An unidentified object that entered Poland's airspace this morning was a Russian missile, the head of the Polish military said.

General Wieslaw Kukula said everything indicated the missile entered Polish airspace from Ukraine, and then left - back into Ukraine.

In a separate update reported by Reuters, another senior Polish general said the missile travelled about 24 miles (40km) into Polish airspace and spent three minutes there.

Earlier, the Polish military had said an "unidentified airborne object" had entered its territory and disappeared from radar systems shortly afterwards.

A search was launched for debris in regions close to the border with Ukraine, but no evidence of it landing has been found.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at least two missiles have landed in Polish territory.

In November last year, two farmers were killed after a rocket, believed to have been fired by Ukrainian air defence forces trying to repel a Russian attack, landed in a Polish village near the border.

Poland is a member of Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - a group of countries including the US and UK which agree to help one another if they are attacked.

• You can read more here.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

The conflict in Ukraine is about to enter its third calendar year. The front lines have hardly moved in the last few months but could the course of the war change in 2024?

Three military analysts have given us their detailed predictions - here's a flavour of what they said:

The war will drag on - but not indefinitely

Barbara Zanchetta, from the Department of War Studies at King's College London says it's "likely that the war will drag on throughout 2024" but "it cannot drag on indefinitely".

A year of consolidation ahead

Michael Clarke, former director general of the Royal United Services Institute, says "in essence, 2024 looks like being a year of consolidation for both Kyiv and Moscow".

He predicts Russian forces may try to push again along the entire front, at least to secure all of the Donbas region.

Ukraine will press Russia around Crimea Ben Hodges, former commanding general of United States Army Europe says "Russia lacks a decisive, breakthrough capability to overrun Ukraine" and so "will do what it can to hold on to what it currently occupies".

Image source, Reuters

One of the cities hit in this latest attack is Lviv, near Ukraine's western border.

At least one person has been killed in this city, and 27 hurt, by Russian strikes.

Windows were smashed, buildings and cars damaged, and people can be seen crying in the streets.

"This is a huge shock for the children," local resident Erika Stepaniuk tells the Reuters news agency.

"The only shelter is in the school that was attacked, it was very scary," she says.

Three schools and one nursery were among the buildings damaged, Lviv mayor Andrii Sadovyi tells Reuters.

"A lot of damage has been done," he adds.

Image source, .

'Biggest aerial attack so far' but not the deadliest of the warpublished at 14:15 Greenwich Mean Time 29 December 2023

14:15 GMT 29 December 2023

Ukraine’s air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk has described Friday's raids as “the biggest aerial attack” since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

158 missiles were used, 118 were shot down, and at least 28 people have been killed, as of 15:30 GMT.

The second biggest Russian air attack of the war was in November 2022, when 96 drones and missiles were fired, according to the Associated Press news agency (AP), citing Ukrainian air force records.

AP says the second biggest attack of 2023 was on 9 March, when 81 drones and missiles were used.

However, based on casualty figures so far, this is not the deadliest air attack of the war.

In April 2022, 61 people were killed when two missiles landed on the main railway station at Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine. The station was packed with people trying to travel to safety.

Russia denied carrying out that attack.

Zhanna Bezpiatchuk
BBC Ukrainian Service, in Kyiv

Not long before the latest Russian attack, I met Mila, a seven-year-old girl from the south of Ukraine, whose family came to live in Kyiv.

Originally from Kherson, in 2022, Mila and her parents had spent six months living under the Russian occupation.

In June 2023 Mila's home was flooded and became unliveable when the Kakhovka dam holding back a vast water reservoir located nearby was breached.

The family decided to stay in Kyiv, where life - despite air raid sirens and frequent attacks - was much more stable.

Mila goes to school here but also attends music and drawing lessons with a local charity, whose focus is on helping children cope with the trauma of war.

Ahead of Christmas, Mila, like many other Ukrainian children followed the tradition of writing a letter to St Nicholas, asking him to grant her wishes of gifts and dreams. I watched Mila carefully spell it out:

“Dear Nicolas, I have been very good. I helped my mum and dad. If possible, please, may I ask you for a big doll?”

Then she whispered in my ear: “I am also asking him to end the war.”

Ukrainian psychologists working with children like Mila believe that voicing hopes as well as being with others with similar experiences, talking, playing or hugging, helps to process trauma and strengthen mental health.

Phillips O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at St Andrews University, says there are early signs that Russia's latest attack might be the largest of the war in terms of the country using its most highly developed and expensive missiles.

He told the BBC News Channel that the attack appears to have been a massive expenditure on Russia's part for little gain in terms of seriously damaging Ukraine's infrastructure.

O'Brien adds that he doesn't believe one night of intensive missile attacks will shake the resolve of the Ukrainian people.

Russian attacks have struck several Ukrainian cities. Officials say damaged buildings include warehouses, schools, homes and a maternity hospital. Here are some of the latest images of the destruction.

Image source, Maksym Kozytskyy

Image source, EPA

Image source, AFP

Image source, Oleg Kiper

Air raid alerts have been issued in Kyiv and many other areas across Ukraine.

In a post on Telegram, the Ukrainian air force says there is a threat of cruise missiles being launched.

It also says missiles were fired from Kursk in Russia towards the Cherkasy region in central Ukraine.

At the same time, the head of Kyiv's military administration Serhiy Popko is telling people - also on Telegram - in the capital to head for shelter.

Russia's defence ministry says "all targets [were] hit" in a series of attacks across Ukraine over the last week.

In its first update, external since the overnight attacks, it said that, from 23 to 29 December, it had carried out 50 group strikes and "one massive strike" with "precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles".

The ministry adds that Russian forces were targeting military facilities and the locations of Ukrainian armed forces.

Image source, Reuters

The Russian Ministry of Defence says three missiles fired from Ukraine have been shot down over Belgorod.

The update says the attack was using US-made missiles, which air defences near the border with Ukraine managed to intercept at around 15:00 local time (12:00 GMT).

We've just heard from Ukraine's national police force, who have confirmed 18 people have been killed in Russian strikes.

In a post on Telegram, the police say 132 people have also been injured.

The force has broken down the deaths and numbers of wounded by region:

• Dnipro - five people killed and 28 injured, among them a child and a policeman
• Kharkiv - three dead and 13 civilians wounded
• Zaporizhzhia - four killed and 12 injured
• Odesa - two dead and 27 injured, with more suspected buried under rubble
• Lviv - one killed and 27 hurt
• Kyiv - three people died and 22 injured

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, Russian defence ministry

After 22 months of full-scale war and a stalled Ukrainian counter-offensive, Russia's Vladimir Putin is on the front foot.

Although Russia's Black Sea Fleet has suffered genuine losses in occupied Crimea, its army has made some advances in the east, recapturing most of the devastated town of Mariinka, south-west of Donetsk.

Putin says this means Russian forces can "move into a wider operational area" and some of the soldiers involved in that battle have today been given awards.

Ukraine's Commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi admits his forces may also have to pull back from another strategic town, Avdiivka, to prevent the loss of too many soldiers.

Ukraine, he says, needs more troops and more weapons - and there are real concerns that US and EU funds will dry up.

The US ambassador in Kyiv says today's deadly attacks are proof Ukraine "needs funding now" to continue its fight. But Hungary has blocked €50bn (£43bn) of EU funds and without US Congress approval there won't be any more US military aid either.

For Russia, and for Ukraine and its Western allies, the next few months are decisive.

Image source, Reuters

"I felt the whole building start moving," says Olha, who lives in a fifth floor apartment in the Odesa.

At least two people have died in the southern port city in the latest round of Russian strikes.

"I understood that something horrible had just happened, the building moved a lot," she told Reuters news agency.

"I woke up the children and we started to get dressed, we went down to the parking area on foot - broken glass, bricks and doors were scattered around."

"People ran with their children, bags and pets. There were many people in the parking area, all of them shocked."

Image source, .

Image source, EPA

Just joining us or need a recap? Here are the key developments:

• Sixteen people have been killed in a wave of Russian strikes across key cities in Ukraine
• Ukraine's military says 158 missiles and drones were launched in a "massive" attack
• Among the dead are at least five people killed in Dnipro after a strike on a shopping centre, two killed in Kharkiv amd two in the capital Kyiv
• President Zelensky said Russia used "nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal" and educational facilities and a maternity ward were hit
• The US ambassador to Ukraine called for more funding for Kyiv, with talks stalled in the US Congress over future aid
• The UN's humanitarian envoy for Ukraine has condemned Russia's "heinous wave of attacks on populated areas" this morning
• The strikes may be a retaliation after Ukraine's air force sank a landing ship docked in Russian-occupied Crimea this week - but could also be intended show that Russia's air force still wields considerable power, our Europe digital editor says

Video filmed from inside a car shows fire and damage at Appolo Shopping Complex in Dnipro, Ukraine, after a missile strike on the city.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

The UN's humanitarian envoy for Ukraine has condemned Russia's "heinous wave of attacks on populated areas" this morning.

In a statement, Denise Brown says the attacks have "left a path of destruction, death and human suffering" and are "another unacceptable example of the horrifying reality" Ukrainian people face.

Noting the Russia has damaged homes, schools, hospitals, a shopping centre, a metro station and energy infrastructure this morning, she adds the strikes have killed and injured civilians in "almost every region of the country".

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says he wants the sounds of today's explosions to be heard all around the world.

This includes "in all major capitals, headquarters, and parliaments, which are currently debating further support for Ukraine" and "in all newsrooms, which are writing about 'fatigue' or Russia purportedly being ready for 'negotiations'," he writes on X, external, formerly Twitter.

"These sounds are what Russia really has to say," he adds.

"Our only collective response can and must be continued, robust, and long-term military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Only greater firepower can silence Russian terror."

Ukraine's chief prosecutor says 16 people have been confirmed killed in Russian strikes so far.

In a post on social media, external, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin says "Russia continues its attacks on civilians" - noting that 97 people have also been injured, including two young children.

He adds that extensive damage includes residential buildings, schools and hospitals, and goes on to say:

Video captures the moment a missile explodes in the sky over Kyiv - setting fire to buildings and causing huge smoke clouds.

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, Maxar Technologies

It was only three days ago that Ukraine's air force attacked and sank a big landing ship docked in Russian-occupied Crimea and it is highly plausible that today's Russian onslaught, largely on civilian areas in Ukraine's biggest cities, is a direct response to that.

Russia has only talked of the ship Novocherkassk being damaged and of one death. But satellite images of Feodosiya do indicate the ship was destroyed and there are reports of dozens of deaths, so far unconfirmed.

Ukrainian commentators point out that although their cities were targeted by 158 Russian drones and missiles - including as many as 90 cruise missiles fired by Russian warplanes - none appear to have been launched by the Russian navy.

So in part it could be retaliation for Tuesday morning's deadly attack on the Novocherkassk - the latest in a string of embarrassing losses to Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

But the use of Tupolev bombers and MiG fighter jets could also be a message to Ukraine's military that Russia's air force still wields considerable power. Ukraine said a week ago it had shot down three Russian Su-34 fighters. There was no Russian confirmation but Ukraine's military said it had brought a pause in aerial bombing, and that has now resumed.