Ukraine updates: Putin vows to 'never back down'

Russia would "never back down," President Vladimir Putin said in his New Year's Eve address on Sunday.

In his speech, Putin praised Russian troops "on the battlefield" without specifically mentioning Ukraine.

"We have repeatedly proved that we are able to solve the most difficult tasks and will never retreat, because there is no force that can separate us," Putin said.

He went on to say that 2024 would be a "year of the family."

"To all those who are on duty, on the front line of the fight for truth and justice," he said, "you are our heroes. Our hearts are with you. We are proud of you, we admire your courage."

The televised speech was aired just before midnight in each of Russia's 11 timezones. It is a tradition which dates back to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

"The main thing that has united us and unites us still is the fate of the fatherland, the deep understanding of the highest significance of the historical stage that Russia is going through."

Russia has sentenced more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the state RIA news agency on Sunday.

"The courts of the Russian Federation have already sentenced more than 200 representatives of Ukrainian armed formations to long terms of imprisonment for committing atrocities," Lavrov told RIA.

As many as 4,000 criminal cases have been filed against about 900 Ukrainian individuals by Russia's main investigative organ, the Investigative Committee, Lavrov said.

Both Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations of atrocities in the war that began when Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022.

The Ukraine Prosecutor General's office has registered more than 121,000 crimes of aggression and war crimes by Russia, according to its website.

Human rights groups and the United Nations have found evidence of violations of international law and war crimes committed by Russia — including torture, rape and the forced deportation of children.

Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over allegations of forcible deportation of Ukrainian children.

Russia launched a fresh bombardment on Kharkiv, in Ukraine's northeast, late on Saturday night, officials said. 

Twin Russian missile strikes hit the city and injured at least 26 people.

Several structures, including a residential building in the city center, were struck in the attack, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.

Two children and a British journalist were among those injured in the attack.

"For every 'Shahed' drone, for every Russian missile, there will be a fair responsibility of the terrorist state," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address.

Drones were also used in the attack, according to the Ukrainian air force. Air defenses were active during the night in other Ukrainian regions, including Kyiv.

The latest bout of Russian and Ukrainian strikes and their toll on the civilian population took center stage at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council late on Saturday.

Russia had called for the emergency meeting following reported attacks on Belogorod in which 21 people were killed. The emergency session was held less than 24 hours after the Council convened a meeting on Ukraine following large-scale attacks by Russia against Ukrainian towns and cities.

"We unequivocally condemn all attacks on cities, towns and villages, in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation,"  said Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary-general in the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UN DPPA)

"Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law, are unacceptable and must end now," he added.

Moscow accused Ukraine of using controversial cluster bombs in strikes that killed at least 21 people and wounded dozens more. 

Russia said the attack would "not go unpunished."

At the Security Council meeting, Russian diplomat Vasily Nebenzya accused Ukraine of targeting a sports center, an ice rink and a university.

The Belgorod attack came a day after Ukraine said a barrage of Russian missile strikes on several cities killed at least 40 people.

"The Security Council convened yesterday and is meeting again today, and you should be ready to meet tomorrow, the day after tomorrow — every day that the Russian war against Ukraine lasts," Ukraine's representative Serhii Dvornyk said, according to the UN News Service. 

"Because as long as this war, unleashed by the Kremlin dictator, endures, the toll of death and suffering will continue to grow," he added. 

According to the UN News Service, French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said if Russian troops were not on Ukrainian soil, "we wouldn’' be here this afternoon."

mfi/lo (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)