The blackout comes as temperatures fell to about -15 C in many parts of the country

Russia hit multiple settlements in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region over the past 24 hours, injuring two civilians, the region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, has said.

In the village of Dvorichna, a Russian attack at 17:30 injured a 57-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman, the governor wrote on Telegram.

UK at risk of ‘falling behind’ in its military support for Ukraine, former defence minister warns; Russia can be reined in under international law – Zelenskiy

• See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage

Ukrainian president says Moscow ‘aggression can be defeated’, in address to conference in Sweden

• At a glance: what we know on day 683

As of 1 January 2024, 3,428 educational institutions have been damaged and 365 destroyed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the education and science committee of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.

The data, which has not been independently verified by the Guardian, was cited from saveschools.in.ua documents.

Michel plans to take up his seat in the European parliament mid-July if he’s elected, meaning EU leaders will have to agree quickly on a successor for his vacated council post.

If they don’t, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, whose country will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July, would lead the meetings – a broker-role normally undertaken by the European Council president.

Kyiv says Russia has hit Ukraine with North Korean-supplied missiles for the first time; US official warns of diminishing time to resupply aid to Ukraine

• See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage

Russia hit Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time during its invasion, a senior Kyiv official said, corroborating an earlier assertion by the White House. Grant Shapps, the British secretary of state for defence, said that “we’ll make sure North Korea pays a high price for supporting Russia”.

President Joe Biden’s top budget official warned of the rapidly diminishing time that lawmakers have to replenish US aid for Ukraine, as the fate of that money to Kyiv remains tied up in congressional negotiations over immigration where a deal has so far been out of reach. Shalanda Young said that while the Pentagon had some limited authority to help Kyiv, “that is not going to get big tranches of equipment into Ukraine”.

Micheál Martin, Ireland’s foreign minister, said the international community must “remain firm in its resolve to support” Ukraine.

Russian air defence units downed missiles and drones in a series of night-time attacks over the Crimea peninsula and the western part of the Black Sea, Russia’s defence ministry said early on Saturday. There was no report on the incident from the Ukrainian military, which does not consistently disclose its actions in Crimea.

The government of Nepal has banned its citizens from travelling to Russia or Ukraine for employment after 10 young men were killed and dozens more reported missing while fighting, predominately in the Russian military. More than 200 Nepali soldiers are believed to have enlisted in the Russian army since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nepal’s foreign ministry has said.

A British defence intelligence update on Ukraine noted that “over the last week, ground combat has continued to be characterised by either a static frontline or very gradual, local Russian advances in key sectors”.

Russian officials in the southern border city of Belgorod offered to evacuate residents, after waves of fatal Ukrainian attacks. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov’s offer came a day after overnight shelling wounded at least two people and knocked out glass from high-rise buildings.

Ukraine released images of what it said was a Russian Kinzhal ballistic missile, which it claimed earlier in the week to have downed using the US Patriot anti-aircraft system. The Guardian was not able to verify the claim.

Both sides release more than 200 troops in first exchange since August after UAE-mediated negotiations

Ukraine and Russia have announced the largest exchange of prisoners since the start of the war, involving the return of more than 200 soldiers from each side in a deal mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Wednesday in a message on social media, along with images of some of the freed PoWs: “230 of our people. Today, 213 soldiers and sergeants, 11 officers, and six civilians returned home.”

Radosław Sikorski says allies must deliver long-range missiles to Ukraine following barrage of strikes by Russia

The Russian military has said it shot down 12 Ukrainian missiles over the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, as Kyiv’s forces seek to embarrass President Vladimir Putin and puncture his argument that life in Russia is going on as normal despite the 22-month war.

The Belgorod governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the situation in the regional capital, also called Belgorod, remained tense. The city came under two rounds of shelling on Wednesday morning, Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

At least five people die in wave of Russian strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv; Russia accidentally bombs its own city

• See all our Russia-Ukraine coverage

Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv killed at least five people on Tuesday and injured dozens of others, Ukrainian officials said. The attacks caused widespread damage and hit power supplies, Ukraine’s authorities said.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said gas pipelines had been damaged in Kyiv’s Pecherskyi district, while electricity and water had been cut off in several districts of the capital. Heating and water supplies were damaged in Kharkiv, said its mayor, Ihor Terekhov.

Russia said it had accidentally bombed a village in its own southern Voronezh region near Ukraine. In a statement quoted by Russian news agencies, the Russian army said “an abnormal discharge of aircraft ammunition occurred over the village of Petropavlovka in the Voronezh region. There are no casualties.”

Turkey said it would not allow two British minehunter ships to transit its waters en route to the Black Sea for use by Ukraine. Turkey is enforcing an international pact under which it can block passage of military ships of warring parties through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. It exempts naval ships that are returning to home bases.

One man was killed and seven people were injured on Tuesday in a Ukrainian attack on the city and region of Belgorod, near Russia’s border with Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry and regional officials claimed.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, urged faster supplies of air defence systems, combat drones and long-range missiles. His ministry said Kuleba called on Ukraine’s western partners to respond to a new Russian strike on Ukraine by “accelerating the supply of additional air defence systems, combat drones of all types, long-range missiles with a range of 300+ km”.

Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, and Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, also called for more air defence systems for Ukraine.

Moscow shows bullish determination, draining western-supplied air defences and talking of Kyiv’s total capitulation

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Scenes of devastation have greeted Ukrainians in the first days of 2024, as Russia launches some of its heaviest missile and drone barrages since the start of the war.

The strikes, which began on 29 December and have killed dozens of civilians, offer an early and grim taste of what may lie ahead, as Moscow signals it has the capacity for a long and brutal war in Ukraine.