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Vladimir Putin has vowed to back soldiers who defend Russia’s interests and ordered his government to give greater support to those who fight – after two people were killed in the latest drone and missile attacks on Ukraine.

Speaking on the eve of Orthodox Christmas, the Russian president said on Saturday while meeting families of soldiers killed in Ukraine: “Many of our men, our courageous, heroic guys, Russian warriors, even now, on this holiday, defend the interests of our country with arms in hand.”

Last year Mr Putin called for a ceasefire in Ukraine to coincide with the holiday, which many Orthodox Christians celebrate on 6-7 January, but this year he made no such remark.

State TV showed Mr Putin attending an intimate midnight service, known as the Divine Liturgy, with a small group of families at a chapel at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo outside of Moscow.

Russian soldiers marked Orthodox Christmas on Sunday, with Russia’s Defence Ministry saying military priests led prayer services on the front line of the war this weekend.

Meanwhile, two people were killed and several others wounded in Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local officials said.

Ukraine said Russia launched 28 drones and cruise missiles in attacks mostly on the south and east overnight, adding that its air defence systems destroyed 21 of the drones.

Twelve people were injured in a drone attack in Dnipro city, Dnipropetrovsk authorities said on Telegram.

Elsewhere more than 100 residents of the Russian border city of Belgorod evacuated to an area further from the Ukrainian border, local officials said. Ukrainian attacks on the city on 30 December killed 25 people there, the officials said, with rocket and drone attacks continuing throughout this week.

Russia fired almost 300 missiles and used more than 200 drones in attacks in the last days of 2023 and the first days of 2024.

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Russia can be defeated, Zelenskyy says

Moscow’s assault on Ukraine can be defeated, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding the situation on the battlefield remains relatively stable.

“Even Russia can be brought back within the framework of international law. Its aggression can be defeated,” the Ukrainian president told a conference in Sweden via video link on Sunday.

The war has shown Europe must develop joint weapons production to ensure the continent can “preserve itself” under any global situation that might arise, Mr Zelenskyy added.

“Two years of this war have proven that Europe needs its own sufficient arsenal for the defence of freedom, its own capabilities to ensure defence,” he said.

Mr Zelenskyy will continue to seek support from allies in 2024 and will welcome the support of Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Bilstrom, who told the conference the primary task of Sweden’s foreign policy in the coming years will be to support Ukraine.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa also pledged her country’s continued support for Ukraine when she visited Kyiv – and was forced to hold a news conference in a shelter due to an air raid alert.

A nuclear power station in Japan has reported an oil leak after being shaken by a powerful earthquake.

The magnitude 7.6 quake hit in the Hokuriku region on New Year’s Day and killed more than 120 people.

The Shika power station is 65km (40 miles) from the epicentre and had already reported temporary power outages, oil leaks at the transformers and water spill-over from nuclear fuel pools.

Today, an oil slick measuring approximately five metres by 10 metres was seen floating on the sea’s surface in front of the power station, Hokuriku Electric said. The leak has been treated with a neutralising agent.

A small amount of oil film was detected in the gutter and on a road surrounding the No. 2 reactor, the utility company added.

External radiation levels have not been affected and there are no adverse impacts on human health or the environment, the company said.

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The utility believes the slick was caused by transformer insulating oil leaking during the quake. This triggered the fire extinguishing system, which dispersed the oil and sprayed water around the transformer.

The oil appears to have then entered the gutter through rainfall, the company added. Hokuriku Electric is still analysing the situation.

The plant’s key external power supplies, monitoring facilities and cooling systems are functioning normally.

Meanwhile, rescue teams are working through snow to deliver supplies to isolated hamlets affected by the earthquake.

As of Sunday morning, 195 people were still unaccounted for and 560 were injured.

A woman in her nineties is among those rescued – having been pulled from a collapsed house more than five days after the quake.

A five-year-old girl who was stabbed in an attack outside a school in Dublin will need to “relearn everything” due to her severe injuries, her family has said.

The family of the girl say she has entered the “third phase of her recovery” after she was stabbed along with two other children and a woman working as their carer in Parnell Square East on 23 November.

Riad Bouchaker, 50, appeared in court last month charged with the attempted murder of the three children and with assault causing serious harm to the adult carer.

The five-year-old’s family have provided an update on a GoFundMe page after she spent several weeks in paediatric intensive care.

After being left in a critical condition by the stabbing, she left the unit in December and has been continuing to recover, the update said.

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In their latest post, the girl’s family wrote: “Our darling girl has now entered the third phase of her recovery.

“This will be the longest as she will relearn everything as a result of her injury.

“She has done really well thus far and the medical team is very happy with her improvement.

“Once again, she is so strong and we are proud to be by her side supporting her, guiding her, and, above all, loving her every step of the way.”

The attack triggered riots in Dublin city centre, which authorities said was led by far-right individuals with strong anti-immigration views, who believed the attacker was a migrant.

Anti-immigration rhetoric started immediately afterwards online, which led to around 500 members of the public protesting, damaging cars and shops, and clashing with police.