What did Russia's 29 December 2023 barrage mean for Ukraine?
A look back at the overnight assault that struck cities across Ukraine and sent a missile into Polish airspace.
What happened on 29 December 2023, when Russia launched what was reported as its largest wave of drones and missiles on Ukrainian cities since the start of the war? The overnight assault spread across the country and, as reported at the time, killed at least 39 people and injured at least 160 others.
The background to the strike was already grim. On 27 December 2023, Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian drone and artillery strikes had killed at least five people and left around 70% of households in the city without power.
A missile over Poland
The attack also had an international dimension. One of the Russian cruise missiles entered NATO airspace as it crossed Polish territory. The Polish government responded by summoning the Russian charge d'affaires to explain.
The toll rises
The death toll given on the day was not the final one. Later accounts of the attack said hundreds of missiles and drones hit Kyiv and other cities, and that at least 58 people were reported killed, with 160 others injured.
The scale of the assault, and the way it reached cities across the country, made 29 December 2023 one of the heaviest days of strikes on civilian areas in the war as it stood at that point. The missile that strayed over Poland showed that the strikes could also reach the territory of a NATO member state.
Elsewhere in Europe
On 28 December 2023, the day before the assault, Bulgaria and Romania reached an agreement with Austria to join the Schengen Area through sea and air routes in March, with talks on opening land borders due to begin the following year. It was a separate matter from the war, but it marked the same turn of the year in European affairs.
