Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war on Wednesday. This was the largest prisoner release since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainian authorities said 230 Ukrainian prisoners of war had returned home in the first exchange in nearly five months. The Russian Defense Ministry said 248 Russian soldiers had been released under the deal sponsored by the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE Foreign Ministry attributed the successful exchange to the “strong friendly relations between the UAE and both the Russian Federation and the Republic of Ukraine, supported by sustained calls at the highest levels.”
The UAE maintained close economic ties with Moscow despite Western sanctions and pressure on Russia after its invasion began in 2022.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said it was the 49th prisoner exchange during the war.
Some of the Ukrainians had been in detention since 2022. Among them were some of those who fought in landmark battles over Ukraine's Snake Island and the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Russian officials did not provide further details of the exchange.
Also on Wednesday, Russia said it had shot down 12 missiles fired at one of its southern border regions with Ukraine. Kiev's armed forces are trying to embarrass the Kremlin and undermine President Vladimir Putin's argument that life continues as normal despite the fighting.
The situation in the border town of Belgorod, which was exposed to two shells on Wednesday morning, “remains tense,” regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
“The air defense systems worked,” he said, promising more details about possible damage after inspecting the area later in the day as part of a New Year's holiday week in Russia.
Ukraine fired two Tochka-U missiles and seven missiles into the region late Tuesday, followed by six Tochka-U missiles and six Vilkha missiles on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The Soviet-built Tochka-U missile system has a range of up to 120 kilometers and a warhead capable of carrying cluster munitions. Ukraine has received some cluster munitions from the United States, but the Tochka-U and Vilkha can use their own cluster munitions.
The Russian side of the border has come under increasing attacks in recent days. During the war, border villages were sporadically attacked by Ukrainian artillery fire, rockets, mortar shells and drones fired from dense forests where they were difficult to detect.
As Russia recently fired missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities, Kiev's forces targeted the regional capital Belgorod, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.
With around 340,000 inhabitants, Belgorod is the largest Russian city near the border. It can be achieved with relatively simple and mobile weapons such as multiple rocket launchers.
On Saturday, 25 people, including five children, were killed in the shelling in Belgorod. This was one of the deadliest attacks on Russian soil since the full-scale invasion of Moscow. Another civilian was killed in a new volley on Tuesday.
The attack on Belgorod and the disruption of city life is dramatic evidence for Ukraine that it can strike back against Russia, whose military outnumbers and outguns Kiev's forces.
The tactic appeared to have some success, and there are signs that the attacks are unsettling the public, political leaders and military observers.
On Monday, Putin criticized Ukraine's attacks in Belgorod. “They want to intimidate us and create insecurity in our country,” he said, vowing to step up retaliation.
Responding to a soldier who asked him about the civilian casualties in Belgorod, Putin replied: “I also feel a seething anger.”
Many Russian military bloggers have expressed regret over Moscow's withdrawal from the border area in September 2022 in the face of a rapid counteroffensive by Kiev, arguing that more territory needs to be seized to secure Belgorod and other border areas.
Russia calls Ukrainians “terrorists” who indiscriminately attack residential areas, while insisting that Moscow only targets depots, weapons factories and other military facilities – despite there being ample evidence that Russia is attacking Ukrainian civilian targets.
Ukrainian officials rarely acknowledge responsibility for attacks on Russian territory.
In another Russian border region on Wednesday, the town of Selesnogorsk was briefly cut off from power after Ukrainian shelling, local officials said.
Authorities were forced to temporarily shut down an electrical substation in the city of 100,000 in the Kursk region to repair damage from an airstrike, Kursk Governor Roman Starovoit said on Telegram.
Residents had no electricity or heat, he said, although power was restored in most parts of the city about two hours later, he said.
Russia has recently stepped up its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, including using Kinzhal missiles that can travel at ten times the speed of sound. Kremlin forces appear to be targeting Ukraine's defense industry, Britain's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
The attack has prompted Kiev officials to ask its Western allies for further air defense assistance.
NATO announced Wednesday that it would help member states purchase up to 1,000 surface-to-air Patriot guided missiles. The deal could cost about $5.5 billion. This could enable alliance members to send more of their own defense systems to Ukraine.
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