Ukraine airforce shoots down down two Russian command aircraft

Ukraine said on Monday it had downed two Russian military command aircraft over the Azov Sea, saying it had carried out a "successful" mission against Moscow's forces.

The Azov Sea lies between Russia and Ukraine. Moscow controls its entire coast after seizing large swathes of southeastern Ukraine during its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

"Minus an enemy long-range radar detection aircraft, A-50, and the aerial command centre Il-22!" the airforce said.

"The special operation in the Azov region was successful," it said on social media.

Ukraine's commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, said Kyiv had "destroyed" the planes.

"I am grateful to the Air Force for the excellently planned and conducted operation in Azov region!" he said on Telegram.

Moscow did not comment on the claims.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters he had "no information" about the incident and said further questions should be directed to the defence ministry.

The war in Ukraine, which has dragged on for nearly two years, has seen an escalation in attacks in recent weeks.

Russia says sentenced more than 200 Ukrainian POWs

Russia said Monday it has sentenced more than 200 Ukrainian prisoners of war to lengthy sentences, with some getting life in prison, almost two years into the Kremlin's offensive.

Russia holds an unknown number -- believed to be in the thousands -- of Ukrainian captive soldiers, many of whom were taken during the siege of the port city of Mariupol in 2022.

Kyiv and international rights groups have denounced Moscow's trials of the POWs as illegal.

"More than 200 Ukrainian military personnel have been sentenced to long prison sentences for committing murder of civilians and mistreating prisoners (of war)," Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, said in an interview to state news outlet RIA Novosti.

He vowed Moscow will "continue" its efforts to prosecute Ukrainian military staff, including "high-level officials."

Many of the Ukrainian prisoners of war have been held in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, while others were taken to Russia.

Bastrykin did not specify if the soldiers were sentenced in Russia or occupied Ukraine.

But state-run outlet RT quoted an Investigative Committee source as saying 242 soldiers were sentenced in occupied Ukraine.

On January 3, Russia and Ukraine said they had swapped hundreds of captive soldiers in their first publicly announced exchange in months.

Bastrykin also revealed details about Russia's fight against pro-Ukrainian sabotage.

He said authorities had uncovered railway sabotage in regions near the Ukraine border such as Bryansk, but also in the Siberian regions of Tyumen, Tomsk, Novosibirsk and the northern Komi region.

"In the conditions of the special military operation, we can see Ukrainian special services are trying to wage their subversive activities, using terrorist methods, despite possible accidental victims," Bastrykin said.

He warned Russians are being "misled... promised rewards and pushed to commit illegal acts."

Russia and Belarus have been affected by mysterious rail derailments, possibly aimed at disrupting army supply routes to Ukraine.

Bastrykin said extremism cases had risen "62 percent" in 2023 compared to 2022 -- a likely indication of Moscow's far-reaching crackdown on dissent as troops fight in Ukraine.

He said Moscow had launched 273 cases for "spreading fakes" on the Russian army and 81 cases on "discrediting" Moscow's forces.

Russia has used the legislation to stifle criticism, punishing thousands for denouncing the Ukraine campaign.

Opposition figure Ilya Yashin is serving an eight-year sentence under the law on "spreading fakes", while artist Sasha Skochilenko is serving seven years.

UN seeks $4.2 billion for Ukraine aid in 2024

The United Nations said on Monday it needs $4.2 billion this year to provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine and help millions who have fled, urging people not to forget the war-torn country's plight as the Gaza war dominates attention.

Russia's war in Ukraine is set to enter its third year in February and the UN said it was vital to maintain support to millions whose lives have been overturned by the conflict.

The UN hopes to reach 8.5 million people within Ukraine and 2.3 million refugees and their host communities in eastern Europe.

"Remember Ukraine?" UN aid chief Martin Griffiths asked as he launched the plan in Geneva.

"Please do not forget Ukraine while there are many other places in the world which grab our attention."

"As we go into 2024, the competition for funding is going to be more," he acknowledged, citing the "considerable" costs of the Gaza war.

Ukrainians "need your help, they need your funding", Griffiths said, stressing: "Humanitarian aid remains the lifeline, without which they will perish."

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was the biggest invasion of a European country since World War II and triggered the largest refugee crisis the continent has faced since the 1939-1945 conflict.

- 'Great savagery' -

Russia has intensified its aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent weeks. Bolstering its arsenal, it has geared up for a long war and reoriented its economy.

"The recent month has been a month of great savagery for the people of Ukraine... It's a war that is going as fast and hard and harshly as ever," Griffiths said.

"This plan is based on the pessimistic assumption that the war will continue throughout 2024."

The UN says 14.6 million people will need humanitarian assistance in Ukraine this year -- 40 percent of the population -- of which it will try to reach the 8.5 million most in need.

Griffiths said the highest priority was the 3.3 million people -- "a shockingly high number" -- living on the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.

"Hundreds of thousands of children live in communities on the front lines of the war, terrified, traumatised and deprived of their basic needs," he said.

Griffiths and Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, launched the joint plan at the UN's Palais des Nations in Geneva.

- 6.3 million refugees -

Some 6.3 million people have fled Ukraine and remain refugees, mostly across Europe.

The regional refugee response plan is seeking $1.1 billion and aims to reach 2.3 million refugees and host communities in 10 countries.

"Millions of refugees from Ukraine still need urgent support," Grandi insisted.

Only half of school-age Ukrainian refugee children are enrolled in schools in host countries, he said, while a quarter of refugees in need struggle to access health care.

Only 40 to 60 percent are employed, the UN said -- often below their qualifications -- while many remain vulnerable with no means to support themselves.

Unlike other crises, "these people are not refugees from their government", Grandi said.

"They are fleeing from the occupation, the invasion and the Russian bombing."

The high commissioner said the chief focus was on Moldova, which is outside the European Union and its overarching EU programme to help Ukrainian refugees.

He said he would visit Moldova later this week and then spend nearly a week in neighbouring Ukraine.

Besides the refugees in other countries, Grandi noted that around four million Ukrainians have fled their homes but remain within the country's borders.

Ukraine "remains the largest displacement crisis in the world", he said.

- Focus on hardest-hit -

The 2023 humanitarian response plan for within Ukraine sought $3.9 billion and to date has been 67-percent funded. This year it is asking for $3.1 billion.

The UN said that despite access challenges -- particularly to areas occupied by Russian forces -- aid workers reached 10.5 million people in Ukraine in 2023.

In its global humanitarian appeals this year, the UN has tried to rein in its objectives, seeking to prioritise those most in need with smaller appeals -- in the hope that they will be more reliably funded.