Ukraine updates: Kyiv and Moscow exchange POWs

The UN nuclear watchdog has been denied access to some of the reactor halls at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is under Russian control.

"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," International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement.

Grossi said experts have been denied access to reactor halls 1,2 and 6 for the past two weeks. 

The nuclear plant, Europe's largest, has been at the center of fighting since it was captured by Russian forces in 2022, and both sides have accused each other of compromising its safety.

IAEA officials were deployed to the plant in September 2022 and given limited access to the site. 

Grossi said his team will continue to request access to the reactor halls, where the reactor core and spent fuel are located.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 200 people, including soldiers who fought at the Azovstal steelworks in the southern city of Mariupol, have been released from Russian captivity.

"Today, we returned over 200 warriors and civilians from Russian captivity," he posted on X, formerly Twitter.

"Soldiers, sergeants, and officers. Armed Forces, National Guard, Navy, and Border Guards. Some of the defenders fought in Mariupol and Azovstal," are among those released according to Zelenskyy. 

Separately, Russia announced 248 of its soldiers had been released by Ukraine following "complex" negotiations that the United Arab Emirates mediated.

"As a result of a complex negotiation process, 248 Russian servicemen have been returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime," Moscow's defense ministry said.

Russia accidentally bombed houses in one of its own villages on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Voronezh Oblast Governor Alexander Gusev said nine houses in the village of Petropavlovka will be rebuilt after they were bombed by one of Russia's own warplanes. The Voronezh region lies in western Russia, near Ukraine.  

An "abnormal discharge of aircraft ammunition" took place, the state news agency RIA quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying.

A small local school, an arts center, and an administrative building were also damaged in the incident.  

"Not a single resident will be left without help, we will support everyone as much as possible," Gusev said.

Norway will send two F-16 fighter jets to Denmark to help with the training of Ukrainian pilots, the Norwegian defense minister has said.

Ukraine has appealed for US-made F-16s to boost its air force as it fights off Russia's invasion, but its pilots, who are largely used only to Soviet-era warplanes, need to learn to adapt to the more modern aircraft.

Norway, which has replaced its own F-16s with the newer F-35 model, last year said it would join Denmark, the Netherlands and others in donating the aircraft to Kyiv.

The European Union has added diamond company Alrosa and its CEO to its sanctions list.

"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 EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday.

The G7 group announced a similar ban on Alrosa in December.

Moscow is accused of partly financing its invasion of Ukraine with revenue from diamond sales, which are worth an estimated $4 billion to $5 billion (€3.7 billion to €4.6 billion) a year. 

Russia has vowed to circumvent the sanctions.

A third of the world's rough diamonds at present is estimated to come from Siberian mines. More than 90% of them are produced by Alrosa, which is mostly owned by Russian government entities.

Poland's foreign minister has urged the West to tighten sanctions on Moscow and give Kyiv long-range missiles as Russia escalates its airstrikes on its neighbor.

"We should respond to the latest onslaught on Ukraine in language that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin understands: by tightening sanctions so that he cannot make new weapons with smuggled components and by giving Kyiv long range missiles that will enable it to take out launch sites and command centers," Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

His remarks come as Russia steps up its drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, partly in response to a deadly Ukrainian attack on the Russian border city of Belgorod on Saturday.

On Tuesday, Russia carried out a new wave of heavy airstrikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv, with at least five civilians killed.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called on Moscow and Kyiv to exercise restraint after recent attacks from both sides claimed civilian casualties

"Alarming escalation of hostilities, dozens of civilians killed in #Ukraine & #Russia," his office wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, late on Tuesday evening.

The statement called for "immediate steps to de-escalate, ensure protection of civilians & respect int'l law."

It comes as Russia has stepped up its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, which have often hit civilian infrastructure despite Moscow's frequent insistence that it does not target noncombatants.

Russia, for its part, has said 25 civilians, including children, were killed by a Ukrainian aerial attack on the Russian city of Belgorod on Saturday.

It marked the largest civilian death toll for Russia in an attack since Moscow launched its unprovoked offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine sent 12 missiles and several drones over Russia's southern region of Belgorod in the early hours of Wednesday, Russia's Defense Ministry and local officials have said.

The Defense Ministry said air defense systems had shot down all 12 of the missiles.

Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov spoke of a "tense" situation in Belgorod, where Russia says Ukrainian attacks killed 25 civilians including five children on Saturday.

There was no word of any casualties from the latest attacks.

Ukraine stepped up its attacks on Belgorod over the New Year Eve's holiday period, as Russia carried out some of its most intense strikes on Ukraine since Moscow began its invasion almost two years ago.

Kyiv said cities across Ukraine had been targeted by more than 300 drones and missiles launched by Russian forces since Friday.