Death toll disputed as dozens of Russians killed in Makiivka strike

1. Dozens of Russian soldiers killed in a missile attack in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

At least 63 Russian soldiers have been killed in a Ukrainian strike on the occupied city of Makiivka, Russia’s defence ministry admitted on Monday. 

Kyiv has claimed that around 400 Russian soldiers died and 300 were injured in the incident, which happened at a temporary accommodation centre.

Euronews is unable to independently verify this claim.

A spokesman for Russia’s defence ministry said four missiles hit the structure but did not give a date for the attack.

Russian-backed Donetsk official Daniil Bezsonov said HIMARS rockets hit the centre — a vocational school — on 1 January.

“Apparently, the high command is still not aware of the capabilities of this weapon (HIMARS),” he wrote on Telegram. “I hope that the perpetrators who made the decision to use this facility will be punished. In the Donbas, there are enough abandoned facilities with strong buildings and basements where you can disperse the placement of personnel. And if everything is busy, then for a long time it was possible to dig bunkers with mine construction equipment.”

2. Russia has launched more overnight attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv

A new airstrike targeted Kyiv in the early hours of Monday, according to authorities in the Ukrainian capital.

Serguiï Popko, head of the military administration in Kyiv, reported that “20 aerial targets had been shot down”.

It comes after a New Year’s Day marked by dozens of Russian strikes that left at least four people dead and 50 injured in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

The attacks continue to target critical infrastructure, with Moscow claiming to it was aiming for unmanned aircraft manufacturing facilities.

Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for months, with millions losing power amid sub-zero wintry temperatures in the country.

3. Europe gas prices at their lowest since the beginning of the war

Europe’s wholesale natural gas price fell to its lowest level since the start of the war in Ukraine on Monday, continuing its decline on the back of a relatively warm winter.

The benchmark contract for the continent, the TTF on the Dutch market, fell another 4.67% to €72.75 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for delivery in February.

At around 09:35 Monday morning, the price the lowest since 21 February. That’s compared to its peak in August 2022, when it sat at around €342 per MWh.

Gas prices began to rise in the autumn of 2021, with the start of a reduction in Russian gas deliveries to Europe, then took a very sharp upturn following the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Since then, gas pipelines between Russia and Europe have almost all shut down.

Volumes traded on Monday were weak as the main commodity market, London, was closed.

In France, the price of wholesale electricity for delivery in 2023, which had exceeded €1000 per MWh at the end of August, fell to €240 on Friday, the lowest since April.

But these variations in wholesale prices are not directly reflected in the prices charged to consumers, as electricity suppliers smooth their rates, especially during this period when prices can jump from one day to the next.

4. Russia risks causing new year IT worker flight with remote work law

Russia’s IT sector risks losing more workers in the New Year because of planned legislation on remote working, as authorities try to lure back some of the tens of thousands who have gone to work abroad.

IT workers featured prominently among the many Russians who fled after Moscow sent its army into Ukraine on February 24 and the hundreds of thousands who followed when a military call-up began in September.

The government estimates that 100,000 IT specialists currently work for Russian companies from overseas locations.

Now, legislation is being mooted for early next year that could ban remote working for some professions.

Some lawmakers, fearful that more Russian IT professionals could end up working in NATO countries and inadvertently sharing sensitive security information, have proposed banning some IT specialists from leaving Russia.