Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s forces bomb own village as Kyiv under attack

Residents of a Russia region neighbouring Ukraine have reportedly woken up to drone and missile strikes for the third night in five days, a local governor has claimed .

Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine fired 12 missiles and drones in the early hours of Wednesday on Belgorod.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Belgorod Oblast, said the situation continues to remain tense in the area after an attack last Saturday that Russia claims killed 25 people.

There was another attack on Tuesday that reportedly killed one person and injured 11 more. No casualty list has been released for Wednesday’s attack.

In Ukraine, many of those away from the frontlines experienced their first night without major air raid alerts.

Nonetheless, the recent uptick in long-range Russian missile assaults has underscored the pressing need for additional Western military support to replenish and bolster air defences.

Russia has fired hundreds of missiles, including hypersonic weapons, and dozens of drones in the past week.

Poland’s newly-elected foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said this morning that the latest attacks on Ukraine were further evidence that the West should improve its military support of Kyiv.

In the wake of yesterday’s attacks, which was one of the largest since the war began last February, Ukrainian president Volodymy Zelensky met with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak to discuss further support. Mr Zelensky’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, met with the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to discuss the same issue.

On the frontline, General Alexander Tarvansky, who led Ukraine’s counteroffensive operations last year in the south, said Russian forces had launched considerable airstrikes for the second day in a row.

“The Russian occupiers have somewhat reduced the number of infantry attacks,” he said. “But for the second day in a row, they are actively conducting airstrikes and shelling on our positions.”

This year, Russian forces have made confirmed advances along the Svatove-Kreminna line in Luhansk Oblast, far east Ukraine, as well around Avdiivka and Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank that tracks frontline developments.

Analysis by Ukraine Deep State, a war analyst, suggested Ukraine liberated 395 square kilometres in 2023 but Russia occupied 683 km.

In their end of year review, they added: “A difficult year awaits us in 2024. The enemy has corrected a lot of mistakes this year.”

Footage published online has appeared to show several Ukrianian strikes on Russian terriroty overnight in the latest round of missile exchanges.

Russia claimed Ukraine fired a dozen rockets at the Belgorod region.

The Russian region of Kursk has been attacked by Ukraine, the area’s governor has said.

Roman Starovoyt said an electricity substation in Zheleznogorsk, a large town, was hit this morning in an unspecified “air attack”.

There were no reports of casualties.

Britain had announced the transfer of two Royal Navy minehunter ships to the Ukrainian Navy in support of Ukraine’s Black Sea defences against the Russian invasion.

Russia’s air defence systems destroyed a total of 12 Ukraine-launched launched missiles over the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday on the Telegram messaging app.

Belgorod, close to the Ukraine border, has been hit by several strikes in recent days in attacks Moscow says were carried out by Kyiv’s forces.

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has condemned “barbaric” Russian airstrikes on Ukraine over the Christmas period.

Mr Sunak spoke with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, with the pair discussing developments in the conflict.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “Prime minister Rishi Sunak spoke to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky today [Tuesday].

“He offered his condolences to all those Ukrainians killed and injured in barbaric Russian airstrikes over the Christmas period.

“The prime minister said the UK would continue to stand steadfastly by Ukraine as they fight aggression and occupation, throughout 2024 and into the future.

“The leaders discussed recent developments in the conflict, including progress in the Black Sea and the success of the Ukrainian air defence, bolstered by UK-supplied ground-to-air missiles.

“The prime minister set out ongoing UK work to provide military and diplomatic support to Ukraine, including through further deliveries of lethal aid, support for President Zelensky’s peace plan and a long-term security framework.”

The West should tighten sanctions against Russia and provide Kyiv with long-range missiles in response to Moscow’s latest shelling of Ukraine, Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Wednesday.

Russia pounded Ukraine’s two biggest cities on Tuesday in a new wave of heavy air strikes that killed at least five civilians and prompted calls for the West to quickly provide more military assistance.

“We should respond to the latest onslaught on Ukraine in language that Putin understands: by tightening sanctions so that he cannot make new weapons with smuggled components and by giving Kyiv long range missiles that will enable it to take out launch sites and command centers,” Sikorski wrote on social media platform X.

Dashcam footage shows the moment an explosion takes place in the Russian city of Belgorod, where Russian authorities say 14 people have died in Ukrainian strikes on 30 December.

A further 111 people have been injured in the city close to the Ukraine border.

A Ukrainian security source reportedly told the BBC that Kyiv fired 70 drones at Russian military targets, but they blamed a “failure in Russia’s air defences for fragments falling in Belgorod.”

The event comes a day after Russian strikes across Ukraine killed 39 people. The bombardment was described by Kyiv as Russia’s biggest missile strike of the war so far.

Russia will be held responsible for every strike on Ukraine’s cities, Volodymyr Zelensky said after Moscow launched its biggest aerial attack of the war so far killing at least 31 Ukrainians.

“For every Shahed drone, for every Russian missile, there will be a fair responsibility of the terrorist state, both political and very practical,” Mr Zelensky said on Saturday.

He also said that Ukraine is preparing to produce more weapons in 2024.

The leaders of Latvia and Lithuania have condemned today’s airstrikes on Ukraine, calling on Western nations to offer more support.

Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkevics described this morning’s attacks as “brutal”.

“Ukrainian air defence works well but Ukraine must get more help,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.