Russia on Sunday (January 8) said that its army has conducted a "retaliatory strike" in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatrosk to avenge the deaths of 89 Russian troops killed in Makiivka. The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that "more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed" as a result of a strike on Kyiv troops stationed in two buildings in Kramatorsk. 
The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that "more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed" as a result of a strike on Kyiv troops stationed in two buildings in Kramatorsk.
Russia's overnight bombing of regions in eastern Ukraine killed at least one, a 50-year-old man in Kharkiv, said Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of the region.
* There were nine missile strikes on the Donetsk area overnight, including seven on the battered city of Kramatorsk, said governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties. Blasts were also heard in the Zaporizhzhia region
Around 1,500 Russian troops have arrived in the northeastern Belarus city of Vitebsk over the past two days, according to unofficial Telegram channels monitoring military activity in the Russian-allied country. There is talk that Russiacould use Belarus as a staging post to attack Ukraine from the north.
* Two thermal power plants in part of Ukraine's Donetsk region controlled by Russian forces were damaged in a rocket attack by the Ukrainian army, Moscow-installed officials and the TASS news agency said. Early information suggested that the plants in Zuhres and Novyi Svit had been hit and that some people on the spot had sustained injuries, the officials said.
* There has been heavy fighting in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, said regional governor Serhiy Haidai. He also said Russian forces had deployed their most combat-ready units and heavy equipment to Russian-controlled city of Kriminna.
* Plummeting night-time temperatures will increase military activity, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said. Temperatures dipping to minus 15 degrees Celsius or lower will bring hard frosts, making it easier to move heavy equipment.
* Russia's Gazprom said it would ship 35.5 million cubic meters of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Sunday.
* The founder of Russia's highest-profile mercenary organization, the Wagner group, said he wanted his forces and the regular Russian army to capture Bakhmut because it possessed "underground cities" that can hold troops and tanks.
* Ukraine's main church celebrated a "return" to Kyiv's Cathedral of the Assumption on Orthodox on Christmas Day, shortly after taking control of it from a rival church with alleged ties to Russia.
Russia's overnight bombing of regions in eastern Ukraine killed at least one, local officials said on Sunday, after Moscow ended a self-declared Christmas ceasefire and vowed to push on with combat until it reaches a victory over its neighbour.
President Vladimir Putin ordered on Friday a 36-hour ceasefire along the line of contact to observe Russia and Ukraine's Orthodox Christmas, which fell on Saturday. Ukraine had rejected the truce, and there was shelling along the frontline.
A 50-year-old man died in the northeastern region of Kharkiv as a result of Russia's shelling, Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of the region said on the Telegram messaging app. The news came minutes after midnight in Moscow.
Most Ukrainian Orthodox Christians have traditionally celebrated Christmas on January 7, as have Orthodox Christians in Russia. But this year, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the country's largest, allowed also for a December 25 celebration. Still, many observed the holiday on Saturday, flocking into churches and cathedrals.
The Kremlin said that Moscow will press ahead with what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine and which Kyiv and its Western allies call an unprovoked aggression to grab land.
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