These are the key developments from day 1,408 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is where things stand on Friday, January 2:
Ukraine and Russia have traded allegations of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure over the New Year, with Kyiv saying there had been another broad attack on its power supplies, and Moscow reporting a deadly strike on a hotel in territory it occupies in southern Ukraine.
Asked about the strike on Kherson, a Ukrainian military spokesperson told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that Kyiv’s forces exclusively targeted Russian military or energy sites.
Russian air defence units have downed a total of 29 Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow over a 20-hour New Year period, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Restrictions were in place on the evening of New Year’s Day for two Moscow airports. Sobyanin made no mention of casualties or damage.
Ukrainian drones struck energy and industrial targets across the Russian regions of Krasnodar, Tatarstan and Kaluga overnight, Russian officials said on Thursday. The Ukrainian military confirmed it had carried out two of the three attacks.
A senior Russian military chief, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, said he had given a United States military attache what he claimed to be part of a Ukrainian drone. He said data from the drone proved that the Ukrainian military targeted a residence of President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s northern Novgorod region this week.
Ukraine has denied Russia’s claim. US intelligence sources told reporters on Wednesday Kyiv was not behind the attack.
Ukraine’s top negotiator in US-brokered peace talks, Rustem Umerov, said he met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara. Umerov said he discussed with Fidan the negotiation process and next steps, with particular attention to humanitarian issues and the return of Ukrainians held by Russia.
In his New Year’s address to the nation, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy said he wanted the war to end, but not at any cost. He added he would not sign a “weak” peace agreement that would only prolong the war.