Live blog: Russia, Ukraine swap more POWs amid post-ceasefire strikes

Sunday, January 8, 2023

Russia's defence ministry has announced that Ukraine returned 50 captured Russian soldiers after negotiations.

It said the freed soldiers would be flown to Moscow for medical and psychological rehabilitation.

"On January 8, as a result of negotiations, 50 Russian servicemen, who were in mortal danger while in captivity, were returned from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime," the defence ministry said in a statement.

Ukraine confirmed the information and said Russia had freed 50 Ukrainian servicemen as part of the same deal.

No sign of casualties at site of strikes Russia says killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers

A Russian rocket strike on the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has caused damage but did not destroy buildings and there were no obvious signs of casualties, according to a Reuters witness, after Moscow said the attack killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers.

Reuters reporters visited the two college dormitories Russia's defence ministry said had been temporarily housing Ukrainian servicemen close to the front line of the war at the time of the overnight strike. 

Neither appeared to have been directly hit by missiles or seriously damaged. There were no obvious signs that soldiers had been living there and no sign of bodies or traces of blood.

Ukraine denies Russian strike killed 600 soldiers

Ukraine's armed forces have also rejected the claim that Moscow's army conducted a deadly "retaliatory strike" in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

"This information is as true as the data that they have destroyed all of our HIMARS," Sergiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern group of the Ukrainian armed forces, told the Suspilne media outlet, referring to US-supplied rocket systems.

He said Russia could not deliver high-precision strikes.

Russia claims it killed over 600 Ukrainian soldiers in rocket attack

Russia's defence ministry has reported that it had had killed more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen in a massive rocket strike on buildings in eastern Ukraine temporarily housing Ukrainian forces.

It said the strike on Kramatorsk was revenge for Ukraine's deadly attack earlier this year on a Russian barracks in Makiivka in part of the Donetsk region controlled by Moscow's forces.

The statement of Russia's defence ministry could not be immediately verified independently. 

Russia, Belarus to hold join aviation drills: Minsk

Russia and Belarus will hold joint aviation drills of the air divisions that are part of the two countries' regional grouping of troops, according to the Belarusian defence ministry.

The drills will last from January 16 to February 1, the ministry said in a statement. 

Putin awarded medal by Bosnian Serb leader

President Vladimir Putin has been awarded in absentia by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, during a ceremony marking the Bosnia and Herzegovina's autonomous Republika Srpska's national holiday.

Putin was awarded the medal for the "particular patriotic care and love towards Republika Srpska" and merits in developing and strengthening cooperation and political relations between "friendly states of Republika Srpska and the Russian Federation", moderators said.

The Republika Srpska is one of two autonomous entities that make up the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Two killed in Ukraine despite Russia ‘ceasefire’: Kiev

Two Ukrainians were killed and another nine were wounded despite Russian leader Vladimir Putin unilaterally ordering his forces to pause attacks on Orthodox Christmas, Kiev said.

As a result of "Russia's armed aggression", one person was killed and another eight wounded in the eastern region of Donetsk, one more person killed in Kharkiv and another was wounded in Kherson over the past 24 hours, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, said. 

"After midnight the enemy launched seven rocket attacks on Kramatorsk and two on Kostyantynivka," said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration.

One person killed in thermal power plant shelling - TASS

One person was killed as a result of the attack on the Starobesheve power plant in Novyi Svit, Russia’s state TASS news agency said.

The thermal power plant was one of two in part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region that is controlled by Russian forces that were damaged in a rocket attack by the Ukrainian army, Moscow-supported officials said.

Ukraine shelling damages 2 power plants in Russia-controlled parts of Donetsk

Two thermal power plants were damaged by Ukrainian shelling in Russian-controlled parts of the country's Donetsk region, Moscow-backed officials and Russia's TASS state news agency reported. 

Preliminary information indicated injuries in the shelling in Zuhres and Novyi Svit, the officials said. According to TASS, two people might be trapped under debris at the damaged Starobesheve power plant in Novyi Svit.
Citing officials, the agency said said the strike was carried out using a multiple rocket launcher system.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine which never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Gazprom to ship 35.5 mcm of gas to Europe

Gazprom, the Russian energy giant,  said it would ship 35.5 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine.

Gazprom continues to supply gas flows via Ukraine at capped levels.

Moscow vows victory after truce ends

Moscow has ended a self-declared Christmas ceasefire and vowed to push on with combat until it reaches a victory over its neighbour.

President Vladimir Putin ordered on Friday a 36-hour ceasefire along the line of contact to observe Russia and Ukraine's Orthodox Christmas, which fell on Saturday.

Ukraine had rejected the truce, and there was shelling along the frontline.

The Kremlin said that Moscow will press ahead with what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

"The tasks set by the president (Putin) for the special military operation will still be fulfilled," the Russian state TASS agency quoted Putin's first deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko, as saying. "And there definitely will be a victory."

Russia, Ukraine trade ceasefire violation accusations 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the Russian military was continuing to strike Ukrainian positions despite their declared ceasefire.

"The reality is Russian shells again hit Bakhmut and other Ukrainian positions," said Zelenskyy in his video address.

Ukrainian officials denounced the unilateral 36-hour pause as a ploy and said it appeared to have been ignored by some of Moscow's forces pressing ahead with the nearly 11-month offensive.

Russia insisted that its forces along the 1,100-km front line were observing the Kremlin-ordered truce, but returned fire when attacked.

For live updates from Saturday (January 7), click here.