Belgorod after the shelling, December 30, 2023. Photo: Reuters On December 29, the Russian military launched a massive attack on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. On December 30, Ukrainian forces shelled the centre of Belgorod, the city in the vicinity of the border, killing 24 people, including four children, according to official Russian reports. The shelling continued into the new year, with local authorities reporting one more casualty.

The consequences of the shelling of Belgorod, December 30, 2023. Photo: Reuters On December 29, the Russian army inflicted a massive blow to Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. On December 30, the Ukrainian military fired at the center of Belgorod, as a result, according to official figures, 24 people were killed, including four children. The shelling continued in the new year, local authorities reported the death of another person.

For the first time since August, Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war. The exchange was announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky . According to the Ministry of Defense, 248 Russian servicemen were returned from captivity. Representatives of the United Arab Emirates acted as a mediator in the negotiations between the countries. Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmitry Lubinets writes that Ukraine has returned 230 citizens.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that the authorities plan to evacuate about 600 residents of the regional capital due to unexploded ordnance. According to Gladkov, one of the unexploded ordnance was found today on Krasnoarmeyskaya Street. Because of this, the operational headquarters decided to “evacuate 323 individual houses within a radius of 500 meters” - this, according to the governor, is about 600 people.

A Belgorod resident was forced to apologize for filming air defense operations on camera. The apology video was published by the Svobodny Krasny telegram channel, and drew attention to the video. the local publication Lantern In the video, a young man, who introduced himself as Denis Boban, stands against the background of the Russian flag between two unknown men in uniform with SMERSH stripes.

The Traktorozavodsky District Court of Chelyabinsk placed two defendants in the case of an attack on a group of local residents, among whom was a participant in the war in Ukraine, under house arrest. This is reported on the court's website. 18-year-old Alexey Rybak and his 17-year-old brother Grigory are accused of hooliganism (Part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code).

The Sovetsky District Court of Bryansk placed blogger Evgenia Hoffman, who burned her Russian passport on New Year's Eve, under house arrest. This was reported by the joint press service of the city courts. According to the press release, Hoffman is accused of desecration of the Russian coat of arms (Article 329 of the Criminal Code) and intentional infliction of moderate harm to health, committed out of hooligan motives (clause “e” of Part 2 of Article 112 of the Criminal Code).

Four people were injured due to a Russian missile fired towards Ukraine on January 2 and falling in the Voronezh region. this . announced Governor Alexander Gusev According to the head of the region, four residents of the village of Petropavlovka in the Ostrogozhsky district, where the ammunition fell, sought medical help “with minor injuries.” Local residents also turn to paramedics for psychological help, Gusev added.

Former head of the Yekaterinburg Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Trifonov, convicted in a criminal case, died in the war in Ukraine. write about this It's my city and Kommersant with reference to lawyer Olga Kezik. According to the lawyer, Trifonov had been seeking a military service contract for a long time, and at the end of 2023 he left the colony for the front. The security officer's wife learned of his death yesterday.

In the district House of Culture in Porkhov in the Pskov region, discos were canceled after the DJ played a song by Verka Serduchka during a dance. This was reported by the director of the cultural center Anna Tarasenkova, and drew attention to this.

At the end of December, Ramzan Kadyrov held a meeting with Chechen security forces, at which he announced the permissibility of punishing relatives of criminals who had escaped from law enforcement agencies. In a post about the event, the head of Chechnya wrote that the meeting was dedicated to issues of public safety during the holidays.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that 12 missiles were shot down over the Belgorod region with the help of air defense. The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov , also wrote about the work of air defense . “Duty air defense systems destroyed six Tochka-U missiles and six Vilkha MLRS missiles over the Belgorod region,” the ministry said in a press release.