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Belarus claimed to have shot down a missile launched from Ukraine, amid a massive wave of Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities.
The Belarus defence ministry said it believed it had shot down an S-300 anti-aircraft missile – a type used by Ukraine to shoot down Russian drones and missiles.
A Belarussian official said there is "no cause for worry" and "unfortunately these things happen".
At least 120 missiles rained down on Ukraine early on Thursday morning as Russia targeted the capital Kyiv and numerous other major cities.
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Today’s live coverage has ended. Here is a roundup of the day’s main events:
At least 120 missiles rained down on Ukraine as Russia targeted the capital Kyiv and numerous other major cities, leaving damage in their wake.
Today’s attacks have injured five people in total, emergency service spokesperson Oleksandr Khorunzhy has said.
A total of ten regions were hit by the strikes, with 28 buildings damaged. Ten of these were critical infrastructure and the rest were private residential buildings.
Mr Khorunzhy added that at least 100 emergency service workers were involved in the response, and 87 generators are currently in use to supply critical infrastructure.
“Currently, our rescuers are still working on the ground. They conduct search and rescue operations. Information about the victims throughout Ukraine is being clarified,” he added.
Poland is prepared for a Russian ban on oil sales to countries implementing a price cap, the climate minister said on Thursday, with the country having cut its intake of Russian crude and secured alternative supplies from producers such as Saudi Arabia.
The Group of Seven (G7) nations and allies including Poland this month agreed a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude. In response, President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree that bans the supply of crude oil and oil products from Feb. 1 for five months to nations abiding by the cap.
Poland has been gradually reducing its intake of Russian oil, and after the start of the war in Ukraine stopped buying seaborne Russian oil, top refiner PKN Orlen said. The company says it has secured alternative oil supplies via its partnership with Saudi Aramco.
"We are prepared to process all types of crude oil, this is our advantage," Minister of Climate and Environment Anna Moskwa told a news conference.
Moskwa also said that she believed the next EU sanctions package would include a decision on banning Russian oil.
There are no particular signs that Russia wants peace in Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday, urging continued international backing for Kyiv.
Ms Meloni said holding firm on support for Ukraine was a key precondition for maintaining a balance of power on the battlefield and hence creating the conditions for peace.
Speaking at an end-of-year news conference, Meloni also said she intends to visit the Ukrainian capital before the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, which began on February 24.
A Belarussian official has said there is "no cause for worry" and "unfortunately these things happen" about the S-300 missile that was shot down in the southwestern Brest region of the country.
The Belarus ministry said on Thursday that the missile was removed in the village of Harbacha, around 15 km (9 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
The ministry said in a statement:
"Fragments were found in an agricultural field… During the verification process, it was established that the wreckage belongs to an S-300 anti aircraft guided missile fired from the territory of Ukraine."
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday that the UK would allocate £2.3 billion in aid to Ukraine in 2023, adding that some of it would be non-military and humanitarian support.
"From financial year 2023, we'll put in another 2.3 billion (pounds)," Mr Wallace told reporters when asked about Britain's aid to Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the commissioning of new warships and vowed Thursday to further strengthen his country's navy.
"We will speed up and increase the volumes of construction of ships of various projects, equip them with the most modern weapons, and conduct the operational and combat training using the experience received during the special military operation," Putin said, referring to Russia's 10-month-old campaign in Ukraine.
The newly commissioned included a corvette, a minesweeper and the Generalissimus Suvorov nuclear submarine. The submarine armed with Bulava nuclear-tipped intercontinental-ballistic missiles is the sixth submarine of the new Borei-class to join the Russian navy.
"It will ensure Russia's security for decades ahead," Putin said.
Another submarine of the same type, Emperor Alexander III, was launched during Thursday's ceremony. The navy plans to commission it following trials.
Here is a roundup of the latest photos coming out of Ukraine:
Belarus said a Ukrainian missile fell on its territory on Thursday, raising fears of the conflict spilling over, with the Moscow ally sending investigators to establish the cause of the incident.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko "was immediately informed", state news agency Belta reported. It said an S-300 missile from Ukrainian territory landed between 10 am and 11 am local time (0700 GMT and 0800 GMT), but gave no location.
In this picture, workers remove part of the monument to Catherine II, also known as "Monument to the Founders of Odesa" in Odesa, Ukraine, as part of an effort to get rid of Russian influence.
The decision to dismantle the monument consisting of sculptures of Russian Empress Catherine II and her associates was made recently by Odesa residents by electronic voting.
Ukraine has claimed that 54 out of the 69 Russian missiles fired today were eliminated. The airforce command said:
"Russian occupants continue terror against civilians of Ukraine by attacking objects of critical infrastructure of our country. On 29 December, the enemy carried out another mass shelling of Ukraine with rockets and kamikaze drones.
"The enemy attacked Ukraine with winged air missiles from strategic bombers from the area of Volgodonsk, Rostov region, and the northern area of the Caspian Sea, as well as winged rockets from the ships in the Black Sea.
"In total, according to preliminary data, the occupation troops used 69 missiles. 54 enemy winged missiles were destroyed by the forces and means of the air force, in cooperation with other components of the defence forces of Ukraine."
They added that 11 Iranian Shahed drones were shot down.
A Russian attack hit a medical facility in Kherson, injuring two people, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine. He said:
"Medical facilities are under fire almost every day. The other day it was a maternity hospital. Today, as a result of Russian shelling of the city, the regional cardiology dispensary was damaged.
"Two people were injured – a security guard and an employee of the boiler house. The roof, windows and facade of one of the buildings were destroyed in the building."
Cardiology department in #Kherson hit. #russia army targets medical institutions in the region. Targeting the most vulnerable civilian groups is a strategy of #Moscow pic.twitter.com/4mz4SejIfb
Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping via video link on Friday to discuss a host of bilateral and regional issues.
"First of all, they will talk about bilateral Russian-Chinese relations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
"And, of course, it will be very important to exchange views on more acute regional problems – those that are closer to us, Russia, and those that are closer to China," Peskov added, without providing specific details.
Moscow has sought to deepen its economic, political and security ties with Beijing since sending invading Ukraine. The two countries signed a "no limits" strategic partnership a few days before Russia launched the campaign.
Beijing has also increased its purchases of Russian oil and gas since European countries cut links with Russia, while Moscow has publicly backed Xi's position on Taiwan and accused the West of trying to provoke a conflict over the status of the self-governing island, which China claims as its own.
But Xi has at times appeared cool on Russia's military campaign in Ukraine; Putin in September publicly acknowledged that his Chinese counterpart had "concerns" over Russia's actions.
Air defence was activated on Thursday at Engels, a base for Russia's strategic aircraft located hundreds of kilometres from Ukraine's border, regional authorities said.
"The air defence system has been activated in the Engels district" of the central region of Saratov, governor Roman Busargin said on social media, adding that an "unidentified object" had been destroyed.
The airbase houses Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers, which have been deployed to attack power stations.
Ukraine strikes back. Air defense at Engels-2 airbase in Saratov is active. #Ukraine #Russia #Saratov pic.twitter.com/GUNkNypcb1
It comes after a similar attack on December 26 that killed three Russian soldiers at Engels.
“A Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) was shot down at low altitude while approaching the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region,” said the Russian Defence ministry at the time.
"Three Russian servicemen of the technical staff who were at the airfield were fatally wounded as a result of falling drone wreckage."
Close to half of Kyiv's population was left without power after a new wave of Russian strikes targeted the Ukrainian capital and other cities, Kyiv's mayor said Thursday.
"Forty per cent of the capital's consumers are without electricity after the Russian attack," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on social media.
Fighting in Ukraine has hit a stalemate with neither side able to make significant advances, according to the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency.
"The situation is just stuck," Kyrylo Budanov told the BBC. "It doesn't move.”
Mr Budanov said Russia was "now completely at a dead end" amid heavy losses and appeared to be on the defensive, but that Ukrainian forces are lacking the resources to make significant progress.
"We can't defeat them in all directions comprehensively. Neither can they," he said. "We're very much looking forward to new weapons supplies, and to the arrival of more advanced weapons."
The winter has also slowed Ukraine’s operations.
The fiercest fighting is taking place around Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region after Ukraine recaptured the city of Kherson in November.
Kyiv authorities said Thursday that air defences downed all 16 missiles that targeted the Ukrainian capital as part of a new wave of Russian strikes on the pro-Western country.
"Sixteen missiles were recorded over Kyiv. All 16 missiles were shot down," the city's military administration said on social media, adding that missile fragments damaged three private houses and a car.
Most of Ukraine's western city of Lviv was left without electricity after fresh Russian missile strikes on Thursday morning, the city's mayor said.
"Ninety per cent of the city is without electricity," Andriy Sadoviy said on social media, also warning of potential water cuts.
"We are waiting for more information from energy experts. Trams and trolleybuses are not running in the city."
A new wave of Russian strikes left at least three people injured in the capital Kyiv, the city's mayor said on Thursday.
"For the moment, there are three wounded in Kyiv, including a 14-year-old girl. They are all in hospital," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on social media.
Hello and welcome to today's live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here are yesterday's biggest stories: