Ukraine updates: Kyiv says Russian airfield hit in Crimea

Farmers in Poland suspended their blockade of a major border crossing with Ukraine on Saturday.

The farmers had joined truck drivers to protest against "unfair competition" from their Ukrainian counterparts and against the relaxation of access rules to the European Union for Ukrainian firms.

They were blocking the border crossing at Medyka.

"We have signed an agreement with the government and we are waiting for its implementation. The blockade has been suspended until our demands are met," Roman Kondrow, a protest organizer, told the AFP news agency.

The deal states that Poland's agriculture minister accepted the demands of the farmers, who sought a corn production subsidy of around €230 million ($250 million), a lower agricultural tax and preferential liquidity loans.

Meanwhile, the truckers are continuing their protest and have caused traffic queues at three other border crossings.

A Russian missile strike killed at least 11 people in Pokrovsk, a city in the eastern Donetsk region, the governor of the Ukrainian-controlled part of the region said.

"Eleven dead, including five children — these are the consequences for now of strikes on Pokrovsk district," Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram.

"The main blow was dealt to Pokrovsk and Rivne in the community of Myrnograd," he added.

The Russian city of Belgorod, which has come under intense fire from Ukraine in recent weeks, has canceled midnight masses for Orthodox Christmas, which falls on January 6.

Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov announced the cancellation on Telegram a day after worried residents were given the option to evacuate the city.

The unprecedented move comes as the war approaches its two-year mark. 

The main Ukrainian Orthodox Church moved its Christmas celebrations from January 6 to December 25 in a split with its Russian neighbors.

The 19 US-made F-16 fighter jets pledged by Denmark for Ukraine will not be delivered until at least the second quarter of 2024, the Danish Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

"Based on the current timetable, the donation should take place in the second quarter of 2024," it said in a statement. "It's mainly an issue of finishing the training of Ukrainian personnel who will operate the planes."

Several conditions for the delivery of the jets have not been met, the ministry added, including the full training of pilots.

The deliveries also require US approval, but Washington has delayed the process out of fear that it would be considered a direct party to the conflict by Moscow.

Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy said in his New Year's address that Ukrainian pilots were ready to fly the advanced jets — far superior to the old Russian planes that the Ukrainian air force currently has.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that it had struck and destroyed a Russian command center at the Saki airfield on the occupied Crimean peninsula in an overnight missile attack.

"Saki airfield: all targets were hit," Air Force chief Mykola Oleschuk said on social media.

The Russian Defense Ministry said overnight that it had shot down four Ukrainian missiles over Crimea.

"Air defense on duty intercepted and destroyed four Ukrainian missiles over the Crimea peninsula," it said.

It was not clear how many missiles had been fired by Ukraine nor could the reports be independently verified.

Ukraine last hit the Saki airfield in August 2022, destroying several Russian aircraft.

In September, Ukraine fired western-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles that hit the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

ab/lo (dpa, AFP, Reuters, AFP)