At least seven people died after Russian drones attacked the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine.
Oleh Syniehubov says that a baby and two kids, aged four and seven, were hurt.
Pictures from the town close to the Russian border show some houses on fire because a petrol station was hit.
A man got hurt in a drone attack in the southern city of Odesa, Ukraine, by Russia.
Upset and emotional, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that the Russian attacker is destroying our city.
“We will succeed in the end. “We are going to win,” he said in a video from where the Russian attack happened.
He said that 14 houses were burned down.
The Russian military has not said anything about the strikes that were reported.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin started a big attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
Tag: Ukraine
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Ukraine claims Russian drone strike on Kharkiv killed three children
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Zelensky fires Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Chief Military Officer of Ukraine
The president of Ukraine has fired the top military leader, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
There are rumors that the president and Gen Zaluzhnyi, who has been leading Ukraine’s war, are not getting along.
Experienced Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi was chosen to replace someone by the president’s order.
This is the most significant change in Ukraine’s military leadership since Russia invaded in February 2022.
President Zelensky said that the top leaders of the military should be replaced, and that Gen Zaluzhnyi could still be part of the team.
“From today, a new group will lead the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he announced on Thursday.
General Zaluzhnyi is well-liked by Ukrainian soldiers and the public. He is seen as a hero in the country.
His recent ratings have been better than Mr Zelensky’s.
The president talked openly with Gen Zaluzhnyi about the army’s changes, and thanked him for defending Ukraine from Russia.
The new army leader, Gen Syrskyi, knows how to fight in both defense and attack, according to Mr.
He defended the city of Kyiv, which is the capital of Ukraine, when Russia attacked in 2022.
He planned and led Ukraine’s unexpected and successful attack in Kharkiv. He is now in charge of military operations in eastern Ukraine, which is a big part of Ukraine’s counter-attack.
“We need to make this year very important,” said Mr.
“Very important for Ukraine to reach its goals in the war. ” Russia cannot agree to Ukraine being independent because it goes against our country’s independence.
He said he is changing the army’s leaders, and it’s not about last names or politics. It’s about managing Ukraine’s armed forces and having experienced commanders.
The military needs to use more advanced technology in their actions. “We need to change the leadership,” he said.
Mr Zelensky said he wants a clear plan for the military this year, considering the actual situation of the war with Russia. He said we need to change how we manage, recruit, and mobilize people in the frontline.
Mykhailo Podolyak, who helps the president, said it was necessary to change the tactics used in Ukraine’s counter-attack last year.
He repeated what Mr. Zelensky said about stopping the frontline from staying the same and finding advanced solutions.
The announcement has received different opinions, with some opposition MPs being the first to criticize the changes.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko thanked Gen Zaluzhnyi for helping Ukraine and said he hoped the government would make good decisions.
Oleksii Honcharenko, a member of the opposition party led by former President Petro Poroshenko, thinks that the president made a big mistake. He said doing it would be dangerous for the country, and we will all have to deal with the consequences.
Another MP from the Batkivschina party, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, said that we need to help and support the military leaders during the war instead of criticizing them.
Ukraine’s defense minister, Rustem Umerov, said thank you to Gen Zaluzhnyi in a statement.
However, war changes over time. War makes things different and requires things to be different. The fights in 2022, 2023 and 2024 are all separate. In 2024, there will be new changes and we need to be prepared for them. We need new ways of doing things and new plans.
“Today, it was decided to change the leaders of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. ”
“I am very thankful to Valerii Fedorovych for all the things he has accomplished and won. “ -
3 people killed by Russian airstrikes in Ukraine
Russian missiles hit Kyiv and other cities on Wednesday morning. This caused at least three deaths and 11 injuries, as reported by Ukrainian authorities.
President Zelensky said two people died and 10 others got hurt in Kyiv.
Officials said a man was killed in Mykolaiv, a city in the south.
The entire country was told to be careful of air attacks, and there were reports of attacks as far west as Lviv, near the border with Poland.
Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a Russian missile hit power lines, causing some people in the city to lose electricity.
Ukraine’s top military leader, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said that Russia launched 64 missiles and drones, but 44 of them were stopped. The Ukrainian air force found Russian cruise missiles flying over the western areas of Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk.
In Mykolaiv, someone who was taken to the hospital after being hurt has passed away, according to the city’s mayor Oleksandr Senkevich.
Some people got help at the place where they were hurt from the attack. The attack also broke homes and stopped gas and water from working, the man said.
There were also loud explosions in Kharkiv, and the military said that some buildings and roads were damaged.
Ukraine has been getting bombed a lot since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022. Russian soldiers often use different kinds of weapons like drones and missiles when they attack. -
Ukraine war: Reports of Russian airstrikes nationwide
Russian missiles hit Kyiv and other cities on Wednesday morning, causing at least one person to die and several others to get hurt, according to Ukrainian officials.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that a Russian missile caused damage to power lines and some homes in the city are now without electricity.
One person was said to have died in the city of Mykolaiv in the east.
The entire country was placed on air alert at around 06:00 in the morning.
Mayor Klitschko said that nine people in the capital city had been hurt, including a pregnant woman.
In Mykolaiv, someone went to the hospital and died from their injuries, according to the mayor, Oleksandr Senkevich.
Other people got help at the place where the attack happened. The attack broke houses and also the gas and water systems.
In Kharkiv, there were also loud explosions. The military said that some buildings and roads were damaged.
Ukraine’s air force spotted Russian cruise missiles flying over the western areas of Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk.
Ukraine has been getting attacked a lot by air since Russia invaded on 24 February 2022. The Russian army often uses different weapons like drones and missiles in their attacks. -
Russian attack on Ukrainian hotel kills two-month-old baby boy
A baby boy who was two months old died and his mother got hurt when a missile from Russia hit a hotel in the north-eastern part of Ukraine, according to officials.
The baby was rescued from the collapsed building in Zolochiv village, according to the governor of Kharkiv region, Oleh Synehubov.
Two more women got hurt when Russia launched two S-300 missiles. The missiles hit the hotel and buildings close by.
The area of Kharkiv has been facing more and more attacks since the end of 2023.
Zolochiv is only 20km (12 miles) from the Russian border, and Ukraine’s air defenses can’t protect it very well because it’s too close to Russia.
The missiles that hit the hotel on Tuesday were made to defend Russia’s air space, but were changed to target Ukraine on the ground. They are thought to be less expensive than better-targeted cruise missiles.
In the city of Kharkiv, a hotel was hit by missiles. Many people, including journalists, were hurt. It happened last month.
Ukrainian soldiers fought back against Russia’s attack in late December by launching a deadly assault on the city of Belgorod, which is only a short drive from the border.
In another news, Ukraine’s security service, SBU, has arrested five people suspected of being part of a Russian spy group.
The SBU said that five people, who are currently or used to work for the main intelligence and foreign intelligence agencies, were involved. They are accused of giving information to Russia’s FSB about the military, energy plants, and where US-made rockets are located.
Russia has been fighting a big war in Ukraine for almost two years, but they haven’t been winning much on the battlefield after the first few weeks.
Russian soldiers are trying really hard to take control of the town of Avdiivka in the east. They want to get to the city of Donetsk, which is controlled by Russia.
The town is almost empty and most of its buildings are destroyed.
Ukraine didn’t gain much land in their counter-attack last summer. President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is thinking about replacing some of the leaders of the country.
Many people think that he is going to remove the very liked leader of the armed forces, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who said in November that the war was stuck and not moving forward.
If we want to be successful, we all need to be leaders and work together to achieve victory. The president told Rai TV that we must not lose hope or give up in despair.
The US government wants to give Ukraine $60 billion in aid, but some members of Congress are stopping it from happening. They are doing this because they are also trying to make a law for border security, and they have connected the two issues together.
The European Union agreed to give Ukraine 50 billion euros (about 43 billion pounds) in aid over the next four years. Josep Borrell, who is in charge of the EU’s foreign policy, visited Kyiv on Tuesday to show that the EU strongly supports Kyiv as the war approaches its third year. -
Ukraine war: Refugee Tetiana Martynova dies in an accident in Swansea
A lady who escaped from the Russian attack in Ukraine with her 13-year-old son has passed away after being hit by a car.
Tetiana Martynova, a 40-year-old woman from Kharkiv, Ukraine, arrived in Swansea as a refugee in July 2022.
South Wales Police said a woman was hit and killed by a Chevrolet Captiva while she was walking on Neath Road in Morriston at around 6:20 pm on Wednesday.
Her friends said she is very dedicated and takes good care of her son Illia.
They said people in the area know her as Tania. She is a smart, hardworking woman who can speak many languages.
They said she was a strong and important member of the Ukrainian community in Swansea. Everyone liked her because she was friendly and nice at every event.
They said: “Her many friends and coworkers are all very sad about her sudden death. ”
“We are thinking of Illia in Wales and Tania’s family in Ukraine. Our prayers are with them. ”
Tania became very close to us, like a daughter. We cry for an amazing young woman. Ukraine has lost one of its best people. -
Russian prisoners mobilized for Ukraine face tougher conditions
Russia’s practice of releasing prisoners to join the fight in Ukraine, initially granting them a pardon and freedom after six months, has taken a significant turn.
The BBC reveals that this lenient deal is now a thing of the past. Instead of a pardon, released prisoners now face more rigorous conditions and must continue fighting until the conclusion of the war.
A man named Sergei, part of a new army unit called “Storm V,” shares a stark warning in a chatroom for former Russian prisoners fighting in Ukraine: “If you sign up now, be ready to die.” He highlights the shift in dynamics since October, emphasizing the need to persist until the war’s end.
The mass recruitment of Russian prisoners began in the summer of 2022 under the leadership of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the former head of the Wagner private military group. Initially, prisoners were enticed with a clean record, a full pardon, and the prospect of returning home after six months on the battlefield. Prigozhin reported that nearly 50,000 Russian prisoners were sent to the front line through this arrangement before his death in August.
In February 2023, the Russian military took over the initiative, maintaining the same incentives initially offered by Prigozhin. However, this approach created discontent among mobilized soldiers and their families, as released prisoners enjoyed more favorable conditions and could return home after six months.
The current adjustments in terms for prisoners aim to rectify this imbalance, imposing stricter conditions and eliminating the previous privileges granted to released fighters.
Image caption,Storm V fighters at a christening ceremony in December 2023 From reviewing messages in chatrooms and speaking to fighters and relatives, the BBC can confirm that Storm V troops are currently serving along the front line, from Zaporizhzhia in the south of Ukraine to Bakhmut in the east.
One woman from the Transbaikal region in Russia’s Far East, who wished to remain anonymous, told the BBC her husband was recruited into one of the Storm V squads at the beginning of autumn 2023. She would not reveal what crime he had committed, but said it was “a serious charge”.
She said they made the decision together that he would fight in Ukraine, believing it would result in a quicker release.
“This February would have been 15 years since he was sentenced. He had another four to go,” she said. “Conditions in the prison were OK. He could have continued to serve his sentence, but this was the only way to get him home quickly.”
She said his contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence was for a year, not six months, as it was for previous prisoners. And when her husband’s time is up, he won’t get a pardon and won’t be able to go home immediately as the contract “will be automatically extended”.
Posts on social media from other Russians whose relatives are serving in Storm V units indicate they too will have to stay on the front line until the end of what Moscow calls its “special military operation”.
Prisoners are warned about this when they sign up, and it follows a September 2022 decree by Vladimir Putin which essentially means that when a contract expires it can’t actually be terminated and is renewed.
Now the only way for prisoners to get a full release is if they get a state decoration, become incapacitated, reach the maximum age limit, or if the war itself ends.
Instead of a pardon, former prisoners now get what is described as a conditional release at the end of their time with the army. That means if they are found guilty of committing a new crime their sentence will also reflect their previous convictions.
President Putin is also no longer involved in personally signing pardons, which means fewer unwelcome headlines in the media about him pardoning people convicted of murder and sex crimes.
Image caption,A departure ceremony to see off Storm V fighters to the front, November 2023 The BBC has reviewed many posts in chatrooms from men who say they have been on the front line in these units.
“The conditions are sort of better. You get full pay, like in the military, and all the other benefits and allowances,” one convict writes.
“Your chances of survival are about 25%. I’ve been a stormtrooper for five months. Out of our platoon of about 100 men, only 38 are still alive,” another says.
Many of the Storm V troops are trained at a range for as little as 10 days before being despatched. There are several dozen known cases of convicts who have found themselves on the front line after only three to five days of training. In comparison, Soviet conscripts in Afghanistan got up to six months’ training before deployment.
Since January 2023, BBC Russian has partnered with the Russian website Mediazona and a team of volunteers to identify the names of Russian fighters killed in the war. More than 8,000 prisoners have died serving in Ukraine, and at least 1,100 of them fought in Storm V units or the units they replaced.
We only include in our database those prisoners whose sentences have been confirmed by a published court verdict. But not all verdicts are digitised, and not all deaths are reported. In reality, the number of dead convicts is estimated to be far higher.
Working out how many have been killed is extremely difficult, especially as many of those who die are not found straight away.
Many relatives are still looking for fighters who they lost touch with last summer.
“This hell will never end. I never thought I would be glad just to find his bones. Just to bury them,” writes one mother in a chatroom.
In the past, the details on convicts’ dog tags were not always entered into military databases, but that has changed – members of Storm V units are now processed as military personnel rather than volunteers.
For the Storm V fighters that survive, many end up in captivity and the BBC has seen videos which purport to show prisoners of war being interrogated by the Ukrainian military.
In one, a man says he has been in prison several times since 2014 for grievous bodily harm and theft. The BBC has been able to identify him and confirm the sentences using court records.
The man signed a contract in October with the defence ministry and went to the front from a high-security facility. He was later captured and under duress said that Storm V fighters are often sent on “pointless assaults” from which only a few individuals return. He said if they refuse to go, they are put in a pit in the ground and are not given any food.
His account matches others including that of a woman from Siberia who told the BBC her husband had said the same thing.
In a chatroom, Sergei discusses the fate of Russian convicts like himself still fighting in Storm V units.
“Luck isn’t going to be enough,” he writes, talking about his chance of survival on the front line.
“I already know I won’t make it,” he says.
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Schools in Ukraine moving underground to protect students
The war in Russia has changed everything in Kharkiv, including how children live.
Missiles are being shot at Ukraine’s second city from Russia. The border is very close, so there is only a short amount of time to stop them.
If they are targeting Kharkiv, it is likely that they will hit the city and it will be hard to find a safe place to hide.
Schools and kindergartens have been closed for nearly two years because of safety concerns, and the playgrounds are empty.
Now, as the big war continues for almost three years, some parts of life in Kharkiv are happening underground.
In the subway, there are specially built classrooms next to the platform at five stations.
A few months ago, the local government started to give school lessons under the streets of the city.
Preschool classes are now available on the weekends.
Nika’s story
Six-year-old Nika Bondarenko gets to play with other kids again and have fun.
After studying online for two years, she happily walks to the nearby metro station wearing bright pink rubber boots.
She walks past destroyed military offices from the invasion, near her house. There are broken glass and damaged buildings everywhere from shrapnel.
But when Nika is on the train going to class, her mother doesn’t have to worry anymore.
“Parents can feel sure that their child will be safe, and the child can keep living their regular life,” says Olha Bondarenko.
“The bad guys can’t reach us in this place. ”
She says Nika didn’t do well in kindergarten.
“It’s really important. ” If there are no kids outside and the air raid sirens keep going off, a child won’t be able to play with other kids.
Kharkiv now has about 700 spaces for kids up to six years old in underground kindergartens. Three times as many children go to school in the same room.
Some children lost their parents in the fighting or lived in areas that were attacked a lot. They need extra help from the psychologists and teachers.
When we visited, there was music, people dancing, and a lot of laughing. Some kids are pretending to be doctors and nurses, and others are singing and playing with plastic bricks.Attempting to blend in and act regular.
The workers worked really hard to make things as normal as they could.
Next to the colorful pictures of flowers and big caterpillars on the walls, there are posters warning about the danger of mines. But when the sirens sound to warn of missiles coming, no one has to go anywhere.
The Bondarenko family left their town because there was a war happening and Russian soldiers were trying to take over Kharkiv. There were a lot of explosions happening all the time.
Many families lived in the metro at that time. In March 2022, I saw elderly women sleeping in train cars and babies on the train platforms with their parents.
In September, when the Russian forces moved away, the city felt relieved and Olha and her children returned home.
Her husband is in the army, and staying in Kharkiv meant being near him.
I asked Nika’s sister if she is afraid of the air raids, but Viktoria shook her head.
The siren tells us that a missile could be coming, but it’s not for sure. It’s half and half. Just believe that everything will be okay.The plans are being changed.
The main problem in Kharkiv is where it is located, because it is only 40km (25 miles) away from the Russian border.
We need new and improved ways to defend against attacks from the air. “If the missiles are hitting now, it means we don’t have enough,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov says.
But even the newest Western systems would have a hard time at such a short distance.
Air attacks have been happening more often since December and more kids are starting to go to the metro school.
So the city is starting to build more permanent underground structures.
In the Industrialny district, a new school is being built under a sports field that was badly damaged by missile strikes.
The classrooms will be built five meters underground and can hold 900 students at different times of the day.
Right now, it’s a long and curved shell with workers welding, putting plaster, and hitting with a hammer in every direction you look.
The head builder says his company made a nice new zoo and changed a park before the attack. “I don’t care,” he says, lifting his shoulders.
It makes him think of the underground shelters that were built in Soviet factories during the Cold War.
“I don’t want us to go underground. ” The mayor says it is a safety rule that has to be followed during a site check.
The school should be ready by the end of March, but that might be too optimistic.
The teachers
In another part of town, at the metro school, Olha Bondarenko talks a lot about standing up to challenges and being strong. This city is called unbreakable.
“In Kharkiv, there was an airstrike. You feel worried for a little while, but then you wipe away your tears and continue on. ” “The mother of two says this is how everyone lives here. ”
But here, the difference between life and death can happen in just a few seconds or a short distance.
Olha has bad dreams about being stuck under the broken house with her kids.
“I am really frightened of that. ” I get really scared when I think about being trapped under a pile of rocks or debris.
The schools that are hidden underground are about adjusting and staying alive.
“Sure, it’s weird, but what other choice do we have. We want our kids to grow up here in our country. ” In Ukraine, Natalia Bilohryshchenko tells me. In Ukraine, Natalia tells me.
She leads the preschool education department for the city council. She says teachers are very happy to be back at work.
They had shiny eyes. They did not see the kids.
All of a sudden, Natalia begins to cry.
“When things are calm, come see our regular kindergartens,” she says with tears in her eyes.
“Everything is very sad. But it’s okay. ” Everything will be alright. -
‘Russian missile boat struck by Ukraine in Black Sea’
Ukrainian forces claim they have destroyed a Russian missile boat from the Black Sea Fleet in a special operation near Russian-occupied Crimea.
The Ivanovets, a small warship, was hit directly on its side and sunk overnight, according to military intelligence.
It has released a video that claims to show the moment when the crash happened, and then a big explosion.
Russian authorities have not said anything about the incident.
However, a Russian military blogger named “Voenkor Kotenok” wrote on Telegram that the boat sank after being hit three times by naval drones.
The boat in the Ukrainian video looks like a Tarantul missile boat, which is the same type of boat that the Ivanovets is.
This includes the arrangement of the mast and sensors on the main part of the ship, and a big radar dome on top of the bridge.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said their special unit “Group 13” destroyed the boat in Lake Donuzlav, a bay in Crimea where the naval base is located.
The Russian ship was hit several times and got damaged. It couldn’t move anymore and sank. This was reported on their Telegram channel.
A rescue mission by Russian teams in the area did not find anything.
The ship was said to be worth around $60-70 million (or £47-55 million).
Ukraine did really well in the war near the Black Sea. They were able to damage or destroy Russian warships even though they don’t have their own fleet.
In December, Kyiv destroyed a big boat called Novocherkassk in Feodosia, Crimea. Russia said the ship was broken.
Last September, a missile hit the headquarters of the Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. Satellite pictures revealed that the Russian navy had shifted a lot of its Black Sea fleet from Crimea to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. -
EU leaders announce a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine
All 27 leaders of the European Union agreed to give Ukraine a €50 billion aid package after Hungary had initially stopped the agreement.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is happy about the new money. He thinks it will make the country stronger financially.
Ukraine’s economy ministry said it thinks it will get the first part of the money in March.
People were worried that the Prime Minister of Hungary would once again stop the deal, like he did at a meeting in Europe last December. Viktor Orban, who is a close friend of the Russian president Vladimir Putin in the European Union, said he wants to make the EU change its policy towards Ukraine. He also questioned the idea of giving money to Kyiv for the next four years.
The package will give money to cover pensions, salaries, and other expenses for the next four years. The US Congress is delaying military help for Ukraine.
They announced the agreement shortly after the meeting started. This surprised many people because they thought the discussions would take a long time, as Mr. Orban and the other EU leaders had very different opinions.
A source who works in diplomacy told Reuters that the new agreement includes talking about it every year and checking it again in two years, if necessary.
Mr Orban wanted to vote on the package every year. But this could have allowed Hungary to stop the deal every year.
“A good day for Europe,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, on X.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the leaders of the European Union. He mentioned that the decision was made by all 27 leaders. He also said that the package would help make Ukraine’s economy and money more stable for a long time.
The money was really important for Ukraine’s finances, and it also needs Europe to keep supporting it.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Europe needs to invest in its own security. He said that Ukraine is standing up to Russia for everyone – stopping Vladimir Putin from trying to change the world by using force.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk didn’t like how Mr. Orban was acting, and said on X that maybe Viktor Orban could be convinced to change his mind. “Let’s” -
First PoW swap since plane disaster between Russia and Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine traded soldiers they had captured. This is the first time they have done so since a Russian plane crashed, and Russia said it had 65 prisoners of war on it.
Russia’s military says both sides received 195 soldiers back.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 207 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were brought back on Wednesday.
Kyiv doubts Russia’s statement that Ukrainian prisoners were on the plane that crashed in Russia last week.
Russian investigators now believe that the Il-76 military transport plane was shot down by a missile in the Belgorod region based on information from its flight recorders.
The Russian army said that 65 Ukrainian soldiers were on the plane going to the area for a prisoner swap. -
Ukraine unveils $40 Million Arms purchase scandal: Top defense officials investigated for corruption
Ukraine‘s Security Service (SBU) has exposed a corruption scandal involving a $40 million arms purchase by the military, leading to investigations targeting five senior figures in the defence ministry and an arms supplier.
The scandal revolves around a contract signed for 100,000 mortar shells in August 2022, with an upfront payment made, including funds transferred abroad, but no delivery of arms.
The SBU revealed that officials from the Ministry of Defence and executives at arms supplier Lviv Arsenal are implicated, accused of embezzling nearly 1.5 billion hryvnias in the shell procurement.
Despite the contract being agreed upon six months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, not a single artillery shell was dispatched.
One suspect has been detained while attempting to leave Ukraine, currently held in custody.
The prosecutor general assures the recovery of stolen funds, returning them to the defence budget, as corruption remains a significant hurdle for Ukraine’s EU aspirations. -
Ukraine claims to have discovered significant arms corruption
Ukraine’s security service found corruption in a military arms purchase worth around $40 million.
The SBU is looking into five important people in the defence ministry and a company that provides weapons.
The military signed a deal for 100,000 mortar shells in August 2022.
The money was paid early and some of it was sent to another country, but no weapons were given.
Corruption has been a big problem for Ukraine in trying to join the European Union.
The SBU found that officials from the ministry of defense and managers of arms supplier Lviv Arsenal stole almost 1. 5 billion hryvnias when buying shells.
The investigation found that ex and current big leaders of the Ministry of Defence and bosses of related companies are part of the stealing of money.
The SBU said that even though the contract for the shells was agreed six months after Russia invaded Ukraine, they never sent any artillery shell.
The police caught one of the suspects trying to leave Ukraine and they are now in jail.
The prosecutor general of Ukraine has recovered the stolen money and will give it back to the defense budget.
Ukraine has had a lot of problems with corruption for a long time.
When Volodymyr Zelensky became President of Ukraine in 2019, he said that stopping corruption was one of the most important things he wanted to work on.
The new claims are happening while Republicans in the US are against President Joe Biden’s plan to give more help to Ukraine.
In August, President Zelensky removed all the people in charge of military recruitment to stop some people from avoiding being drafted into the military.
Ukraine was listed as the 116th least corrupt out of 180 countries in a 2022 index by Transparency International.
However, actions to stop corruption are starting to have an impact. It is among the top 10 countries rising in Transparency International’s ranking, climbing 28 places in 10 years. -
At least 27 people dead in attack on Donetsk in Russian-occupied Ukraine
Officials appointed by the government in Moscow said that Ukrainian shelling caused the deaths of at least 27 people and injured 25 at a market near Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine that is controlled by Russia.
Two children were hurt in the neighborhood called Tekstilshchik, according to Denis Pushilin, who is in charge there.
Officials in Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, did not give a response to the situation, and The Associated Press could not confirm the claims on their own. Both sides have been using longer-range attacks more often this winter. The front line in the war has not changed much in the past two years, and it covers a distance of 1,500 kilometres (930 miles).
The bombs were shot from Kurakhove and Krasnohorivka towards the west. Pushilin said that the emergency services went to help.
The United Nations The U. N’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly disapproves of all attacks on innocent people and buildings, including the recent shelling of Donetsk in Ukraine. The spokesperson said that these types of attacks are not allowed by the rules of international humanitarian law.
Donetsk is a place in Ukraine that Russia took over without permission in 2022. This happened after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the Ukraine was responsible for the attack and called it a terrorist attack.
Also on Sunday, there was a fire at a chemical transport terminal in Russia’s Ust-Luga port after two explosions, according to local officials. The local news reported that the Baltic Sea port is 165 kilometers (about 100 miles) southwest of St. Petersburg was attacked by drones from Ukraine and it caused a gas tank to explode.
The fire was at a place owned by the second biggest company in Russia that gets natural gas, called Novatek.
The company told a Russian news outlet that the fire was caused by something outside of their control, and that work at the port had stopped.
Yuri Zapalatsky, the leader of the Kingisepp district by the Gulf of Finland where the port is, said no one got hurt but everyone is being extra careful.
The Fontanka news outlet said that they spotted two drones flying towards St. On Sunday morning, the group was supposed to go to Petersburg but had to go to the Kingisepp district instead. AP could not check the reports by itself.
Russia’s military did not say there were any drones flying in the Kingisepp area in its daily report. It was reported that four Ukrainian drones were taken down in Russia’s Smolensk region, and two more were shot down in the Oryol and Tula regions.
Russian officials said that they shot down a Ukrainian drone near St. On Thursday in Petersburg.
In a battle in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry said their forces have captured a village called Krokhmalne in the Kharkiv region. Ukrainian soldiers said the town had been taken over, but they think it won’t last long.
Volodymyr Fityo, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command, said that the troops from Kyiv were moved to backup positions from the village, which used to have about 45 people before the war started.
Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske reported that he said there are five houses. “We want to protect the soldiers in Ukraine and keep them safe. ”
Lately, Russia has been launching a lot of missiles and drones at Ukraine to try and find weak spots in their defense. They are using so many that it seems like they are trying to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defense systems.
A lot of drones and missiles were launched in December. On January 29th. According to officials in Kyiv, the fighters are also using up Ukraine’s weapons. -
Ukrainians fear prisoner swaps with Russia may end plane disaster
Russia and Ukraine are blaming each other for the crash of a Russian military plane. Families are worried that prisoner swaps may not happen and their loved ones may remain in jail.
Simple words: People are arguing about even the most basic things. Russian officials said that the plane was shot down by Kyiv on Wednesday. They also said that there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners on the plane, and they were going for a prisoner swap. Ukraine said they don’t have proof of prisoners of war and think Russia is messing with their minds. It said that something was supposed to happen on Wednesday.
Both sides didn’t show proof for their accusations, leaving family and friends feeling exposed and without any explanations. Many Ukrainians were already very worried before the incident and hadn’t heard anything from their family members in captivity for months.
Yevheniia Synelnyk’s brother has been held captive for more than a year and a half. She was sad and stressed on Wednesday because different news stories made her worry.
She said, “You don’t know which one is true. ”
The next day, feeling very tired.
“I’m too tired to cry anymore,” she said.
Synelnyk is a member of a group called the Association of Azovstal Defenders’ Families. The group was made in June 2022, after about 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers gave up to Russia because of the Ukrainian president’s orders during the attack on the Azovstal steel mill in May. The association says that about 1,500 workers from the steel mill are still being held prisoner. Ukrainian officials said that many people captured in other battles are being held in Russia.
Yevheniia Synelnyk says that the worries of the prisoners’ families are getting bigger because the prisoners who have come back are telling stories of being tortured and mistreated.
Now, lots of families are worried that the trades will end, said Synelnyk. When soldiers came back, they would tell prisoners’ families about other captives. She hasn’t heard anything about her brother for a year.
The families helped each other on Wednesday.
Synelnyk said that we need to stay strong and be together because we don’t have any other option. He also said that they will continue to plan and hold rallies. “As long as people pay attention to them, they are still alive. ”
Illia, a 21-year-old ex-prisoner of war, goes by the name Smurf and doesn’t share his last name for safety reasons. He goes to the rallies every week and tries to never miss one. He thinks it’s the least he can do for the people who are still stuck in prison.
He clearly remembers the last day at the prison in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky in the Rostov region. In FebruaryHe heard his name in 2023. He didn’t know that he had been put on the lists to trade. First, he and a group of other prisoners of war traveled in a vehicle for three hours. Afterwards, his eyes were covered and he was taken on a plane for about four hours. The plane stopped to pick up more prisoners of war. The person could not see them, but he heard the sound of their hands being taped. The journey ended with a four-hour bus ride to the meeting point.
“I can’t describe these feelings with words, but I will never forget the moment I realized I had been traded,” he said.
After he came back, he did exercises to get better. But the memories of being trapped for ten months still affect his everyday life. He has been losing weight and the doctors don’t know why. He now weighs only 44 kilograms, which is 97 pounds.
Illia said he believes that the incident could harm future interactions, which would spoil many hopes.
“It’s what every prisoner of war dreams of,” Illia said. -
Russian plane carrying prisoners of war from Ukraine crashes – Moscow
A Russian military plane called Ilyushin-76 crashed in southern Belgorod region near Ukraine.
Russia’s defense department said 65 Ukrainian soldiers who were captured were on a plane going to the Belgorod region for a swap with prisoners.
We cannot confirm any of the information about the people on board.
Ria Novosti news agency reported that there were nine more people on the plane, including six crew members.
Ukraine’s military leaders said the plane was carrying missiles for Russia’s air defense systems. They told this to the Ukrainska Pravda website. It didn’t talk about prisoners of war.
However, the leader of Ukraine’s military intelligence department, Andriy Yusov, said that a swap of prisoners was supposed to happen.
“I want to say that the trade that was supposed to happen today is not happening,” he told Radio Liberty.
A video on social media showed a plane crashing and exploding with a big fireball near a place called Yablonovo. It happened at 11:00 am local time near the city of Belgorod, about 44 miles away.
The leader of Belgorod region in Russia said a plane crashed in a field near houses and everyone on the plane died.
Some news sources in Ukraine said at first that the Il-76 might have been shot down by Ukrainian forces, but those reports were taken off later.
The Ukraine military told BBC Ukrainian that they didn’t have the right information yet and were looking into what happened.
The Ukrainian government group in charge of prisoners of war said that Russia is doing secret operations to cause problems in Ukrainian society.
In a later message, the Russian defense ministry said a military plane took off from Chkalovsky air base near Moscow and was heading to Belgorod. They claimed that Ukraine’s air force had shot two anti-aircraft missiles from the Lyptsi area, south of the Ukrainian border.
A swap of prisoners was supposed to happen on Wednesday afternoon at a border checkpoint 100km west of Belgorod.
Andrei Kartapolov, the head of Russia’s military defense committee, said there was another plane carrying 80 Ukrainian prisoners in the sky, but it changed direction later.
MrKartapolov told Russian TV that there will not be any more prisoner exchanges.
Ukraine and Russia have traded prisoners during the war.
Earlier this month, Ukraine and Russia swapped prisoners. Ukraine let go of 248 Russian prisoners of war, and Russia released 230 people. The United Arab Emirates helped make this deal happen.
More than 8,000 Ukrainians are still kidnapped by Russia, and tens of thousands are still missing, according to Ukraine’s Coordination HQ.
A warning was issued across Ukraine after a plane crash.
Belgorod, a place close to Ukraine, has been hit by air strikes and drones many times and many people have been hurt or killed.
In December, an air attack happened and 25 people died while 100 were hurt. Ukraine said they only aimed at military buildings and blamed Russia for the pieces landing in the city.
Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022 and the war has been going on for almost three years.
Russia said they took over a village near the damaged city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv has not said if the claim is true.
Recently, the Russian air attacks have been happening more often. On Tuesday, 18 people died and 130 were hurt in missile attacks on cities in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that Ukrainian forces do not have enough ammunition. He also said that Russia has used over 600 missiles and 1,000 drones in the last two months.
Ukraine is using drones to fight. Over the weekend, a drone attack caused a big blast at a gas terminal near the city of St Petersburg. -
Uproar following Ukrainian-born model’s victory as Miss Japan
“Japanese people have faced racism and it has been hard for them to be accepted. ”
Carolina Shiino said in perfect Japanese that she was very happy and crying after she won Miss Japan on Monday.
The model is 26 years old and from Ukraine. She moved to Japan when she was 5 and grew up in Nagoya.
She is the first person who became Japanese citizen to win the pageant, but her win has started a debate about what it really means to be Japanese.
Some people think her win shows that society is changing, but others say she doesn’t fit the traditional image of a Miss Japan.
She won nearly 10 years after Ariana Miyamoto, who became the first bi-racial woman to win Miss Japan in 2015.
In the past, people were unsure if someone with parents from different races should be allowed to win the competition after Ms. Miyamoto, who had a Japanese mother and an African American father, won.
Some people on social media are upset that Ms Shiino does not have Japanese parents.
“This person who was picked as Miss Japan is not Japanese, she is completely from Ukraine. ” She is pretty, but she is ‘Miss Japan’. A message on X, used to be Twitter, asked “Where is the Japanese culture. ”
“If she was part Japanese, then it’s no problem. ” Another person said that she is not Japanese at all and was not born in Japan.
Some people said her victory was sending a negative message to others in the country.
“I believe that Japanese people might misunderstand if a person who looks European is called the most beautiful Japanese. ”
Some people wondered if it was a political choice to select a model from Ukraine.
“If she had been born in Russia, she wouldn’t have won. ” No way Clearly, the standards are now decided by politicians. “Someone said it’s a very sad day for Japan. ”
Ai Wada, who runs the Miss Japan Grand Prix pageant, told the media that the judges picked Ms Shiino as the winner with a lot of belief in their choice.
Ms Wada said that she speaks and writes in nice and polite Japanese. “She is more like a Japanese person than we are. ”
Last year, Ms. Shiino posted on Instagram that she got Japanese nationality. She said that even though she doesn’t look Japanese, she feels Japanese because she grew up in Japan.
She was very happy to win the Miss Japan 2024 title and called it a dream come true.
“I am happy to be recognized as a Japanese in this competition. “ -
Russians becoming more alcoholic due to Putin’s war in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin wants to control Ukraine and this is causing more Russians to become addicted to drugs.
More and more people in Russia are becoming addicted to alcohol and experiencing alcohol-related mental health problems. This is happening for the first time in 10 years, and it’s happening as the war enters its third year.
Russian men abroad are often seen with a scruffy face, red cheeks, holding a bottle of alcohol, and saying ‘Na Zdorovie’. This has been a common image of them for a long time.
People in Russia used to drink more alcohol than people in most other countries, but they started drinking less since the early 2000s, but now they are drinking more again.
During Dmitry Medvedev’s time as president, the government tried many times to solve the country’s problems with alcohol.
Several rules about alcohol were made. They included not being able to drink alcohol on the street and not being able to advertise it. These rules worked well until the war started.
A problem that is getting bigger.
In 2022, Rosstat found that over 54,000 people were newly diagnosed with alcohol addiction, which is more than the 53,000 diagnosed the year before.
Experts say that the decrease is because of the Covid pandemic, changes in the economy, and increasing tensions between countries.
Svetlana Gordeeva, a professor at Perm University, said there’s nothing surprising here.
People tend to drink more alcohol during tough times like a pandemic or economic crisis, and this can lead to more cases of alcohol-related mental health problems.
The effects of war
A doctor who studies addiction said that Putin’s war has also caused more people to drink alcohol.
“When people were told to get ready for war, the number of people with alcohol-related mental health problems went up the most in places where they had to wait three to six months before going to the battle. ”
Family members of the people who were called to work told me that lots of vodka was delivered there and no one was checking how much was being sold. As a result, people drank so much that they became mentally ill.
I don’t think these cases were included in the official numbers, but it’s possible that they were discovered.
If that’s true, then we likely got around a thousand new cases from these camps that were moved. -
Ukrainian mother appreciative of locals’ furniture assistance
A woman from Ukraine is thankful to the people who helped her move to a new house.
Vicky Yurchenko, 37, just moved into her own place after living with a family in Worcester since 2022.
Her new home had very few things, so her previous host, Geoff Sansome, asked for help. Many people donated furniture, pots, and pans to help her.
The help was really nice because Mrs. Yurchenko is going to have another baby.
She and her daughter Kate left Kyiv a few weeks after the fighting with Russia started, leaving her husband Max behind. But, after visiting Ukraine for two weeks in the summer to see him, she became pregnant.
“He gave me a large gift for our summer vacation,” she said.
“We didn’t expect it, but we are really happy. ”
On BBC Hereford & Worcester, Mrs Yurchenko said she was surprised by how much the people living there helped her.
She got new things for her home like chairs, sofas, wardrobes, a cooker, curtains, pots and pans, plates and a TV because of people giving things.
She said, “You begin to understand and value this after going back home for visits. ”
“Our top priority is making sure it is safe. “ -
Ukrainian Peace Formula: Ghana called to join team working on ending Russia-Ukraine war
Ghana has received an invitation to participate in the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, a ten-point plan designed to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during a meeting with Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo at the 2024 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, emphasized the importance of Ghana’s involvement in the peace process.
The Ukrainian Peace Formula focuses on key aspects such as food and energy security, territorial integrity, environmental safety, the release of prisoners, withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, and the prevention of future aggression.
Ghana, known for its peace and political stability in the sub-region, has established diplomatic ties with both Russia and Ukraine, particularly in education, science, and technology.
During the meeting, the leaders discussed ways to strengthen relations between Ukraine and Ghana, as well as with other African countries. They also explored the possibility of Ghanaian students studying in Ukrainian higher educational institutions and the potential for creating logistics hubs for the trans-shipment of Ukrainian agricultural products to African nations.
President Zelenskyy commended Ghana for its support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity on the international stage. The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has led to global price increases, especially for oil, natural gas, and food items like wheat, of which Ukraine and Russia contribute significantly to global exports.
President Zelenskyy called on the global community to remain united in supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression during his address at the WEF. He announced plans for a global summit to advocate for peace, with hopes of it taking place in Switzerland.
Ghana’s delegation, led by President Akufo-Addo, actively participated in various meetings with high-level stakeholders and global leaders at the Forum. Discussions covered key themes such as achieving security and cooperation in a fractured world, creating growth and jobs for a new era, artificial intelligence as a driving force for the economy and society, and a long-term strategy for climate, nature, and energy.
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Ukrainian drone attack targets Russian oil station
A major inferno broke out at a facility in southern Russia where oil is stored after being struck by a drone from Ukraine.
The Russian news said that four oil tanks caught fire and the fire spread over an area of 1,000 square meters.
Authorities in Bryansk, Russia, said that nobody got hurt.
The leader of Bryansk said a flying robot was stopped near the town of Klintsy and its bombs dropped on the oil storage.
The drone attack is the second one on Russian oil places in just two days.
There was a big attack at a large oil terminal in St Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday.
Russian news said a drone was shot down without causing harm. But in Kyiv, they thought that the attack, which was far from Ukraine’s border, showed a new plan.
“Yes, we reached our goal last night. ” “Last night, this thing traveled 1,250km (776 miles),” said Ukraine’s Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin on Thursday. -
Humanitarian worker from Ukraine died unjustly – Inquest hears
A person who helped people in a war in Ukraine was killed in a way that breaks the law, according to a coroner.
Christopher Parry, who was 28 years old, passed away in January 2023 after being shot in the head and body, according to an investigation.
Coroner Darren Salter said there is “some evidence” that the Wagner Group, which is a private military company funded by the Russian government, may be involved.
The investigation also learned that Mr Parry gave a speech for his parents’ anniversary before he went to Ukraine.
His mom, Christine Parry, said that he told them they were great parents and thanked them.
“It was not like her at all,” she said. “I think he knew he wouldn’t come back. ”
Mr Parry, who was from Truro, passed away with another volunteer named Andrew Bagshaw, the inquest found.
Mr Parry’s friends said he wanted to help a person leave the Soledar region of Ukraine on January 6th, 2023.
Mr Parry’s girlfriend, Olha Volodymyrivna Khomenko, said that she didn’t hear from him after he sent her a message in the morning.
His body was found and sent back to the United Kingdom after being examined in Ukraine.
Mr Salter, who is in charge of investigating deaths for the Queen in Oxfordshire, said Mr. Parry was killed while helping people in Ukraine. It happened around January 7, 2023 in the Soledar region of Ukraine.
Mr Salter said it was hard to prove because there were no people who saw what happened.
He mentioned that there is some evidence that the Wagner Group, a company funded by the Russian government, may be involved.
This means that someone from the Wagner group seemed to have Mr. Bagshaw’s phone and sent messages on the Telegram app.
Mr Salter said that it is very sad that Chris and Andrew, who were doing humanitarian work for a long time, were lost in this situation.
“A big part of it was about saving people from dangerous places, so there was a lot of risk involved. ”
He said there is evidence showing they were helping others when they disappeared on January 6th.
Dental expert Surgeon Commander Michael Bamber said that they were able to confirm Mr. Parry’s identity by looking at his dental records.
DrRussell Delaney, a doctor who studies dead bodies in a hospital in Oxford, said that Mr. Parry died because he was shot in the head and body.
He said that there were no signs of a weapon being fired up close or in contact with the body, despite the limitations of time and a previous investigation in Ukraine.
The police in Ukraine found a Mercedes car with all windows broken, according to Mr.
Christine Parry said her son came back home to Truro to get better after a small surgery in 2023.
He watched the news a lot, including the Russian attack on Ukraine.
“He went to Warsaw, Poland, she said, and then went to Ukraine to help people. ”
The inquest found out that Mr Parry talked to his sister Kate about his job, but he told his parents he was just “helping with logistics”.
In June 2022, when Mr. Parry visited home, he didn’t think the dangers were serious, even though his mother said they were.
In October 2022, he gave a speech at a party for his sister’s birthday and his parents’ anniversary, she said.
He said thank you to his parents for helping him, Mrs Parry said. She also remembered talking to her son on 5 January when he called to say he missed them.
He was gone the next day.
Christine Parry said the family was very sad, and they will always remember their son and keep him in their hearts.
She also talked about how kind he is and how much he hates unfairness. She remembered a family trip to the United States when Mr Parry gave all his spending money to homeless people.
She said that his family is very proud of him for helping more than 400 people to leave a dangerous place.
She said her son called the night before he disappeared to make sure his family was okay.
“We will keep feeling the pain but we will also remember him forever,” she said, explaining that the family plans to carry on with his helpful work in Ukraine.
She said Ukraine will always be in our hearts.
Mr Salter said that the FCDO and other agencies, like the police and Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, helped him with his inquiry. -
Greek Mafia leader shot and killed
A violent murder at a gas station in southern Athens has shown how ruthless the Greek mafia can be.
Police are looking for the people who killed Vangelis Zambounis, a crime boss who was shot earlier this week.
Zambounis, a important criminal leader in Greece, was shot at over 90 times with a Kalashnikov rifle.
He was accused of leading a group that forced people to give them money and being part of illegal trading of cigarettes and fuel.
A video from a security camera shows a man, believed to be Zambounis, getting into a armored BMW jeep parked at his gas station in Athens.
Another car comes and stops behind the BMW. The police found out that the car was a Lexus stolen in Italy a few months ago, and it had fake license plates on it.
Two guys jump out. Someone wearing all black and a balaclava walked up to the BMW and shot an AK-47 at the driver’s window from very close, and then reloaded the gun.
The person with the gun takes it out of his jacket, opens the car door, and shoots the person inside again. Another person also shoots at the car with a different kind of gun. Both of them then leave in the Lexus car.
The police found the burnt-out car on the edge of Athens after the criminals escaped.
The brutal murder has caused a lot of focus in Greece, especially because it was recorded on camera and then shown on Greek TV shortly after. Two police officers got arrested the next day for sharing secret information and giving the video to the news.
Many people in Greece are talking and guessing about why Mr. Zambounis was killed.
One idea is that it was ordered as payback for the murder of mafia rival Vassilis Roubetis in June 2023. Another idea is that the murder happened because of problems between local tobacco smugglers and overseas mobsters who bring in cheap cigarettes from Ukraine.
The local news also said that a Kalashnikov rifle was found in Mr. Zambounis’s car, and he had a pistol in his belt.
He survived a murder attempt in 2018 when someone tried to shoot at his car, but the gun didn’t work.
According to a Greek newspaper, more than 20 murders have happened in Greece since 2017. These were carried out by gangs involved in illegal activities like extortion. -
“We shot down Russian spy plane” – Ukraine
Ukraine’s military shot down a Russian spy plane over the Sea of Azov. This is bad news for Russia’s air force.
General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, leader of the army, said the air force “destroyed” a long range radar detection plane and an air control center.
The A-50 finds enemy air defenses and helps Russian jets know where to attack.
Ukraine has had a hard time making progress against Russian forces in the southeast.
Russian officials said they didn’t know about the attacks, but important Russian people who support war said that losing an A-50 would be a big deal.
A well-known military channel, Rybar, said that if Ukraine’s report about the Russian losses was true, it would be a very bad day for the Russian air force.
Another channel reported that the Il-22 command center was hit by Russian “friendly fire”.
Gen Zaluzhnyi said on the internet that Ukraine’s air force did a very good job with a plan in the Azov region, which is in the south-east part of Ukraine.
Mykola Oleshchuk, who is in charge of the Ukrainian Air Force, talked about the airplane crash in a message on the app Telegram, but didn’t give any specific information.
Justin Bronk, who knows a lot about air wars, said to the BBC that if it’s true that Russia lost an A-50, it would be a really big and embarrassing loss for their air force.
He said the A-50 is an important plane that helps Russian aircraft and missiles get early warning and information about low-flying Ukrainian planes.
He said there are only a few of these planes in the Russian air force and not many trained crews. If one is lost, it would be a big problem.
He said if it’s approved, it would be a very far-reaching attack for Ukrainian Patriot air defense missiles, pushing the weapon to its limits.
Frank Gardner, who reports on security for the BBC, said it’s a small piece of good news for Ukraine in the middle of a lot of bad news.
He said things are not going well for Ukraine. They don’t have enough ammunition, their soldiers are not feeling good, and Russia keeps attacking their infrastructure. -
Businessmen to send trucks carrying aid to Ukraine
Two business people are going to Ukraine to give a lot of donated supplies to help people living in the war.
Mike Racz and Karl Pemberton said they were really grateful for all the help they got from everyone. It was more than they ever expected.
The pair were going to use a small van for donations but now they will use two big trucks instead.
Mr Racz from Wolviston, County Durham, said he was surprised by the amount of help and support people had given.
Mr Racz’s friend, Kateryna Seranova, is from Ukraine and said her family is still in danger.
She said the mall that used to be the biggest was destroyed and no longer exists.
“It’s really important to know where to go and hide in safe places. ”
Mr Racz and Mr. Pemberton were worried because people were not giving as much money to Ukraine, even though the war was still happening during the winter.
Russia has kept attacking the country more and more in the last two weeks, especially by using planes to bomb Ukrainian cities.
A few days ago, two missiles from Russia hit a hotel in Kharkiv and hurt 11 people.
But the weather is also making a difference. On January 12, it was really cold in Kyiv, with the temperature dropping to -11°C at night.
Mr Pemberton, who is the boss at a company called Active Chartered Financial Planners in Stockton, said that it’s really important to give help to people now more than ever.
“He said the weather is really bad over there right now, it’s very cold. ”
“We can give them warm blankets, clothes, and food to help them during the cold winter. ”
“Everything makes a difference. “ -
Ukraine war: Members of parliament reject proposal to punish draft evaders
Ukraine’s Members of parliament decided not to discuss a law that would punish people who avoid military service.
Members of Parliament have said that some punishments in the bill are against the constitution.
Some people think that the bill should have a shorter time for military service, like 18 months instead of 36.
The bill was created to get more people to join the army, because Kyiv is having trouble fighting Russia after almost two years of war.
The plans also said that men can join the military at a younger age, from 27 to 25.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that they need 450,000-500,000 more soldiers to fight against Russia’s invasion.
However, some parts of the bill have made people very angry, like the rule that stops people who refused to join the military from owning things and using their own money freely.
The law would also let the Ukrainian government call people to join the military using electronic methods. At the beginning of the war, many men signed up to fight. But now, it’s difficult to find anyone willing to join.
In December, Ukrainians living in other countries were told they may have to join the military. Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said it was an invitation, and the ministry later explained that it didn’t mean there would be punishment for people who didn’t want to return.
Mr Zelensky said that getting more troops was a difficult and expensive problem.
This happens as Kyiv’s recent attack has stopped and the military aid has been reduced in the past few months. The US Republicans said no to a $61 billion military package, and Hungary stopped a EU financial deal worth €50 billion.
John Kirby, who speaks for the White House about national security, said on Thursday that talks about more help from the US have stopped. This is because the government is still deciding on its budget.
Mr Zelensky is traveling in the Baltic states. Right now, he is in Latvia. He wants more help from Western allies, like getting more air defence weapons.
He talked in Tallinn, Estonia about how it’s dangerous for the West to hesitate. He said: “When partners are unsure about giving money and help to Ukraine, it makes Russia feel more powerful and brave. ”
He said something new, as a report from the US warned that over $1 billion in military aid given to Ukraine since February 2022 wasn’t tracked correctly.
The Pentagon’s inspector general found that US officials in Washington DC and Europe did not keep track of thousands of weapons, like missile launchers and air defense missiles, properly. There are worries that some of the $1. 69 billion in military aid given to Ukraine may have been used improperly.
In a letter replying to the report, Col Garrett W Trott of the US military’s European Command, stressed that the report did not find any proof of unauthorized or illegal transfer of enhanced monitoring defense items given to Ukraine.
The report admitted that it was not able to investigate if any weapons had been stolen. -
UK to boost its aid to Ukraine to £2.5 billion – Rishi Sunak
The UK is going to give Ukraine £2. 5 billion worth of military help in the next year, which is the biggest amount of aid since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Prime Minister said this while visiting the country, and he will also sign a new deal to help with its safety in the future.
Authorities said that the package will give Ukraine missiles that can travel far distances, defense against attacks from the air, and shells for their artillery.
About £200 million will be used to buy drones, and most of them will will be made in the UK.
Authorities say that next year, a big package of military equipment will be given to Ukraine. It will include a lot of drones, which is the most that any country has provided to Ukraine.
The prime minister has chosen not to promise money for many years.
Some government officials and high-ranking military leaders believed that by doing this, it would show Russia that Britain supports them for a long time.
Instead of spending the same amount as the last two years, Mr. Sunak has decided to spend an extra £200 million. The UK’s yearly military support for Ukraine was £2. 3 billion
Downing Street plans to offer help to Ukraine as the first step in building a strong long-term relationship between Ukraine and the UK.
It will also give £18 million to help people in need, support strengthening Ukraine’s energy systems, and give more money for teaching English online.
James Heappey, who is in charge of the military, said on BBC Breakfast that the drones will help Ukraine in the future.
He said: “They are unmanned aircraft that are being created quickly, taking into account all the things we learned from what happened in Ukraine over the last two years. ”
He said that the money shows that the UK is still being a leader in Europe by giving a lot of money to Ukraine.
Mr Sunak, who went to Ukraine 15 months ago in November 2022, said: “I am here today to say that the UK will not give up. ” We will be there for Ukraine when things are hard and when things get better in the future.
He said: “The UK is already one of Ukraine’s best friends, because we know their safety is our safety.
Today, we are giving more military help to Ukraine. We are also giving them lots of new drones and making a new security agreement with them. This will help Ukraine feel safer and more secure in the future.
“For two years, Ukraine has bravely defended itself against a strong attack from Russia. ” They are still fighting strong to protect their country and the principles of freedom and democracy.
The UK finally promised to support Ukraine after MPs pushed for the government to do so. They said the government should have been clearer earlier so Ukraine could plan its military strategy.
Both the United States and the European Union are having a hard time deciding on how to help Ukraine, which really needs more shells and missiles.
In the US, some politicians are stopping a $60 billion package to help Ukraine because they want to use the money for dealing with migration at the border.
Viktor Orban, the leader of Hungary, stopped a €50bn (£43bn) aid package for Ukraine from the EU because of a disagreement with Brussels over funding.
The UK and Ukraine are signing an agreement today. It includes promises to help each other with military and economic support. This is to stop Russia from attacking Ukraine before Ukraine becomes a part of Nato.
Authorities said that the UK is the first out of seven major industrialized countries to sign an agreement. All seven countries promised to do this at a meeting last year. -
Russian missiles destroy a hotel in Kharkiv
Two missiles from Russia hit a hotel in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, and 11 people got hurt, according to the governor of Kharkiv.
Pictures from Ukraine’s State Emergency Service showed the hotel very damaged and firefighters there to help.
Governor Oleh Synehubov said that Turkish journalists were also among the injured. At around 10:30 PM, two S-300 missiles hit the target.
Russia has increased bombing in Ukrainian cities in the last two weeks.
Ukrainian leaders say many innocent people have been killed in the attacks using drones and missiles.
Kharkiv, a city close to Russia, has been badly damaged by Russian airstrikes since President Vladimir Putin started a big attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
In the most recent attack, nine people got hurt and had to go to the hospital. One of them, a 35-year-old man, was in critical condition, the governor said on the Telegram messaging service.
The mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov, said that there were no soldiers in the hotel, only 30 regular people, according to Ukraine’s Unian news agency. It’s in the middle of the city in Kyiv. He said that many other houses and cars close by were also broken.
The city of Belgorod in Russia was attacked by missiles and drones from Ukraine on 30 December. Russian officials say 25 civilians were killed.
Russia has started sending many children from Belgorod to holiday camps that are farther away from Ukraine for three weeks. A camp in Voronejson region got 93 new people on Wednesday. Later, 280 more people arrived in Kaluga region. State TV said that teachers would go there too.
President Zelensky visited Lithuania and asked Western friends to give more weapons for air defense. The Baltic country strongly supports Ukraine in helping them resist Russian forces.
We need more air defence systems. The battle against drones. I am glad that we have deals with Lithuania and many other partners,” he said in Vilnius. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia used to be part of the Soviet Union, but now they are in the NATO alliance.
Lithuania gives the most military aid to Ukraine compared to other countries based on their GDP, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany. The US gives the most help to Ukraine for their defense.
Mr Zelensky, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine, said that Vladimir Putin will continue to cause trouble until he has ruined Ukraine.
He wants to keep us very busy. Sometimes when our allies hesitate to help Ukraine with money and military support, it makes Russia feel more confident and strong.
He said the Russian leader will not stop the war until we all stop him together and cautioned that the Baltic states and Moldova could be targets next.
Recently, the leader of Ukraine has been having serious discussions with Western allies to make sure they keep getting important weapons. Kyiv’s attack last year didn’t go very well, and some people in the West are wondering if Kyiv’s plan is good, which makes them worried about the war’s cost.
Now that Russia is spending a lot more money on its military, Nato countries are having a hard time making enough artillery shells and other heavy weapons.
The European Union wants to give Ukraine €50 billion in aid, but Hungary is stopping it. And the US Congress can’t agree on giving more military aid to Ukraine.
After talking to the Ukrainian government on a video call, Nato said it would give Ukraine a lot of money to help them this year.
“Nato’s leader, Jens Stoltenberg, said that Nato is very upset about Russia attacking Ukrainian people with missiles and drones, using weapons from North Korea and Iran. “ -
Garden centre gives Ukraine its fifth ambulance
A garden centre in Cumbria has sent its fifth ambulance to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country.
Since 2022, the Pot Place, a garden centre in Plumpton, has been bringing ambulances and medical supplies to the country.
Paul Thomas, who owns the garden centre, said that ambulances in the country only last about six months because of the bad roads.
The company recently got a new vehicle, and Mr Thomas and his team drove it to the border between Ukraine and Poland.
“He said we planned to meet the people from the Lviv Ambulance Service. ”
Since the war started, the Pot Place has given five ambulances, four paramedic motorcycles, a 4X4 evacuation car, and medicine.
“We found another ambulance and hope to bring it over there early next year,” Mr.
Donations help pay for the vehicles and medical supplies, and the money made at the garden centre is used to send them to Ukraine.
One person who works here, Kateryna Karabadzhak, is from Ukraine. She is currently in the country to spend time with her family.
She said that every night when you go to bed, you are hoping for something good.
Talking about Pot Place’s help, she said: “We still need it. ” It really makes us feel like we are remembered and cared for. -
Swedish defense officials warn citizens to get ready for war
Two important defense officials have told Swedes to get ready for war, which has made some people worried and accused them of being too dramatic.
Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said at a conference that a war could happen in Sweden.
The military leader, Gen Micael Byden, agrees with the message and thinks all Swedes should get ready in their minds for the possibility.
However, politicians who are against it have disagreed with how the warnings were given.
Former prime minister Magdalena Andersson said on Swedish TV that the security situation is serious, but war is not about to happen right now.
The kids’ rights group Bris said that its national phone line doesn’t usually get calls about the chance of war. This week, many young people called us worried because they saw news or posts on TikTok about it.
“Bris spokeswoman Maja Dahl told the BBC that this was carefully planned and not something said without thinking. ” “They should have given information for kids when they share information for adults. ”
The comments from the civil defence minister and military chief are being seen as a strong warning, even though they were very serious.
After more than 200 years of peace, Sweden is close to joining the Nato defense alliance. It just needs approval from Turkey’s parliament and then from Hungary.
The leader said what he said was not something new.
He went to the eastern part of Ukraine a month ago. Sweden is one of the countries helping to train Ukrainian pilots. Stockholm is thinking about sending powerful Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine.
“I don’t want to scare people. I just want more people to think about their own lives and what they need to do,” said Gen Byden in an interview with Aftonbladet newspaper.
Finland is now part of Nato, and Russian officials are saying it will be the first to have problems if things get worse with Nato.
The civil defence minister of Sweden wants people to be aware of what is happening but not to worry too much. He asked local officials, emergency planners, and people to help.
MrBohlin said he can’t sleep because he thinks things are moving too slowly. He said this at the Society and Defence conference on Sunday.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, asked Sweden to work with Ukraine and other countries to make weapons and become stronger together during a conference.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that by 2024, Sweden will spend 2% of its money on military defense, which is double the amount it spent in 2020.
Oscar Jonsson, a defence expert, said that the warnings from defence leaders were blown out of proportion and that 90% of the concerns came from frustration that not enough was being done to improve civil and military defence.
“He said that time is short and the goal was to urge agencies, people, and departments to take action,” he told the media.
“The Swedish military is very skilled, but it is not very large. ” The new defence bill says we need to create 3. 5 military units, but Ukraine had 28 when the war began.
General Byden is telling people to get ready for war, and this comes right after another warning from the head of Poland’s National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, who said that to avoid a war with Russia, countries near Nato should start getting ready for a confrontation within the next three years.
He said that a report from a German group about preparing for a Russian attack in six years was too hopeful.
Oscar Jonsson, an expert from the Swedish Defence University, said that for a war to happen, a few things would need to happen first: Russia’s war in Ukraine would need to stop, its military would need time to get stronger again, and Europe would need to not have support from the US military.
He said that everything was possible. -
Russians suffering greatly in order to flee war
Yaroslav is different from most 23-year-olds as he sits at the table and eats chicken soup. Yes, he seems young, but he’s also feeling anxious, like Vladimir Putin is still causing him stress.
Yaroslav used to live a quiet life with his mom and sister in the suburbs of Moscow, working at a store that sells old books. But now he had to start a new life in Georgia, and it hasn’t been easy.
In Russia, students are being pulled out of their classes and dorms, and raids are happening at vegetable warehouses, mosques, and on the streets where young men who are old enough for the military are being taken to sign up for service.
With Putin’s war in Ukraine going on for two winters now, many people like Yaroslav have left to avoid being drafted into the army. Georgia is an easy place for Russians to go because they don’t need a visa to enter or work there.
Many people decide to leave their country and go to another country by plane, train, bus, or car because they are afraid they might be forced to join Putin’s large army.
After eating soup at Shavi Lomi restaurant in Tbilisi, Yaroslav told the media about how he escaped from his home country.
How Yaroslav got away from Russia.
“Many people wanted to leave, so there were long lines at all the borders,” he remembers.
There were about 10 miles of cars waiting at the border with Kazakhstan where I was. The issue was that I couldn’t walk or ride a bike across, and I didn’t have a car.
I met a family from Uzbekistan who let me go with them after a while. I had to give them a lot of money – all of my pay. Around 60,000 Russian Rubles or 750 British Pounds. It took three days to get to the other side.
Yaroslav is half Ukrainian and has lived in Russia his whole life. He was lucky because his boss at the bookstore helped him escape.
He planned everything and he bought all the tickets. Due to the long wait at the border, I missed my plane to Tbilisi. When I finally crossed the border, I had to stay in Kazakhstan for about two weeks.
Yaroslav left Russia soon after they started calling people to join the army, in early October 2022.
He lived near the Kremlin and saw the unhappiness in the city when Putin said he was going to invade.
Talking to his Ukrainian dad, who fought in a long and bloody battle in Donetsk Oblast, helped him understand his political and moral beliefs.
Yaroslav was very mad at the Russian government, so he joined protests against war to show how he felt. But he was arrested right away.
A video showed police pulling him away by his arms and legs and it was shown on Russian state TV and online.
Yaroslav was scared of going to prison or being sent to the frontline, so he decided to leave his family in Moscow.
It took him a long time to stop worrying about Putin’s influence, but he finds it hard to talk about his feelings of leaving his old life and moving to Tbilisi.“We live close to the train station in Moscow, and I often see soldiers getting on the trains to go to Ukraine,” he says.
“It was really scary and crazy, and it happened during my last few months living in Russia. ”
“I knew they were going to the dangerous place where they could hurt my dad or my friends from Kyiv. ”
‘Maybe I could have put a bomb on the train tracks, but then I would definitely go to jail and the tracks would be fixed and the train would keep going. ‘
Yaroslav says, “Every day I lived in Russia after the invasion started, I wanted to scream. ” I kept my pain a secret. I couldn’t do or say anything in public or express my opinion in any way. It is crazy.
“Because people are scared, you shouldn’t criticize them. ” When I crossed the border, I felt free for the first time. This is when I realized how much stress I was feeling in my life.
I feel protected in Georgia. I’m not scared of the police here. In Russia, I was worried about getting arrested every day.
Living in Georgia.
For the past year, Yaroslav has been living in Tbilisi. He has been missing home and now even misses the winters in Moscow.
“He said it might sound strange because he always disliked the cold in Russia, but he now realized that he misses it. ” “It’s kind of funny what you end up missing. ”
He ran away when the border was easier to cross and the government was still trying to follow the Kremlin’s commands.
Go to the forest, a secret group made at the beginning of the mobilization, helps people like Yaroslav to avoid being forced to join the army, find safety in other countries, and not have to fight in the war in Ukraine.
“We want to help as many people as we can to not use guns,” said the NGO on their website. They also said that they have helped 21,594 people in the past 15 months.
Idite Lesom means “Go by the forest” but it’s used to mean “Go f**k yourself”. Those already sent to the front line are a top priority.
Darya Berg, who leads relief and evacuations, left Russia and now works in Tbilisi. She says, “We offer help to people in danger, but we don’t force them to do anything. ”
For instance, we talked to a man on the frontline who wants to leave but doesn’t know what to do or where to go.
We need to tell him about options, but it’s up to him to choose – like giving up to the Ukrainian military, or hurting himself so he can go to the hospital and go back to Russia.
We are showing him how to leave the area in case of an emergency and getting him a passport from another country because he doesn’t have one.
‘If caught, the punishment is severe – nearly 10 years in jail – and we make sure people know about it. ‘
Not many desertion cases go to court. Usually, men are just sent back to the battlefield.
Trying everything to get away from the war.
Darya says that many soldiers, who she calls “military slaves,” often hurt themselves so they can leave the battle.
“One of the first cases I remember was when an officer called me from a hospital and said that he asked his friend to shoot him,” she remembers.
“They both hurt each other’s legs by shooting. ” I was surprised at first, but now it happens a lot. He is in a secure place in the north part of Russia.
“Joining the military in Russia”
When Putin’s attack didn’t go as planned and he had to increase his army in September, the NGO got a lot of requests for help on their Telegram bot which is run by volunteers. -
Anger over a Russian move against Ukrainian youngsters
Ukraine is angry about a new rule signed by President Putin that allows Russian citizenship to be given to Ukrainian children who go to live in Russia.
In March, the International Criminal Court ordered the arrest of President Putin because Russia was sending children away against their will.
The Ukraine government said the order was against the law.
However, Russia says it is taking the children away from danger.
On 4 January, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a decision to speed up the process for foreigners and people without a country to become Russian citizens.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said that Ukrainian children without parents can quickly become Russian citizens if the president allows it or if the institution taking care of them asks for it.
The rule says that a child’s legal guardian or the head of a Russian organization in charge of the child can apply for their citizenship.
The Ukrainian government believes that Russia is trying to fix its population problem by taking children from Ukraine. This is against the laws of Ukraine and other countries, and it is also not fair to the children.
The ministry said that the decree shows that Russia is trying to make Ukrainian children act like Russians, and that they are also committing crimes against Ukraine.
Ukraine’s human rights leader, Dmytro Lubinets, says that Russia is giving citizenship to the children so that they won’t be seen as Ukrainians moved to Russia.
The Ukrainian government found out that more than 19,000 Ukrainian kids were sent to Russia since the big attack started in February 2022.
According to the Children of War database in Ukraine, only 387 kids have been brought back.
In November 2023, the BBC’s Panorama TV show said that a friend of Mr. Putin adopted a child taken from a Ukrainian children’s home.
Sergey Mironov, a 70-year-old leader of a Russian political party, is listed as the adoptive parent of a two-year-old girl who was taken in 2022 by the woman he is now married to, according to documents seen by Panorama.
In March, the International Criminal Court said that Mr Putin might have committed war crimes in Ukraine and they want to arrest him. The ICC said he was in charge of taking children from Ukraine to Russia in a way that was against the law.
Maria Lvova-Belova, a person from Russia who helps children, was accused of the same things. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said it’s not right to use children as prizes in war, and that Putin might be brought to trial. -
Russians relocate residents of Ukrainian-affected city
Russia is moving people out of Belgorod because Ukraine attacked the city and it’s not safe for them to stay there.
On Friday, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that a few families had moved out of the city, which is near the border of Ukraine.
Over the weekend, 25 people died and over 100 were hurt in one of the worst attacks in Russia since it entered Ukraine in February 2022.
The attack came after Russia launched a lot of airstrikes on Ukraine, killing many people and hurting over 160.
Kyiv said that Russia‘s recent missile attacks were the largest so far in the war.
On Friday, Mr. Gladkov wrote on Telegram that he saw people asking for help on social media because they were scared and needed to get to a safe place.
“Sure, we will. We have already helped many families move,” he said.
The governor said people would be brought to the towns of Stary Oskol and Gubkin and could stay there for as long as they need.
However, he said that not everyone could be helped there, so he would ask friends from other places to come and help.
The governor sent out a message telling people that a missile could come and to go home or find a safe place to stay.
Russia keeps saying that Ukraine is responsible for the drone attacks that have been happening recently.
Kyiv doesn’t often admit to doing attacks in other countries, but they have done it before.
The fighting across borders has happened because the US is saying Russia is making the situation worse in Ukraine. They say Russia is using missiles and launchers from North Korea, which is a big problem.
Moscow said they didn’t work together on that.
The US government recently approved a $250 million military aid package for Ukraine.
Negotiations for more money in Congress have stopped because Republicans don’t agree. They want stronger security at the US-Mexico border as part of any military aid deal.
Ukraine says it needs more help from the West or it could lose the war and have money problems. -
North Korean missiles allegedly being used by Russia in Ukraine
The US says that Russia used North Korea’s ballistic missiles and launchers in its war with Ukraine.
John Kirby, who works for the National Security Council, said that Pyongyang’s support for Russia is a big problem and it worries them.
He said that the US would talk about this at the UN Security Council and put more penalties on people who are helping to move weapons.
Moscow said they did not work together in any way.
Hours after the White House accused North Korea, Kim Jong Un said he wants to make more missile launch vehicles in the country.
The leader of North Korea went to Russia in September to talk about working together on military stuff.
The US has accused Pyongyang of giving Russia weapons before, but now they are sharing information about ballistic missiles, which are rockets that can fly by themselves and go up to 900km (500 miles) to hit a target.
During a meeting at the White House, Mr. Kirby said that Russia buying ballistic missiles from North Korea breaks many UN Security Council rules.
“He said we will make sure Russia is held responsible for breaking its promises to other countries again. ”
He also said that the US thinks Russia might buy short-range missiles from Iran, but they haven’t done it yet.
The UK said it really disapproves of Russia using ballistic missiles from North Korea in Ukraine.
“North Korea is facing strong punishments, and we will keep working with other countries to make sure North Korea faces consequences for helping Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine,” said a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Mr Kirby asked the US Congress to quickly approve more money for Ukraine.
“He said the best way to stop Russia from hurting Ukraine is to give Ukraine important tools for defending themselves, like air defense and other military equipment. ”
Iran and North Korea are supporting Russia. Ukrainian people should know that the American government and its people will always support them.
The White House approved a $250 million aid package for Ukraine on December 27th.
Negotiations for more money in Congress are stuck because Republicans want stricter border security to be included in the aid deal.
Ukraine said that if they don’t get more help from the West soon, it will be hard for them to keep fighting in the war and manage their money. -
Russians in border city close to Ukraine find no place to stay
The people in Belgorod have been attacked by Ukraine in the past, but the attack on Saturday was the worst one since the war started.
Twenty-five people died and over 100 others were injured in a large Russian city near Ukraine.
The Ukrainian missile attacks happened one day after Russia’s biggest air attack in the war, which killed more than 40 people.
This week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia attacked Ukraine with 500 missiles and drones in just five days.
Ukraine will be punished for targeting Belgorod, said President Vladimir Putin. The people who live in the city say that the government is not doing enough to keep them safe.
Local people told Russian media that they heard the air raid alerts only 30 minutes into Saturday’s attack.
They were told to hide, but some found that the basement shelters in their apartment buildings were locked.
One person told the BBC that some basements have a paper with a phone number on the door for the person who has the key. “The worst thing that could happen is if the management company has the key, and since it’s the winter holidays, no one is working. ”
What’s the reason for Russia bombing Ukraine more often.
Sheltering from attack is a bigger problem in Ukraine. Attacks happen a lot and in many places. In winter, it’s dangerous for Ukrainians because Russian attacks happen mostly at night. They have to decide whether to sleep in metro stations or stay at home.
But in Belgorod, a city in Russia with 340,000 people that’s only 30 minutes from the border, one woman named Angela used social media to say that the emergencies ministry’s regional department didn’t know about shelters.
“How is this possible. ” she asked the local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
What if a person came to the city to help family. How can they find out about the management company. There has been a special military operation for two years,” she said, using the Kremlin’s term for the war in Ukraine.
Sergei said he has the same problem in his town, Stary Oskol, which is about 180km (110 miles) from the Ukrainian border. He said that the local government is not doing anything about it and just gives a standard response. If there’s shelling, we don’t know where to go to be safe.
According to another person in Belgorod, the shelters have had problems since the war began.
“I am very mad. People have been talking about it, but the shelter problem has only become known now that there have been casualties,” she told the BBC without giving her name.
A year and a half ago, when a tall apartment building was hit, people tried to find basements to hide in, but all the basements were closed. We don’t have bomb shelters that people know about or can use.
Shortly after Vladimir Putin ordered a big attack in February 2022, officials in Belgorod said they couldn’t tell people where the official bomb shelters were because the Ukrainian military might attack them.
Instead, they shared a video that tells you what to do during an air raid. It says to stay away from windows and go to the ground floor or basement.
When Belgorod was attacked again on January 2nd, many people there left their doors open so others could come inside and be safe from the fighting.
Alexander said, “We are just assisting one another. ”
The local leader has not answered publicly to people’s complaints. The BBC has asked his office for comments, but they have not responded yet.
Before the war, Belgorod had a strong connection with the much larger Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which is on the other side of the border.
Russian forces have bombed the middle of Kharkiv from Belgorod region many times. This area near the border has been impacted by the war more than any other place in Russia.
Yulia says that the bombing will definitely keep happening. “But what is going to be different. “ -
Putin vows to ‘intensify’ his assaults on Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin vowed to “intensify” attacks on Ukraine after days of aerial bombardment by both sides in the long war.
Speaking during a visit to a military hospital in Moscow, Putin said the military would continue to target Ukraine’s “military facilities.
” He called Ukraine’s airstrike on the Russian town of Belgorod “a deliberate attack against civilians.
” Twenty-four people were killed and more than 100 injured in Saturday’s attack. Speaking to Russian troops on Monday, Putin said the war was turning in Moscow’s favor and he wanted it to end quickly, but only on Russia’s terms.
He said Ukraine’s Western backers were the biggest obstacle to ending the conflict, but their rhetoric began to change as they began to realize they could not “destroy” Russia.
On Sunday, Putin sent his traditional New Year’s message in which he praised Russian soldiers as “heroes” without explicitly mentioning the war in Ukraine.
In his own New Year’s message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to sharply increase the number of weapons produced by the country by 2024, pledging to build at least one million drones.
Russia and Ukraine have continuously had deadly attacks in recent days.
Ukraine bombed the Russian-held city of Donetsk on New Year’s Eve, killing at least four people and wounding 13 others, according to Moscow-appointed officials and on Saturday, Ukrainian forces launched a series of attacks on targets in southwestern Russia, including one on Belgorod that Mr. Putin called a “terrorist attack.
” Last week, Russia launched a widespread attack in several cities in Ukraine, killing at least 45 people. This attack was described by Kiev as Russia’s largest missile bombardment of the war so far.
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Zelensky’s New Year’s address promises additional weaponry manufactured in Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised to sharply increase the number of weapons produced by Ukraine next year.
In his New Year’s message, Mr. Zelensky reiterated his promise that at least one million drones will be built.
Fighting continued into New Year’s Eve, with five people killed in attacks in Odessa, southern Ukraine, and the Russian-controlled Donetsk region.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin gave a New Year’s speech, praising his army but not explicitly mentioning the war.
The Russian President praised his soldiers as “heroes. at the forefront of the fight for truth” while also touching on economic issues, an important topic for many Russians, and declaring 2024 “the year of the family.
” Speaking on Sunday, as the war against Russia entered its third year, Zelensky said: “Next year the enemy will feel the fury of domestic production. ” He said Ukraine would produce “a million” more drones by 2024 – something he said earlier this month – and that F-16 fighter jets would be delivered by Ukraine’s Western partners deliver.
“Our pilots have mastered the F-16 aircraft and we will definitely see them in our skies,” he said. “So that our enemies can certainly see what our anger really is.
” The New Year’s message came just hours before more attacks. In Russian-occupied Donetsk, four people were killed and 13 injured, according to Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed head of Donetsk, on Telegram.
He described the attack as “a massive bombardment from multiple rocket launchers.
” Additionally, in Odessa, southern Ukraine, one person was killed and three others injured in a Russian drone strike, local governor Oleg Kiper said.
Fighting has increased in recent days, after Russia launched attacks across Ukraine on Friday, killing 39 people in what Kiev described as Russia’s biggest missile bombardment of the war hitherto Several cities were affected, including the capital Kiev.
This was followed by Ukraine’s attacks on Russia on Saturday, with Moscow reporting deadly airstrikes in the country’s southwest – leaving 24 dead and more than 100 injured in Belgorod, near the border.
Mr Zelensky called on Western allies to maintain support for Ukraine as the country faces the risk of aid from allies in Washington and Europe slowing down.
Ukraine has received the latest military aid package from the United States – with any further aid being delayed due to controversy in the US Congress.
Mr Zelensky admitted his country’s spring offensive was not as successful as he had hoped, but emphasized in his message that his country had become stronger before the full-scale invasion of Russia.
Mr Putin did not mention the war in Ukraine in his New Year’s speech, which was significantly narrowed compared to last year.
But he said: “To all those at the forefront of the fight for truth and justice: you are our heroes, our hearts go out to you, ” he said. “We are proud of you, we admire your courage. ”
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Multitude gathers for music and fireworks on December 31, 2023
As Brits count down the hours until midnight, New Year’s Eve celebrations are in full swing in some parts of the world.
Christmas Island in Kiribati, an island nation in Oceania, is one of the first inhabited places in the world to welcome the year 2024.
The country is followed by the Chatham Islands in New Zealand, as well as Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands and parts of Antarctica.
Auckland is the first major city to welcome the New Year with a fireworks display on the tallest building, Sky Tower.
New Zealand welcomes 2024 with fireworks in Auckland Celebrations also begin in Australia when the clock strikes midnight. Tons of explosives were detonated in a riveting 12-minute scene centered on the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
More than a million people, equivalent to one in five Sydney residents, watched the spectacle from the shore and from boats in the harbour.
German tourist Janna Thomas, who had been patiently queuing since 7:30 a. m, said: “It’s crazy. ” “It’s not easy to find a good seat but the view is amazing. Despite the cheers, the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as tensions in many parts of the world, are affecting this year’s New Year celebrations in many ways.
Many cities have implemented additional security measures, and some localities have even canceled New Year’s Eve events altogether. More police officers than ever have been deployed across Sydney.
The riverbank was the scene of violent pro-Palestinian protests after the sails of the Sydney Opera House were lit up in the colors of the Israeli flag during a Hamas attack on 7 October. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country, the government banned all events to show solidarity with the Palestinians.
In a nightly televised message, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar called on his country to “show solidarity with the oppressed people of Gaza” by starting the new year on a positive note. Simple Gazans have little hope that 2024 will bring them much relief after Israel’s 12 weeks of war to eliminate Hamas.
In Rafah, on the Gaza-Egypt border, which has become the main focus for Palestinians fleeing other parts of the enclave, people on Sunday were more preoccupied with finding shelter, food and drinking water rather than thinking about the new year.
“In 2024, I want to return to the ruins of my house, pitch a tent,” said Abu Abdullah al-Agha, a middle-aged Palestinian whose house in Khan Younis was destroyed and who lost a young niece there and live there”. nephew during an Israeli air strike.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark used her annual New Year’s address on Sunday to make the shock announcement that she will abdicate the throne on January 14 after a 52-year reign and be replaced by her eldest son, crown prince Fredrik.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen confirmed the decision in a press release paying tribute to the 83-year-old monarch, expressing “heartfelt thanks to Her Majesty for her lifetime of service. ” and her tireless efforts for the Kingdom.
” Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned only briefly on Sunday in his New Year’s address his war in Ukraine, praising his soldiers as heroes but mainly emphasizing solidarity and common determination.
North Korea pledged to launch three new spy satellites, build military drones and boost its nuclear arsenal by 2024, as leader Kim Jong Un said US policy made war inevitable, the official media said on Sunday.
During Sunday prayer at the Vatican, Pope Francis said: “I wish everyone a peaceful end of the year and don’t forget to pray for me. “
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Putin retaliates by launching additional drone strikes against Ukraine
Vladimir Putin shelled Ukraine’s largest cities in the hours before New Year’s Eve, after Russia accused Volodymyr Zelensky of bombing the Belgorod border region.
Dozens of people have been killed in both countries in the past 24 hours and more than 100 people have been injured. Most attacks in Ukraine have been focused on the south and east, but explosions were also reported in Kiev.
Russia said it was retaliation for Saturday’s attack on Belgorod, a town about 35 miles from the border, that killed at least 24 people.
Three children were among those killed in one of the deadliest attacks on Russia since Putin launched the invasion, the region’s governor said.
Hours later, air strike warnings sounded across Ukraine, urging people to take shelter. Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said today that at least six rockets hit Kharkov, injuring at least 28 people and striking residential buildings, hotels and medical facilities.
Earlier, Ukrainian officials said two boys aged 14 and 16 and a security adviser for a group of German journalists were among those injured in the city.
Around midnight, as part of a broader bombardment of Ukraine that also targeted Kiev, several waves of drones struck residential buildings in the center.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov said: “On New Year’s Eve, the Russians wanted to threaten our city, but we are not afraid, we are invincible. ” Images from Kharkiv showed several damaged buildings, including a hotel whose entire floor was destroyed.
The Ukrainian Air Force said the military shot down 21 of 49 drones launched by Russia overnight. In another attack, three people were killed when Russian forces shelled a village in the Kharkiv region, near the front line.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, reacted to the scenes of destruction in Kharkov: “Crazy Russian terrorists attacked a peaceful city.
“Apartments and private houses, hospitals, hotels, kindergartens – these are the buildings damaged after the attack. None of these buildings are military installations.
“Nor did the civilians affected by the attack. Meanwhile, Russia called Ukraine’s airstrikes on Belgorod “indiscriminate”, but a Ukrainian security source told the BBC that only military infrastructure was targeted.
But images from the city showed destroyed residential buildings and burned-out cars in the middle of the street.
Russia’s Kommersant newspaper cited a source close to the Russian Investigative Committee as saying that Ukraine conducted an attack with a multiple rocket launcher in the Kharkov area.
Both sides stepped up bombing in the final week of 2023, with Russia killing at least 31 civilians on Friday in its biggest airstrike in the 22-month war against Ukraine.
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Russia bombs three Ukrainian cities with deadly drones to start new year
New Year’s Day in Ukraine was marked by drone attacks as Putin’s relentless war continued.
Brutal drone attacks hit the cities of Odessa, Lviv and Kharviv overnight, while Kyiova’s forces targeted the Donbass Palace hotel in Donetsk shortly after the Russian president gave a speech at midnight before his people.
Ukraine said it shot down 87 out of 90 Iranian-made Shahed suicide drones launched by Russia – a record number.
In Odessa, one person was killed and nine others were injured after debris from a drone hit a high-rise building, causing burning debris to fall to the ground.
Nataliya Humenyuk, a spokesperson for southern Ukraine’s defense forces, said port infrastructure was damaged after explosions caused a fire. Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov criticized Russia for staging an attack on Ukraine before the new year.
“They say that how you celebrate the new year depends on how you spend it,” he said.
“Well, this year Ukraine will break that rule. We will stand and we will prevail because we have justice and God is on our side.
In the village of Belogorscha near Lviv, the Shukhevych Roman Memorial Museum was damaged by Shahed drones following the Russian attack, and university dormitories were also attacked and destroyed in Dublyany.
Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, said: “Tonight the enemy attacked two places of national memory in Lviv: Dublyany University, where [Ukrainian nationalist] Stepan Bandera studied 100 years ago and Shukhevych Roman Museum. “Symbolism and cynicism.
A fight for our history Ukrainian sources said that in the Kharkiv area, Russia attacked four S-300 air defense missiles, three Kh-31P anti-radar missiles and one Kh-59.
In Donetsk – a city currently held by Russia – pro-Moscow leader Denis Pushilin announcedthat4peopledied and 13 were injured. As the new year began, explosions rangout again in the Kiev-controlled city of Kherson.
An air warning was issued in the Volyn, Rivne, Lviv and Ternopil regions of Ukraine. According to the capital’s military authorities,the number of victims of the missile attack on Kiev on December 29 has increased to 27people.
Rescue operations continue and today the city has declared a day of mourning.
Putin’s attack against Ukraine came as he delivered a New Year’s speech declaring his troops “heroes”.
In his shortest New Year’s speech in four years, he said: “I want to speak to our soldiers-all those who serve,those on the front lines fighting for truth and justice.
“You are our heroes. Our beliefs you. We are proud of you and we admire your courage.
“I know well that now you feel the love of yourselves,the strong and sincere support of millions of Russian citizens, the support of the entire people.
“The main thing that unites us is the destiny of the Fatherland.
“We are united in thought,in duty and in struggle, whether at work or on holiday,embodying the main features of the Russian people: solidarity, kindness and steadfastness. ”
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28 causalties recorded in Ukraine amid Russian attack
Recent reports indicate a surge in the death toll in Ukraine following Russia’s military assault.
Ukrainian government and regional officials confirm at least 28 casualties, although overall figures remain inconsistent.
The most significant concentration of fatalities appears to be in Zaporizhzhia, with Governor Yuriy Malashko reporting eight lives lost in that single area.
The situation continues to unfold, underscoring the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the wake of the conflict.
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Ukraine receives $250m arms package from US as war nears 2nd year
As the conflict with Russia nears its two-year milestone, Ukraine has expressed gratitude for the United States’ latest $250 million arms package.
Announced on Wednesday, the package includes air defense system components, HIMARS ammunition, artillery rounds for 155mm and 105mm guns, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and medical supplies.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence took to X on Thursday to acknowledge the support, emphasizing the American people’s leadership and solidarity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the package’s significance in addressing Ukraine’s immediate needs and praised the US’s role in leading the international coalition aiding Ukraine. This assistance, according to Zelenskyy, is pivotal in combating terror and aggression globally.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden seeks an additional $61 billion in aid for Ukraine from Congress. This request faces challenges as Republicans demand tighter security measures at the US-Mexico border in exchange for their approval.
The White House has cautioned that failing to secure this funding could result in a depletion of US support for Ukraine by year’s end.
Contrastingly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the West’s efforts against Moscow as a complete failure. Lavrov referenced a recent “secret summit” of the Group of Seven nations, where they discussed President Zelenskyy’s “peace formula,” a plan for resolving the conflict, proposed about ten days ago.
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Ukraine marks its first Christmas celebration on December 25 2023
As Russian forces make strides outside Kupiansk, soldiers are gearing up to mark Christmas.
For the first time this year, many Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are set to celebrate Christmas on December 25.
Traditionally following the Julian calendar, shared with Russia, where Christmas is observed on January 7, Ukraine has made a significant shift.
It now celebrates Christmas according to the Western, or Gregorian, calendar used in its everyday life, marking another departure from Russian practices.
Christmas Eve services were attended by Orthodox Christians at Kyiv’s St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky changed the law in July, saying it allowed Ukrainians to “abandon the Russian heritage” of celebrating Christmas in January.
In a Christmas message issued on Sunday evening, Mr Zelensky said all Ukrainians were now together.
“We all celebrate Christmas together. On the same date, as one big family, as one nation, as one united country.”
In the capital Kyiv, married couple Lesia Shestakova, a Catholic, and Oleksandr Shestakov, who is Orthodox, are celebrating Christmas together.
The pair – who until now marked Christmas twice, with their respective parents – attended the Sunday morning service at the city’s Catholic cathedral (pictured above).
“There is finally a day in Ukraine which my husband and I can spend together in the cathedral and thank God that we are together, alive and in good health,” Lesia told Reuters news agency.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), established in 2019 as an independent church, has shifted its Christmas celebration to December 25.
This change comes following its formal separation from the Russian Orthodox Church, a move triggered by Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine.
On Sunday, people across the country engaged in prayer and candle-lighting ceremonies.
In Lviv, a western city relatively untouched by the war, children adorned in traditional costumes sang carols and participated in joyful processions on the streets.
Children in Lviv don traditional Ukrainian attire, singing carols as part of the Christmas festivities.
In Kyiv, Ukraine, citizens come together to decorate a Christmas tree near Independence Square.
While the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) has attracted numerous worshippers in recent years, millions still adhere to the historically Russia-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), choosing to celebrate Christmas on January 7.
In 2022, the UOC claims to have severed ties with Moscow due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, although skepticism remains among many.
Notably, there are expected to be Ukrainians who choose to celebrate Christmas twice – the more, the merrier.
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Ukraine shoots down 3 Russian Su-34 warplanes
Ukraine’s military has reported the downing of three Russian fighter jets in the southern region of the country on Friday.
The Ukrainian air force declared that three Su-34 fighter bombers were successfully shot down over the Kherson region.
President Volodymr Zelensky thanked the servicemen who had downed the planes, saying the incident had occurred in war-torn Kherson Region.
Moscow has not commented on the claims, but influential Russian bloggers have reported losses.
In his nightly address on Friday, Mr Zelensky said the downing of the planes would make Russian pilots attacking targets in Ukraine aware that “none of them [would] go unpunished”.
He also said he had spoken to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte about the future delivery of F-16 jets, as well as a new EU support package.
Russia has not commented on the reported loss of its jets, but Fighterbomber, an influential Russian war blogger, reported the loss of an unspecified number of planes, saying they had probably been downed by US-made Patriot missiles.
Both surviving and dead crew members were recovered, the blogger added.
Another blogger, Voenniy Osvedomitel, said the planes had probably been used to drop glide bombs on a Ukrainian position on the Russian-controlled side of the Dnipro River.
Ukraine is facing an ammunition shortage as it continues to fight occupying Russian forces, following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Kyiv’s counter-offensive ground to a halt at the start of the winter, and Republican representatives in the US – by far Ukraine’s largest military backer – have been reluctant to further fund Ukraine’s war effort.
In a year-end press conference this week, Mr Zelensky insisted that Ukraine was not losing the war with Russia.
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Ukraine moves Christmas from Jan 7 to Dec 25
Ukraine has decided to move its Christmas celebration from January 7 to December 25. This move, seen as a departure from a historical association with Russia, reflects a deliberate choice by Ukraine to align its festivities with the internationally recognized date, underscoring the country’s pursuit of cultural autonomy.
Breaking a tradition that dates back to 1917, Ukraine is now observing Christmas on December 25 for the first time.
The decision goes beyond a mere shift from January 7, the traditional Christmas date in the Julian calendar used by Russia.
It signifies an ongoing and substantial cultural transformation within the nation, representing the most recent effort to eliminate Moscow’s influence in Ukraine.
The adoption of the Western, Gregorian calendar is also a sign of Kyiv’s continuing bid to align itself with Europe.
Whether in war or peacetime, Christmas always comes.
Klavdievo-Tarasove’s decorations factory, in a small town outside Kyiv, used to be one of three which supplied the whole of the Soviet Union.
“We used to have many people – not any more,” Leokadia tells us. She’s worked on this production line since 1978.
She effortlessly blows glass baubles using a gas burner fixed to her desk. It’s a welcome source of heat in these cold, industrial surroundings.
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After years of shrinking output, this factory stopped completely when Russian forces occupied this area for a month soon after the start of the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“It was very scary when tanks drove down the street,” Henya, another worker, explains. “We couldn’t go outside. We had no information, we were cut off from the world. It was terrible.”
And yet, despite only a third of the team having returned, decorations are still being made. Small pieces of Christmas cheer are carefully built and sent out around the country.
And what is Henya’s wish for Ukrainians living under Russian occupation this Christmas?
“You have to believe, hope – and liberation will happen, it will be like that.”
Henya works on the more artistic part of the process: she and her colleagues caringly hand paint each individual bauble.
You immediately notice a military theme. Miniature soldiers, MIG fighter jets, even a Ukrainian tractor pulling a Russian tank – all hang from a shelf, destined for a Christmas tree.
“I think that everyone who will take a look at such a bauble will hope for the victory of our country sooner,” says Tamila with a defiant tone now typical here in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia share countless cultural ties, and they will always have to live next to each other. Yet the former’s identity is only being strengthened by the latter’s aggression.
Fewer places know that aggression better than the town of Bucha, a couple of miles from the decoration factory.
As the Russian advance towards Kyiv slowed last year, invading troops were accused of killing more than 500 civilians in one of the worst atrocities of the war so far.
Some of their names appear on a silver memorial next to the Church of St Andrew. As its golden domes glisten in the winter sunshine, you can still see where grass has struggled to regrow.
It was here that a mass grave appeared during Russia’s occupation. The bodies of those who died could only be exhumed after they retreated.
“Unfortunately for many people in the world, Ukraine is linked to Russia. And Ukraine is always viewed in the context of being a neighbour of Russia,” explains Father Andriy in the candlelit crypt of St Andrew’s.
Unfortunately for many people in the world, Ukraine is linked to Russia… But I think that we are more a neighbour of Europe
“But I think that we are more a neighbour of Europe,” he says. “And the fact that we’ve now changed the calendar is not shifting away from Russia. It is us returning back to Europe, where we belong.”
Given Russia will always be close by, I ask whether he could ever forgive the invading country for what it’s done to his homeland.
“God forgives a sinner, but only those who repent. We do not see yet that the Russians are trying to repent for their sins and mistakes, so I think it’s too early to talk about forgiveness.”
For Ukraine, any Russian repentance must start with an end of its ongoing invasion. There is still no sign of that happening.
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Ukrainian council member throws explosives during meeting
A deputy local leader in western Ukraine threw grenades at a meeting and hurt 26 people, according to the police.
The attack happened on Friday morning at the village council office in Keretsky, in the western Zakarpattia region.
The police have not said why the attack happened yet. Six people are badly hurt.
The meeting was being shown live on Facebook while it happened.
Video shows the man coming into the room while people were arguing about an hour and a half into the meeting.
After that, he waits by a door for about 30 seconds and then throws three grenades into the middle of the room.
The police said 26 people got hurt. Six of them are very badly hurt. They also said the medics are trying to help the person who threw the grenades.
Many people in Ukraine have guns because of the war with Russia, but we do not have proof that the attack was connected to the fighting. -
Hungary refuses to provide Ukraine €50 billion in EU funds
Hungary said no to giving Ukraine €50bn ($55bn; £43bn) in EU aid, even though they agreed to start talking about Ukraine joining the EU.
“Last night’s shift summary: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said they vetoed giving extra money to Ukraine after talks in Brussels on Thursday. ”
EU leaders said they will start talking about aid again at the beginning of next year.
Ukraine needs a lot of money from the EU and US to keep fighting against Russian forces that are in their country.
Mr Orban said no to help shortly after EU leaders said yes to Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia joining the EU.
Hungary, which is friends with Russia, has not supported Ukraine’s membership, but did not stop it from happening.
Mr Orban briefly left the room where they were negotiating. Officials said it was planned and helpful. The other 26 leaders continued with the vote.
He said on Hungarian state radio on Friday that he tried for eight hours to stop his EU friends from going ahead, but he couldn’t persuade them. He said Ukraine joining the EU would take a while. If the parliament in Budapest wanted to, they could still prevent it from happening.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was happy about the EU’s decision to start talking about Ukraine joining the EU. He called it a win.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that Ukraine still has money for a few more weeks, so we don’t need to give them aid right now, despite Mr Orban’s disagreement.
“We said yes to the 26 countries,” he added. Viktor Orban from Hungary has not been able to do that yet. I think we can make a deal at the beginning of next year. We plan to do this in late January.
At a meeting in the early morning on Friday, Mr. Michel said that almost all EU leaders agreed on the aid package and budget plans for the group. But Sweden still needs to get approval from its parliament.
“He said we will talk about this again soon and we will try to all agree. ”
Ukraine really wants the $61 billion in US military help, but it’s taking a long time for the decision to be made because the Democrat and Republican politicians can’t agree.
Ukraine fought back against Russia’s occupying forces, but they had to stop when winter started. People are worried that Russia has stronger weapons and could win.
President Zelensky’s wife, Olena, said in a BBC interview last week that Ukrainians could be in serious danger of dying if Western countries don’t keep giving them money.
Ukraine and Moldova want to join the EU because Russia attacked Ukraine. They both became candidates last June, but Georgia was not chosen at that time.
Mr Zelensky was happy about the EU saying he could be a member. “Ukraine won this. It’s a win for them. ” A win for all of Europe. “Winning helps us feel motivated, inspired, and stronger,” he wrote on X.
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu said she was happy to welcome Ukraine on the path to joining the EU. “We owe our presence here today to Ukraine’s strong fight against Russia’s harsh invasion,” she wrote.
This year, Moldova said Russia was trying to take control of Chisinau.
White House Adviser Jake Sullivan is happy that the EU decided to start talks with Ukraine and Moldova. He thinks this is an important step for them to join Europe and the Atlantic partnership.
German leader Olaf Scholz said that he was happy that other leaders showed their support for Ukraine and Moldova, and he believes that both countries are a part of Europe. A diplomat at the meeting said that Mr. Scholz suggested that Mr. Orban should leave the room so that the vote could happen.
The leader of Hungary said on Facebook that he doesn’t agree with his colleagues about Ukraine joining the EU. Hungary does not want to join in this wrong choice.
Mr Orban thinks that Ukraine shouldn’t receive a lot of money from the EU because it’s not a member of the group.
Earlier today, President Vladimir Putin made fun of Ukraine and said that Western support was running low. He said, “Sorry for being rude, but they are getting everything for free. ” But those free things might not be available forever.
Negotiations to join the EU can last a long time, so Ukraine’s decision on Thursday doesn’t mean they will definitely become a member.
Countries that want to join the European Union need to make changes to follow rules about things like laws and the economy. The EU’s leaders have said Ukraine is doing a good job, completing over 90% of the required changes in areas like justice and fighting corruption. -
All eyes on Orban as EU chooses whether to back Ukraine
Ukraine needs Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, to agree in order to benefit from the EU leaders’ summit on Thursday.
He has strongly refused to let Kyiv join the EU and ignored its requests for help.
“We are the ones who speak common sense in Europe,” he said to the Hungarian government before the summit.
He said that Kyiv won’t be able to join the EU because of war, corruption, a large farming industry, and how they mistreat the Hungarian people living there.
Ukraine is being asked to start talking officially with the EU, and the EU plans to give Ukraine €54bn to help its economy until 2024, as well as €24bn in military assistance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is having a tough week, and Hungarian objections are making it even worse. He went to Washington to ask for $61 billion in military funding from the US, but the Republican lawmakers said no.
The Ukrainian leader said that if there is no good news from Brussels, it means Putin stopped the decision. He accused Budapest of causing problems.
Budapest might stop Kyiv from getting what it wants, even though other EU countries support Ukraine. Poland’s new leader, Donald Tusk, said it’s not okay to ignore Ukraine.
However, as EU leaders started coming to Brussels late on Wednesday, it looked like a compromise might be possible.
The EU’s Commission said they are releasing around €10. 2bn out of €30bn of EU funds for Hungary. This money was stopped because Hungary was not following the rules of law.
Many people think that releasing the money is a way to make Mr Orban less stubborn, but officials in Brussels say they were not forced to do it. And they can mention a law in Hungary that allows Hungarian judges to ask the European Court for help.
Brussels wanted many changes to the criminal code and this was one of them.
Most other leaders in the EU strongly support Kyiv. Slovakia’s leader Robert Fico stopped giving military help to Ukraine. But he said he will help Ukraine start talking about joining the European Union.
A few hours after President Zelensky left Washington DC without getting US aid, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament that Ukraine needs our help to be strong now and in the future when negotiating peace.
MrZelensky really wants things to go well at the EU summit and tried to sound positive during his visit to Norway: “We have been very helpful. ” We did everything and followed the European Union’s suggestions.
The European Commission has said that six out of the seven things needed to start formal talks to join the EU have now been done.
Budapest disagrees with this and says Brussels is making it easier for Kyiv. President Zelensky met with Viktor Orban in Argentina on Sunday and they had a serious talk. Later, Ukraine’s president said it was an honest conversation.
The Ukrainian parliament passed a law last week to make people in Budapest feel better. The law gives Hungarians and other minorities the right to study in their own language.
Ukraine made a new law to fight corruption, which the EU asked for. This law takes away some power from the Orban government.
No one in Brussels thinks that Ukraine is ready to join the European Union right away. The EU 27 starting membership talks shows they are standing together in support.Orban said to the French magazine Le Point that he doesn’t exactly have a veto power. Let’s say I don’t help make a decision that I think is not good.
That seems like choosing not to vote. His government has already quietly agreed to punish Russia 11 times, but this is hardly ever mentioned by Hungary’s controlled, pro-government media.
On Wednesday, the Hungarian government’s top aide, Balazs Orban, said that Hungary’s money from the European Union and Ukraine’s money are not connected.
“However, if the EU says Ukraine’s funding should come from a revised EU budget, then the two issues are connected,” he told Bloomberg.
Viktor Orban is determined that Hungary cannot be forced to do something by threats, and that money problems should not be mixed up with important beliefs.
He, similar to Volodymyr Zelensky, says he did everything the Commission requested – a strange similarity at this summit.
But Ukraine has a lot more to lose. President Zelensky might not win the war with Russia, and Mr. Orban wants to have more power in Europe. He is now thinking about the European Parliamentary elections in June 2024. He wants nationalist parties to win.
President Zelensky’s best result would be to come back to Kyiv with an invitation to start talks to join a new group and a check for €78 billion in military and economic help.
The leader of Hungary wants the EU and Ukraine to agree on a “strategic partnership” at the summit. This would be a small step towards Ukraine joining the EU. Billions of euros in EU money that hasn’t been used yet.
“We are going to stay in Brussels,” he said to the Mandiner news site on Wednesday, “We are going to take over it. “ -
Putin informs Russia his military goals remain same
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there will only be peace with Ukraine when Russia accomplishes its goals.
He is having a big press meeting for the first time since he started a full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
Mr Putin talked to the Russian people on the phone while also answering questions from journalists.
The event did not happen last year.
The beginning of this marathon event is mostly about what Mr. Putin is calling the “special military operation in Ukraine”.
He first thinks about how important it is for Russia to be in control of its own country.
“Our country cannot exist without being in control. ” “It will just not be there,” he tells Channel One host Yekaterina Berezovskaya.
MrPutin thinks Russia’s economy is good during the war and then he starts talking about Ukraine.‘Why is mobilization important. ‘
Mr Putin says that he believes peace will come to Ukraine once his goals are achieved. He says the goals are still the same: to remove Nazi influence, reduce military power, and stay neutral. These are the important topics he has focused on since the war began.
He said that about 486,000 people signed up to be contract soldiers and 300,000 people were called up last year.
“He said there are still many men ready to defend our country with weapons. ” In total, there will be almost 500,000 men by the end of this year. Why do we need to get people together and ready.
A secret US intelligence report said that about 315,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured since the war started. This is nearly 90% of Russia’s military at the beginning of the invasion.
A journalist from a Russian newspaper in Luhansk, Ukraine, asked Mr Putin about Ukraine’s recent control of the east side of the Dnipro river, which Russia had previously occupied.
President Putin says that Ukraine’s military had some success in a small area and was trying hard to get to Crimea. So, Russian forces decided to move back a little into the woods to protect their soldiers. He says that Kyiv wants to show the West that it needs more money for its military.
“I don’t understand why they are doing it. They are forcing their own people to get killed. It’s a dangerous mission for the Ukrainian forces. ” The reasons for this are political because Ukrainian leaders are asking other countries for help.
Mr Putin says that Russian forces are winning in Ukraine.
“At almost all the places where our soldiers are fighting, they are getting better,” he says during his long press conference.
There hasn’t been much action on the front line lately, but Russia is attacking two towns in the Donetsk region. The towns of Mariinka and Avdiivka.
Russia can keep making progress even though there are sanctions against it.
Mr Putin also talks about how Russia gets along with the United States and the European Union.
He says the US is a big country but says it does bad things by taking over other countries. He asks America to be polite to other people and countries. He also says Russia is willing to fix its relationship with America once this happens.
While the leader of Russia is talking, the Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press meeting in Brussels and says that if Putin wins in Ukraine, he may continue to be aggressive in other places too.
Mr Putin says Russia can still make progress even though it’s facing economic punishments and being left out by other countries because it invaded Ukraine.
Russians sent more than two million questions to Mr.
Mr Putin spends up to four hours answering questions during his phone-ins, while Russian and international journalists also ask him lots of questions at the same time. -
Numerous people injured in Russian missile attacks on Kyiv
Many people were hurt in a series of missile attacks on the city of Kyiv, Ukraine last night, according to officials.
Fifty-three people were injured in the attacks, including six kids, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The buildings for little kids and sick people got damaged because debris fell on them. Authorities said they stopped 10 Russian missiles from hitting their target.
The strikes happened after President Zelensky left the US.
He asked Congress to give more weapons to Ukraine, but most Republicans didn’t agree.
The leaders of the European Union will talk about giving more help to Ukraine on Thursday. Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, said it’s important to give Ukraine what it needs to be strong right now.
Mr Zelensky said he will do something about the attack that happened on Wednesday night. “Russia did something bad again by shooting missiles at night. They were aiming at homes, schools, and power plants during the winter,” he wrote on X.
Zelensky didn’t get much from his trip to the US because aid discussions reached a deadlock.
Ukraine’s Air Force said that an attack on Kyiv started at around 3:00 am. It was the second time this week that the capital was hit by a ballistic missile.
It said it had destroyed “all” 10 flying targets heading towards the city with anti-aircraft missiles.
The windows of the apartments were broken and the cars were damaged. There were big bangs before the warning sirens went off because of the missiles.
Russia started using cruise missiles again last week, officials said. They hadn’t used them for 79 days.
“Ballistics are used to make sure people can’t hide in bomb shelters,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on social media.
The Ukraine military said they found Iskander-M ballistic missiles and S-400 missiles. These missiles are very fast and are used to defend against attacks from the air, but they can also be used to attack targets on the ground.
In Ukraine, the largest mobile network company wants to start working again on Wednesday. This comes after a big cyberattack, which seems to be the biggest one since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Tuesday’s attack on Kyivstar, the biggest mobile company in Ukraine, has put many people at risk of not getting warnings about air raids.
The city of Odesa was attacked by drones for a few hours during the night, according to a military leader in the region. Two men got hurt and some public things got broken.
The President of Ukraine came to Norway on Wednesday for a surprise visit to talk about getting help for his country’s defense.
He went there after visiting the US, where he tried really hard to get more military aid from Congress before the current amount runs out.
However, it seems that Mr. Zelensky’s efforts to convince Washington DC to release military aid have not been successful.
President Joe Biden told the Republicans that if they don’t give more weapons to Ukraine, it would help Russia and that’s not good.
Mr Zelensky said that he and Mr Biden decided to get more air defence systems for Ukraine because it’s really important.
“Ukraine needs every system and missile to protect our cities and people. ” “They are helping to keep people alive,” he said.
MrZelensky wants help before the European leaders meeting. Ukraine wants to start talking about joining the EU.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said again that the EU should not start discussions about joining. “The EU is going to make a big mistake and we need to stop it, even if 26 members want to go ahead with it,” said Mr. Orban on a local website called Mandiner.
“If we want to show our support to Ukraine and send a signal about their importance in the region, we can do that, but it doesn’t mean they will become a member. ”
Hungary has not always agreed with its European Union friends. It has reduced the punishment against Russia and last December stopped a deal to give Ukraine €18bn (£15. 5bn) in 2023
The EU is likely to release €10bn for Hungary on Wednesday, but some people say they are doing this to convince Mr Orban to be more helpful to Ukraine.
Ukraine is not just battling the enemy, but also fighting for Europe. When Ukraine becomes a part of our family, it will be their biggest win. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament that we have an important role to play.
However,Orban said to the Hungarian government on Wednesday that having Ukraine join the EU goes against what is best for Hungary.
53 injured in Kyiv after Russian missiles are shot down
