Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Russia attacked the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv into the night on Tuesday, the regional governor said.

Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional state administration, said on Telegram Wednesday that Russian forces shelled the city of Kharkiv with S-300 missiles late the previous evening, partially destroying a school. There were no casualties.

Kharkiv was attacked multiple times on Tuesday, with strikes leaving one woman dead and 62 others injured, Sinegubov said. As well as Kharkiv city, more than 15 settlements of the Kharkiv region were hit by Russian artillery and mortar attacks

— Holly Ellyatt

Norway will send two F-16 fighter jets to Denmark to contribute to the training of Ukrainian pilots on the use of the U.S.-made airplane, the Norwegian defence minister said on Wednesday.

F-16s have been on Ukraine’s wish list as the country seeks to boost its air force in the war with Russia, and Norway last year said it would join Denmark, the Netherlands and others in donating aircraft.

Norway has already sent 10 instructors to Denmark to aid the education of Ukrainian pilots, Defence Minister Bjoern Arild Gram said in a statement.

The Norwegian air force has replaced its own F-16s with the successor model F-35.

— Reuters

The European Union has added Russia’s biggest diamond producer to its sanctions list, an EU official said Wednesday.

“In line with the diamond ban we have introduced with the 12th package of sanctions, the EU today lists Alrosa, the largest diamond-mining company in the world and its CEO,” the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Borrell added that the latest addition was part of a coordinated effort by the Group of Seven industrialized nations, which includes the EU, “to deprive Russia of this important revenue source.”

The Council of the EU said in a statement it had introduced restrictive measures against Alrosa and its CEO Pavel Alekseevich Marinychev as they were deemed to be “responsible for actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

“PJSC Alrosa is the largest diamond-mining company in the world, owned by the Russian state and accounts for over 90% of all Russian diamond production, and the company constitutes an important part of an economic sector that is providing substantial revenue to the government of the Russian Federation.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine used 12 missiles to target the Russian border region of Belgorod overnight.

“This morning, the Russian Armed Forces have foiled another attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using Olkha and Tochka-U tactical missiles against facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the ministry posted on Telegram.

“Six Olkha and six Tochka-U missiles were destroyed by alerted air defence systems on duty over the territory of Belgorod region,” it added.

The Russian governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Russia downed more Ukrainian missiles approaching the city and wider Belgorod region and reported some damage to houses and power supplies. He said this morning that “the situation in Belgorod continues to remain tense.”

Ukraine rarely comments on attacks against Russia itself and has not publicly commented on the latest strike. On Saturday, it launched a large attack against Belgorod that left 25 dead, including five children, and over 100 injured.

Moscow and Kyiv both deny any deliberate targeting of civilians in the war, although at least 10,000 civilians in Ukraine have died, the United Nations says. The true number of casualties is believed to be far higher.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian officials said Ukraine attacked the Russian city of Belgorod overnight, as well as the port city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea.

The Russian Governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Russia downed more Ukrainian missiles approaching the city and wider Belgorod region and reported some damage to houses and power supplies. Belgorod is across the Russian border from Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region.

“The situation in Belgorod continues to remain tense. There were two shellings in the morning,” Gladkov said on Telegram. 

“The air defenses worked. As soon as it dawns, we will conduct door-to-door inspections to look at the damage to rooves, windows, facades and [we will] begin restoration work,” he said.

In Crimea, the Russian-installed Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev also said a missile was downed there Tuesday night, although no damage to infrastructure was recorded. CNBC was unable to immediately verify the claims made by the officials.

The latest attacks, which have not been confirmed by Ukraine, continue a recent intensification of aerial warfare around the new year, and a series of “tit-for-tat” strikes by Russia and Ukraine over the last few days.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Tuesday that Russia had used nearly 300 missiles and over 200 Iranian-made “Shahed” drones against Ukraine since Dec. 29.

“No other state has ever repelled such attacks, combined ones: both drones and missiles, including air-launched ballistic missiles. Ten “Kinzhal” missiles [hypersonic air-launched ballistic missiles] have been shot down today alone,” Zelenskyy said.

— Holly Ellyatt

Pictures show destruction in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and Kharkiv in the northeast of the country following Russian strikes on the cities.

The death toll has risen to five following Russian strikes on the cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday.

As it stands, two people were killed 49 injured in strikes on Kyiv. Two others died and 16 were injured in the wider Kyiv region. In Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine, one person was killed and 47 were injured. Zelenskyy said Russia would be held “responsible for every life taken.”

He said almost 100 missiles of various types had been used in the strikes with 70 of them downed by Ukraine’s air defense systems. “‘Patriots’, ‘Iris’, ‘NASAMS’ — each such system has already saved at least hundreds of lives,” Zelenskyy said.

— Holly Ellyatt

The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod said Tuesday that Ukraine attempted to strike the city of the same name again.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Russian air defenses downed five Ukrainian missiles as they approached the city. “Operational services are clarifying information about the consequences on the ground,” he said on Telegram.

“According to preliminary data, there is one victim – a woman has a torn wound to her left hand. She was examined by emergency physicians and refused hospitalization,” Gladkov said. He added that a retail space and several cars were damaged by shrapnel. In the Belgorod region, one passenger car was damaged by shrapnel in the village of Belovskoye. 

CNBC was unable to verify the information. If accurate, the latest attempt to hit Belgorod would continue an intensification of assaults between Ukraine and Russia around the new year.

Ukraine targeted Belgorod on Saturday in retaliation for a massive missile and drone attack that was carried out by Russia on Ukraine last Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Monday to intensify attacks on Ukraine after the Belgorod attack, in which 25 people died, including five children, and over 100 were injured. Ukraine has not publicly commented on the attack and both Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians.

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s largest cities Kyiv and Kharkiv were attacked with drones and missiles by Russia, leaving four people dead and dozens injured.

— Holly Ellyatt

Poland said planes protecting its airspace following the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine had returned to base.

Poland deployed two pairs of F-16 fighter jets and an allied tanker following the latest assault on Ukraine in which Kyiv and Kharkiv were targeted.

The Polish army’s operational command said the planes had now returned to base “due to the reduced level of threat.”

“The operations of Polish and allied aircraft on duty in our airspace have been ended. The resources released returned to their bases and standard operating activities,” the operational command said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Poland has been on higher alert since last Friday after a Russian missile entered Polish airspace for almost three minutes before it turned back into Ukrainian airspace. Poland said Tuesday that it is monitoring the situation in Ukraine on an ongoing basis “and remains on constant readiness to ensure the safety of Polish airspace.”

— Reuters

Ukraine’s foreign minister urged faster supplies of air defence systems, combat drones, and long-range missiles, the ministry said on Tuesday.

It said in a statement that Dmytro Kuleba called on Ukraine’s Western partners to respond to a new Russian strike on Ukraine by “accelerating the supply of additional air defence systems, combat drones of all types, long-range missiles with a range of 300+ km.”

It also said he had called on partners to make “a decision to transfer frozen Russian assets for the needs of Ukraine and terminating contacts with Russian diplomats in the relevant capitals and international organizations.”

— Reuters