered by unprecedented Western sanctions over Moscow's assault against Ukraine, Putin has hoped to strengthen political and military ties with China. Yet Moscow's offensive in Ukraine is a sensitive issue for Beijing. China has sought to position itself as neutral over the conflict but has offered diplomatic backing to its strategic ally Russia as a new Cold War intensifies between Beijing and Washington.
"We aim to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China," Putin told Xi by video link at the start of the talks, calling the Chinese leader a "dear friend". The Russian president also hailed the efforts of Moscow and Beijing to counter "unprecedented Western pressure and provocations".
10:28am: War is 'frozen into a stalemate'
More than 10 months into the Russian-Ukrainian War, the conflict is "pretty much frozen into a stalemate," says FRANCE 24 senior journalist Catherine Norris-Trent, who has reported from Ukraine. "Ukraine's head of military intelligence said as much yesterday – that as things stand, neither side is making the big advances of earlier in the war. [The situation is] frozen around the town of Bakhmut in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, with really, really intense fighting going on for the past six months."
" ... Ukraine is managing to hold the town; Ukraine has only managed to advance by metres at a time. ... It's trench warfare."
8:28am: Ukraine says it repelled overnight drone strike from Russia
Ukraine's army said Friday that it repelled an overnight drone attack on the country a day after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on the war-battered nation.
"On the night of December 29-30, the enemy attacked Ukraine with Iranian-made kamikaze drones," Ukraine's air force said in a statement on social media. It added that a total of 16 drones were launched from the southeastern and northern directions and they were "all" destroyed by Ukraine's air defence.
In the capital Kyiv, city authorities announced an air alert at 2:12am local time (2412 GMT), which lasted for just over two hours. Mayor Vitali Klitschko later said the capital was attacked with seven drones: two were shot down "on approach" and five were shot down over the city. There were no casualties, but falling debris damaged windows in two buildings in a southwestern neighbourhood, he added.
8:23am: NATO's Stoltenberg calls for more weapons for Ukraine
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on NATO member states to supply more weapons to Ukraine, according to an interview published on Friday.
"I call on allies to do more. It is in all our security interests to make sure Ukraine prevails and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does not win," Stoltenberg told German news agency DPA.
>> Why the US declined to send Ukraine long-range missiles, tanks
He said it was perhaps even more important that Ukraine receive enough ammunition for the systems already in place, adding that the need for ammunition and spare parts was "enormous".
8:10am: Permitted share of yuan in Russian wealth fund doubled to 60%
Russia's finance ministry on Friday said the maximum possible share of Chinese yuan in its National Wealth Fund (NWF) had been doubled to 60 percent as it restructures its rainy-day fund to reduce dependency on currencies from so-called "unfriendly" nations.
The ministry said the permitted share of gold in the NWF would also be doubled, to 40%. Russia has been using its NWF, which stood at $186.5 billion as of December 1, to finance its widening budget deficit this year.
Moscow has deepened its economic ties to non-Western countries to mitigate the fallout from Western sanctions.
7:32am: Fresh wave of Russian air strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure
"First they saw Russia's 10th widespread missile strike on Ukraine since it started using the tactic in October [...] as Moscow tries to increase the pressure on a beleaguered and cold population," FRANCE 24's Luke Shrago reported from Kyiv.
"However, Ukraine has also shown its own experience with air defence, bringing down 54 of 69 missiles. One of its own defence rockets, though, seems to have strayed into Belarus, where it was reportedly shot down, with Minsk summoning the Ukrainian ambassador for an explanation. The strikes left Ukrainian cities yet again struggling with major power losses."
4:00am: Sirens wail across Kyiv, residents urged to seek shelter
Residents of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were urged to head to air raid shelters early on Friday as sirens wailed across the city, a day after Russia carried out the biggest aerial assault since it started the war in February.
Shortly after 2:00am, Kyiv's city government issued an alert on its Telegram messaging app channel about the air raid sirens and called on residents to proceed to shelters.
Olekskiy Kuleba, governor of Kyiv region, said on Telegram that an "attack by drones" was under way. A Reuters witness 20 km (12 miles) south of Kyiv heard several explosions and the sound of anti-aircraft fire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video address on Thursday night, said air commands in central, southern, eastern and western Ukraine repelled 54 Russian missiles and 11 drones on Thursday.
1:35am: Britain sends metal detectors, defusing equipment to Ukraine
Britain said on Friday it has given Ukraine more than 1,000 metal detectors and 100 bomb deactivating kits to help clear minefields in the latest instance of military support for the country in the conflict with Russia.
"Russia's use of landmines and targeting of civilian infrastructure underline the shocking cruelty of Putin's invasion," British defence minister Ben Wallace said in a statement.
"This latest package of UK support will help Ukraine safely clear land and buildings as it reclaims its rightful territory."
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP and AP)
