Ukraine war live updates: Russia and Ukraine carry out largest prisoner exchange; Kyiv says there is no ‘plan B’ to win the war

Russia is planning to buy short-range ballistic missiles from Iran, a step that would enhance Moscow’s ability to target Ukraine’s infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing U.S. officials.

Last year, the White House said it was seeing more indications that Russia and Iran were expanding an unprecedented defence partnership that would help Moscow prolong its war in Ukraine as well as pose a threat to Iran’s neighbours.

— Reuters

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will convene a meeting between NATO diplomats and officials from Ukraine on Jan. 10, following a recent wave of heavy Russian air strikes on the country, the transatlantic defense alliance said on Thursday.

The meeting, taking the format of the newly establish NATO-Ukraine Council, was being convened at Kyiv’s request following missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians, cities and towns, a NATO spokesperson said.

Russia has intensified attacks over the New Year period, with President Vladimir Putin warning that a Ukrainian air strike on the Russian city of Belgorod, which Moscow said killed 25 civilians, would “not go unpunished”.

— Reuters

The head of the U.N. nuclear power watchdog said on Wednesday his inspectors had been denied access to parts of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and had yet to receive 2024 maintenance plans for the facility.

The Zaporizhzhia plant was seized by Russia in the days following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side has accused the other of shelling around the station, Europe’s largest, though its six reactors now produce no electricity.

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said inspectors at the plant had for two weeks had no access to the main halls of reactors one, two and six.

“This is the first time that IAEA experts have not been granted access to a reactor hall of a unit that was in cold shutdown,” Grossi said in a statement on the IAEA website.

“This is where the reactor core and spent fuel are located. The team will continue to request this access.”

Inspectors had also been restricted in their access to turbine halls at the plant in southeastern Ukraine, he said.

Grossi said the plant’s operators had taken action to ensure back-up electricity supplies to the facility for instances when its main external power line is lost, which he described as a “repeated” occurrence.

— Reuters

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said there is no “plan B” for Ukraine, saying Kyiv is confident it can win the war against Russia with the resources available to it.

“We don’t have a plan B. We’re confident in plan A,” Kuleba told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Wednesday when asked whether Kyiv was prepared for a potential decrease or shortfall in Western military assistance given increasing political wrangling over continuing aid packages, particularly in the U.S.

“Ukraine will always fight with the resources available to it ..and what is given to Ukraine is not charity, it’s an investment in the protection of NATO and the protection of the prosperity of the American people,” Kuleba said.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia and Ukraine said on Wednesday that prisoners of war had been exchanged between the countries.

Over 200 “warriors and civilians” had been returned, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

That includes “soldiers, sergeants, and officers. Armed Forces, National Guard, Navy, and Border Guards. Some of the defenders fought in Mariupol and Azovstal,” he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a post on Telegram, according to a Google translation, that 248 Russian military personnel had been released after “a complex negotiation process.”

The exchange was aided by the United Arab Emirates who provided “humanitarian mediation,” the ministry added.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said it was “grateful” to Norway for supplying F-16 fighter jets to help train Ukrainian pilots.

“Norway is presenting two F-16 fighter jets that will train and educate Ukrainian personnel in Denmark,” the ministry wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“We are grateful to our Norwegian friends for their unwavering support!”

Norway’s Defense Minister confirmed earlier on Wednesday that the fighter jets would be donated for training purposes.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Polish farmers will resume their blockade at the Medyka border crossing with Ukraine from Thursday as they say they have not received a signed assurance from the prime minister that their demands will be met, state-run news agency PAP reported.

The Polish farmers suspended their protest, which aims to secure government subsidies for corn and prevent tax hikes, on Dec. 24.

Polish truck drivers, however, have continued to block several crossings with Ukraine since Nov. 6, to press their demand that the European Union reinstate a system that requires Ukrainian companies to obtain permits to operate in the bloc. The same would apply to European truckers seeking to enter Ukraine.

“We have not received written confirmation that our demands will be met, so we are continuing the protest,” farmers leader Roman Kondrow told PAP.

Although Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski had provided a note telling the farmers their demands would be met, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has not given a signed declaration, Kondrow said.

He added they would only allow one truck per hour pass through the crossing. Tusk said in December that he believed Poland was close to being able to end the truckers’ protest.

— Reuters

The latest missile attacks on Ukraine indicate that Russia is targeting Ukraine’s defense industry rather than energy infrastructure, as seen last year.

“Since 29 December 2023, Russia has increased the intensity of its long-range strike operations against Ukraine,” the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence said Wednesday.

It noted that Russian forces had committed a “significant proportion” of the stock of air-launched cruise missiles and ballistic missiles that they had built up in recent months to strikes on targets across Ukraine in the last week.

“The recent strikes likely primarily targeted Ukraine’s defense industry. This contrasts with its major attacks last winter which prioritised striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” the ministry noted in an intelligence update on X, formerly known as Twitter, Wednesday.

“These new operations suggest at least a temporary change in approach in Russia’s use of long-range strikes. Russian planners almost certainly realise the importance of relative defence industrial capacity as they prepare for a long war.”

— Holly Ellyatt