Ukraine-Russia war: Ukraine 'blows up Russian jet 1,000 miles behind enemy lines'
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A Ukrainian saboteur has been filmed blowing up a Russian fighter jet more than 1,000 miles behind enemy lines.
Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) released a video which it said was filmed by an operative at the snow-covered Shagol airfield in Chelyabinsk, an industrial city to the east of the Ural Mountains, on Wednesday night.
The saboteur makes a devil horns gesture with his hand in front of the camera as the Su-34 starts to burn in the background.
Chelyabinsk is 1,008 miles to the east of the easternmost point of the current front line, a salient around the city of Siversk in Donetsk.
The HUR said the aircraft belonged to the Russian air force’s 21st Mixed Aviation Division, which has a regiment based at the airfield.
03:34 PM GMT
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03:33 PM GMT
Today's headlines
Russia launched its most muted overnight attacks in Ukraine for a week
Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine would find a way to work with Donald Trump if he is elected president
A saboteur filmed himself blowing up a Russian fighter jet more than 1,000 miles behind enemy lines
Russia has made a confirmed advance near Avdiivka, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said
Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing foreign fighters in Russia’s army to obtain citizenship
Russian attacks on the south-eastern front with Ukraine have doubled in the last 24 hours, Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said
A Ukrainian soldier proposed to a military doctor he met in the armed forces after she was freed from nearly two years in Russian captivity
Ukraine launched a wave of missile strikes on occupied Crimea
03:29 PM GMT
In pictures: Ukrainian army couple engaged after release
03:13 PM GMT
Air raid warning lifted in Sevastopol
An air raid warning in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, that was issued after Ukraine launched a salvo of missiles, has now been lifted.
02:56 PM GMT
Russian defence ministry confirms Crimea attack
Anti-air defences have shot down 10 missiles over occupied Crimea, the Russian defence ministry has said.
It said “guided missiles” had been launched in a “terrorist attack” after 5pm local time (2pm GMT).
The ministry did not say if any missiles had evaded air defences.
02:31 PM GMT
Ukraine strikes occupied Crimea
Ukraine has launched a wave of strikes on occupied Crimea.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the peninsula’s Moscow-appointed governor, said anti-air defences were “working to destroy a large number of different air targets” and that one person had been injured by shrapnel.
The Crimea.Realities Telegram channel said 10 explosions were heard in the port of Sevastopol at 17.15 local time (2.15pm GMT).
The pro-Ukrainian Crimean Wind channel said missiles were also fired on Yevpatoria, a port 40 miles north of Sevastopol, and ambulances had been witnessed at the sight of an explosion.
No deaths have been reported.
02:24 PM GMT
Ukrainian soldier proposes to medic freed from Russian captivity
A Ukrainian soldier has proposed to a military doctor he met while serving in the armed forces after she spent years in Russian captivity.
Mykola Gritsenyak asked Galyna Fedychyn to marry him on Wednesday following her release in a prisoner exchange after almost two years’ in detention.
Major Serhii Volynsky, commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, said: “This love has survived trials that can break the strongest.
“They fought together in the battle for Mariupol, endured the ordeal of captivity and a long separation, but their hearts never stopped beating in unison.”
The Azov sea port city of Mariupol has been occupied by Russia since the spring of 2022, when it was taken after a brutal month-long siege that left the city in ruins.
💍 The Marine girl who was released from the Russian captivity yesterday was proposed to by her fellow soldier with whom she went through all the hell of Mariupol
Video: Serhiy Volinskii pic.twitter.com/GNlVrjCGj8— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) January 4, 2024
02:13 PM GMT
Russia doubles attacks on south-eastern front
Russian attacks on the south-eastern front with Ukraine have doubled in the last 24 hours.
Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Tavria army group, said Russian forces had conducted almost 900 artillery barrages, 25 airstrikes and 47 combat assaults on Ukrainian positions.
“Total occupants’ losses amounted to 423 people and 72 pieces of military equipment,” he wrote on Telegram.
“In particular, 10 tanks, 14 armoured personnel carriers, 10 artillery systems, one MLRS, 22 UAVs, 10 vehicles and four units of special equipment.
“Two ammunition depots and one other important enemy object were destroyed.”
01:53 PM GMT
Belgium to send F-16s to train Ukrainians
Belgium will send two F-16 fighter jets and 50 instructors to Denmark in March to join a training programme for Ukrainian pilots.
The announcement comes a day after Norway said it would send two F-16s and 10 instructors to the training mission.
01:28 PM GMT
One dead and two injured in Kherson village hit by Russian shelling
One person has died and two others were injured when a village in Kherson was hit by Russian artillery shelling.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the region’s military governor, said the attack on the village of Stanislav killed a 61-year-old resident and cut off electricity.
12:44 PM GMT
Putin offers citizenship to foreign fighters
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing foreign fighters in Russia’s army to obtain citizenship for themselves and their families.
Soldiers who have signed contracts for at least one year’s service to fight in Ukraine will be eligible, as well as their spouses, children and parents.
12:28 PM GMT
Injury toll in Kropyvnytskyi rises to eight
The number of civilians injured in a Russian missile strike on Kropyvnytskyi in Ukraine’s central Kirovohrad region has risen to eight.
Andriy Raikovych, the region’s governor, said the one civilian killed in the attack by X-59 rockets was a car mechanic.
12:13 PM GMT
Pictured: Ukrainian artillery in action
12:09 PM GMT
Two injured in Russian shelling of Nikopol
Two men have been injured in the Dnipropetrovsk city of Nikopol after Russian artillery shelling, regional governor Serhii Lysak has said.
“Both have leg injuries,” he wrote on Telegram. “It is known that one of them is ‘serious’. Doctors are providing all the necessary assistance.”
12:01 PM GMT
Zelensky will not make peace, says Lavrov
Sergei Lavrov has said Volodymyr Zelensky’s “regime” is “not inclined to make peace” in remarks quoted by Russia’s embassy in London.
The Russian foreign minister said: “We have to state that the regime of Zelensky is not inclined to make peace.
“Its representatives think in terms of war and resort to highly aggressive rhetoric.
“There is no talk of ending hostilities.”
11:40 AM GMT
Watch: Saboteur sets Russian Su-34 alight
Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) has released a video showing a saboteur setting a Russian Su-34 fighter jet alight more than 1,000 miles behind enemy lines in Chelyabinsk.
11:35 AM GMT
In pictures: Air strike damage in Donetsk
11:14 AM GMT
Russia import 60,000 citizens to occupied Melitopol
Russia has sent 60,000 of its own citizens to live in the occupied city of Melitopol, its exiled mayor has said.
Ivan Fedorov said 50 per cent of current residents in the city in Zaporizhzhia are now Russian because of policies he said were “intensively changing the ethnic composition”.
“Initially, they impoverished the residents,” he wrote on Telegram. “Now, through the occupation employment centre, they offer work in Russia for the unemployed.
“Meanwhile, they import ‘tourists’ from the Russian Federation to temporarily occupied territories.”
He added: “When Melitopol residents go out on the street, they don’t see familiar faces – there are sub-humans from Russia all around.”
11:03 AM GMT
Russians advance near Avdiivka
Russia has made a confirmed advance near the heavily-attacked Ukrainian city of Avdiivka.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank, said it had geolocated footage showing Moscow’s forces pushing back the Ukrainian army.
Avdiivka is a partially encircled industrial city in eastern Ukraine that has been the focus of Russian attacks in recent months in a bid to take a major settlement for the first time since Bakhmut in May.
The ISW said Russian soldiers also advanced to the south-west of Donetsk city.
Russian bloggers have also claimed to have advanced near Bakhmut in recent days but their reports have not been confirmed.
10:54 AM GMT
Russia 'plans to buy Iranian ballistic missiles'
Russia is planning to buy short-range ballistic missiles from Iran, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Russia and Iran have been expanding relations in defence and this latest move would enhance Moscow’s ability to target Ukrainian infrastructure.
Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones have been used on a large scale by the Russian armed forces during the war in Ukraine.
10:36 AM GMT
Russian missile strike kills one
A Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian city has killed one civilian and injured another.
The attack on an industrial building in Kropyvnytskyi in the central Kirovohrad region happened at 11am local time (8am GMT), regional governor Andriy Raikovych said.
The circumstances of the death and injury have not been disclosed.
10:22 AM GMT
Watch: Ukraine and Russia trade hundreds of prisoners
10:04 AM GMT
Putin strengthened Moscow paramilitary force after Wagner mutiny
The Wagner Group’s mutiny in June forced Vladimir Putin to strengthen a paramilitary group responsible for guarding Moscow, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.
In its latest defence intelligence briefing, the MoD said the Moscow Government Security Force (MGSF) had “assumed a more paramilitary character” and was given firearms after the mutiny.
“The MGSF represents another example in Russia’s long tradition of ‘paramilitarisation’: the proliferation of armed organisations outside of the regular military,” it said.
09:53 AM GMT
Russians were inside Ukraine mobile provider since May
The Russian hackers who knocked out Ukraine’s largest mobile network for days in December were inside its systems from at least May, a Ukrainian spy chief has said.
Illia Vitiuk, head of cybersecurity at Ukraine’s SBU security service, told Reuters he was “pretty sure” the attack on Kyivstar was carried out by Sandworm, a Russian military intelligence cyberwarfare unit.
A group called Solntsepyok, believed by the SBU to be affiliated with Sandworm, said it was responsible for the attack.
Mr Vitiuk said the attack wiped “almost everything” and was one of the first times a cyber attack had “completely destroyed the core of a telecoms operator”.
He added that the hackers were likely able to “steal personal information, understand the locations of phones, intercept text messages and perhaps steal Telegram accounts”.
09:32 AM GMT
Moscow apartments without power after fire at electric sub-station
A fire at a sub-station in the northern suburbs of Moscow has left dozens of high-rise apartment blocks in the area without heating and electricity, according to popular Telegram channel Mash.
There are no reports that Ukraine was responsible.
09:24 AM GMT
Ukraine 'blows up Russian jet 1,000 miles behind enemy lines'
Ukrainian saboteurs have blown up a Russian Su-34 fighter jet more than 1,000 miles behind enemy lines, Ukrainska Pravda has reported.
Citing a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), the newspaper reported that the aeroplane was engulfed in flames at the Shagol airfield in Chelyabinsk, an industrial city to the east of the Ural Mountains, in a HUR operation.
“We can confirm that the enemy aircraft has been completely burnt out,” the source was quoted as saying.
Chelyabinsk is 1,008 miles to the east of the easternmost point of the current front line, a salient around the city of Siversk in Donetsk.
09:11 AM GMT
Polish farmers resume border blockade
Polish farmers have resumed their blockade of the Medyka border crossing with Ukraine.
The farmers are demanding that new prime minister Donald Tusk give them a signed assurance that he will bring in increased corn subsidies and lower taxes.
Their blockade, which started in November, was lifted on December 24 after a meeting with Czeslaw Siekierski, new agriculture minister, in which he promised to accept their demands.
“We want to sign a bilateral agreement,” Roman Kondrow, leader of the protest, told a press conference on Thursday. “If such a thing is created, the protest will be suspended until the demands are implemented.”
08:53 AM GMT
In pictures: Damage from Russian strikes on Donetsk
08:30 AM GMT
School destroyed in more muted overnight attacks
Russia’s overnight attacks on Ukraine were far more muted last night than in recent days as just three missile attacks and two drones were reported.
The worst damage was reported in Kurakhovo, Donetsk, where military governor Vadim Filashkin said Russian rockets destroyed a school, nursery and health centre but caused no casualties.
Late on Wednesday, two S-300 missile attacks struck Kharkiv city’s Shevchenkivskyi district.
Governor Oleh Syniehubov said there were no deaths or injuries and the only damage was to a residential building, where windows were blown out.
The Ukrainian armed forces said it shot down the two Shahed drones that were launched over the western Khmelnytskyi region.
08:11 AM GMT
Pictured: Ukrainian military funeral
08:01 AM GMT
Ukrainians ‘fed up’ with TV propaganda
Ukrainians are “fed up” with the government’s 24/7 Telemarathon, it has been reported.
Oksana Romaniuk, of the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass Information, told the New York Times: “Everyone is fed up with this picture that says, ‘We’re winning, everyone likes us and gives us money’.”
“It’s state propaganda.”
The Telemarathon is generally an upbeat TV news show which has been broadcast since the start of the war and 40 per cent of its funding comes from the government.
It focuses primarily on politicians rallying support for Ukraine abroad and soldiers attacking Russian positions.
07:55 AM GMT
We can work with Trump, insists Kuleba
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, has insisted the country can work with Donald Trump if he becomes the next American president.
“Trump is known for his, I would say, ultra-charismatic actions, his reputation and his phrases,” he told Ukrainian outlet NV.
“But who sold the first American weapon to Ukraine? President Trump [sent us] Javelins. Who launched the programme of free delivery of the first naval vessels, the Island and Mark VI boats, to Ukraine? Trump.
“Who fought the Nord Stream 2 project and imposed sanctions on the well-known but already forgotten Fortuna ship that laid this pipeline? It was Trump.”
He added: “That’s why Trump is a person you can work with; you just need to know how to work with him.
“There are a lot of “ifs”, but Ukraine should not be afraid of anything, no elections and no current or future politicians.”
Mr Trump has said he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours if he becomes president, remarks which were taken to imply he would force Kyiv into a peace deal with Vladimir Putin.
07:46 AM GMT
Ukraine to expand defence industry by 500pc in 2024
Ukraine plans to expand its defence industry by 500 per cent in 2024, Denys Shmyhal, the country’s prime minister, has said.
“The ambitious goal for the current year is a six-fold increase,” he said. “This means more drones, more shells, more ammunition and armoured vehicles for our military.”
Mr Shmyhal said the industry’s production capacity trebled in 2023 and added drones, shells, ammunition and armoured vehicles would be its focus.
