Out of 69 cruise missiles launched on Thursday by Kremlin forces from strategic bombers and ships in the Black Sea, 54 were downed by air defence systems, according to Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s army commander-in-chief. In a separate incident, Belarus’s air defence shot down a Ukrainian anti-air rocket over its territory. 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal accused Russia of trying to sabotage power facilities ahead of the New Year celebrations and said some energy infrastructure had been damaged in the latest attacks. 

Key developments

• Russia fires heavy salvo on Ukraine, ruling out peace talks
• Belarus says its air defence shot down Ukrainian missile
• European gas rebounds amid mixed weather forecasts for January
• Russian tycoon urges Africa to press EU on fertiliser snarl
• Ship insurers’ exodus from Russia-Ukraine trades gathers pace

On the ground

Overnight, Russian forces hit energy infrastructure in Kharkiv with Iranian-made Shahed drones, killing one person, Ukrainian officials said, adding that air defence forces shot down 11 Iranian-made drones. Several buildings, a gas pipeline and a power line were damaged in an attack on the Zaporizhzhia suburbs, Oleksandr Starukh, the regional governor, said on Telegram. Three Russian missile carriers are now on combat duty in the Black Sea, according to a statement from the Ukrainian southern command. 

Belarus summons Ukrainian ambassador over missile incident  

Belarus’s Foreign Ministry summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Kyzym to voice protest against what the country’s authorities say was a launch of an air defence missile towards Belarus.

Minsk called on Ukraine to investigate Thursday’s missile launch, punish those responsible and apply measures to rule out such incidents in the future to avoid “catastrophic consequences”, according to a statement on the Foreign Ministry website.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry press service didn’t reply to requests for comment. Kyiv has accused Belarus of allowing Russia to launch missiles from its territory. Russia has used Belarus as a staging point for its invasion, but Belarusian troops have so far stayed out of the war. 

Belarus says it downed missile fired from Ukraine 

Belarus said its air defences shot down a Ukrainian S-300 missile that flew into its territory on Thursday — a rare instance of the war spilling over the border into Russia’s ally, where an official downplayed the incident.

Missile debris fell near the village of Gorbakha in the Ivanovo region of southern Belarus near the border with Ukraine, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday on Telegram.

“There is absolutely no reason for residents to worry,” the military commissar of the Brest region in Belarus said after the incident. “Such cases, unfortunately, happen.”  

Italy’s Meloni to visit Ukraine by end of February 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is planning to visit Kyiv before the end of February to mark her support for Ukraine. A final date will only be confirmed when security conditions will allow for the planning of the visit, she said.

“We need to do all we can to support Ukraine, but also to pursue peace possibilities,” she said at a news conference in Rome.

Putin, Xi to hold talks 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will discuss “the most pressing regional problems” during a video call planned for Friday, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

The two leaders are holding their end-of-year talks after Xi told former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week that China would like to see negotiations on Ukraine, adding that his administration was “actively promoting peace”. 

China has avoided criticising Russia over the invasion, blaming the expansion of Nato. While Beijing signed off on a communiqué at last month’s Group of 20 summit in Indonesia that said “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine”, China continues to refrain from calling it a war.

Kazakhstan seeks Druzhba pipeline capacity 

Russia’s oil-pipeline operator Transneft said it received a request from its Kazakh counterpart to book capacity on the Druzhba pipeline for oil supplies to Germany next year.

Read more: Russia says Kazakhstan seeks Druzhba capacity for oil to Germany

That could be a first step toward Kazakh oil flowing to German refineries as the country tries to find alternatives to Russian crude. While pipeline supplies are exempted from European sanctions, Germany pledged to wean itself off Russia by the end of this year.

Russia rules out peace talks 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ruled out talks with Ukraine to end the war, saying in an interview with state-run news service RIA Novosti that the Kremlin won’t discuss demands that it withdraw from occupied lands and pay reparations.  

Ukraine should cede sovereignty over territories annexed by Russia since Putin ordered the February 24 invasion, Lavrov said earlier this week.

Bolton questions German defence goal 

Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton questioned whether Chancellor Olaf Scholz can honour his pledge to increase German defence spending in line with a Nato guideline of 2% of output.  

How Putin’s spooking Japan further away from pacifism: QuickTake

Germany’s decision to buy F-35 fighter jets was “a first step,” Bolton, who worked in the administration of Donald Trump, was quoted as saying by the Handelsblatt newspaper. However, he also referred to technical problems with “Germany’s old equipment” and urged Scholz to follow the example of Japan, which has budgeted a 60% hike in defence spending over five years.

Japan to continue Russia shipping coverage  

Japan’s insurers will continue to provide war-risk coverage for vessels in Russian waters in January, Kyodo News reported, in a move that is likely to ease concerns about disruptions to Russian liquefied natural gas shipments. 

The insurance companies said earlier this month that they would halt the marine hull war risk coverage in Russian and Ukrainian territorial waters from Jan. 1. The firms are currently negotiating reinsurance coverage for January contracts and are near a formal agreement, Kyodo said without attribution.

Residential buildings struck in Kyiv 

Debris from downed missiles damaged two residential buildings in eastern Kyiv, as well as an industrial compound and playground in the centre, the city’s military administration said on Telegram. 

Two people were rescued from a residential building and treated for injuries, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who warned that the city may experience problems with power supply and urged residents to charge their mobile phones and stock up on water.

JPMorgan to extend refugee programme

JPMorgan Chase’s Warsaw office is planning to extend a work and training program for Ukrainian refugees for another year after hiring around 50 this summer.

Read more: JPMorgan to extend Ukrainian refugee programme into next year

The Wall Street firm expects to recruit a similar number — depending on the war situation — into its 1,200-person Warsaw office, following positive feedback from employees, Paul Brazier, a managing director in the Warsaw office, said in an interview.

French minister visits Kyiv 

Sebastien Lecornu, France’s minister of armed forces, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Wednesday to discuss additional military support and strengthening Ukraine’s air defences. DM