Ukraine

KYIV/KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Ukraine said it was strengthening its forces around Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region and repelling constant attacks there by Russian mercenary group Wagner, whose leader has vowed to capture the area's vast underground mines.

Kyiv had sent reinforcements to Soledar, a small town near Bakhmut where the situation was particularly difficult, Ukrainian officials said.

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP) — Officials at a vocational school in an eastern Ukraine city dismissed claims by Russia that hundreds of Ukrainian troops were killed in a missile strike there, saying Monday that a rocket merely blew out windows and damaged classrooms.

Russia specifically named the vocational school in Kramatorsk as the target of an attack in the almost 11-month war. The Russian Defense Ministry said its missiles hit two temporary bases housing 1,300 Ukrainian troops in the city, killing 600 of them, late Saturday.

DONETSK, January 8. /TASS/: Donetsk People’s Republic officials told TASS on Sunday that the Starobeshevskaya thermal electric power plant sustained damage in a Ukrainian strike that happened a few hours earlier and two people could be trapped under the debris.

"First responders are working at the scene of the shelling, clearing the debris. Tentatively, at least two people - the plant’s employees - could be trapped under the debris," officials at the Starobeshevsky District told TASS.

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A Russian rocket strike on the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk caused damage but did not destroy buildings and there were no obvious signs of casualties, a Reuters witness said on Sunday, after Russia said the attack killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian soldiers, family and mourners gathered in frigid weather in Kyiv on Sunday to pay tribute to a soldier killed fighting against Russian forces in Bakhmut, the strategic city under siege on the eastern front.

An open casket, outdoor service was held in Kyiv’s Independence Square for Maj. Oleh Yurchenko who was killed in Bakhmut on Jan. 2. Fellow soldiers carried the coffin while others knelt on the ground. A bugle played and later a male quartet sang solemn hymns as an Orthodox priest conducted the service attended by about 200 people.

KIEV, January 7. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree on Saturday introducing sanctions against Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov and 118 others, according to a document published on the website of Ukraine's presidential office.

Jan 7 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Saturday praised the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting Moscow's forces fighting in Ukraine in an Orthodox Christmas message designed to rally people behind his vision of modern Russia.

The Kremlin issued Putin's message after the Russian leader attended an Orthodox Christmas Eve service on his own inside a Kremlin cathedral rather than joining other worshippers in a public celebration.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president is praising the United States for including tank-killing armored vehicles in its latest multibillion-dollar package of military aid, saying they are “exactly what is needed” for Ukrainian troops locked in combat against Russian forces.

Officials, meanwhile, said it was unclear whether Moscow was abiding by a unilateral 36-hour cease-fire for Orthodox Christmas that Ukraine has denounced as a ploy.

KIEV, January 5. /TASS/: Kiev is against any negotiation processes with Russia, Ukraine’s Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexey Danilov said on Thursday commenting on Russia’s proposal to declare a temporary ceasefire.

"No talks with them [Moscow]," he told the Ukraina-24 TV channel.

KYIV/KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged artillery fire at the front line in Ukraine on Friday, even after Moscow said it had ordered its troops to stop shooting for a unilateral truce that was firmly rejected by Kyiv.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the 36-hour ceasefire from midday on Friday to observe Orthodox Christmas. Kyiv has said it has no intention to stop fighting, rejecting the purported truce as a stunt by Moscow to buy time to reinforce troops that have taken heavy losses this week.