The Security Service of Ukraine said its "Alpha" special forces hit Russian air defense and radar systems with long-range strikes.

This is Yuliia Taradiuk reporting from Kyiv on day 1,429 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today's top story: Active battles continue in the Pokrovsk direction, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Jan.

"(Ukraine) needs more missiles, more air defense," Volodymyr Zelensky said, adding that aside from U.S.-produced Patriot PAC-3 missiles used against Russian ballistic missiles — whose numbers have increased significantly — "nothing else works.

Ukrainian authorities say that the repeated attacks on energy infrastructure are an attempt to force the country into submission.

Ukraine's armed forces are introducing a new facet of air defence to transform their system, made up of small groups deploying interceptor drones, as the country braces for new mass Russian attacks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.

A retired silversmith has spent 18 months supplying thousands of candles to war damaged areas of Ukraine. Mark Stevens from Ludlow, Shropshire, collects the candles from churches and shops and uses the candle wax to make temporary stoves for the military and civilians.

Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on Wednesday that 200,000 Ukrainian soldiers are officially considered as absent without official leave (AWOL), meaning they have left their positions without permission to do so.

Ukraine will face enormous challenges to organise its first elections since Russia's 2022 invasion, with its infrastructure shattered and millions of people displaced by war, the country's election chief said.