12/31/2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 05:33 Kyiv: Moscow forces Russian passports on Ukrainians +++
According to Ukrainian data Russia Workers in the occupied territories under pressure to accept Russian passports. This is shared by the National Resistance Center of the Ukrainian military with. Accordingly, stand in particular Targeted government employees, doctors and utility workers. The occupation authorities are threatening unemployment if people don’t give up their Ukrainian citizenship, the center said.
+++ 03:48 Kyiv warns Russians: Putin will close borders +++
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov says in a video speech that Russia is planning a new wave of mobilization. “I know for sure that you have about a week before you have an election,” Resnikov said to the Russian population. “In early January, the Russian authorities will close the borders for men, impose martial law and launch another wave of mobilization. The borders will also be closed in Belarus,” Reznikov continued.
Read more about this here.
+++ 23:30 Ukraine reports liberation from place in Luhansk +++
According to Ukraine, it has conquered the small town of Novoselivske in the Luhansk region. This is about 20 kilometers northwest of Svatove, a key Ukrainian destination in the region. Russia has lost soldiers and military equipment in the fighting, the local administration of Luhansk said on Telegram. “Some of the occupiers were captured.” A video is said to show captured Russian soldiers. The information and the authenticity of the recordings cannot be independently confirmed. A Russian statement is not available.
+++ 22:19 Kremlin cancels income tax for occupiers in Ukraine +++
According to the Kremlin, Russian soldiers and civil servants stationed in Ukraine will in future be exempt from income tax. The regulation affects “those who work in the (four) areas,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists with a view to the four Ukrainian areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Cherson and Zaporizhia claimed by Russia as annexed. He referred to an exception in an anti-corruption law that the government published on Thursday. According to President Vladimir Putin’s decree, soldiers, police officers, members of the security services and other government officials who serve in the four regions no longer have to provide information on “their income, expenses and assets”. The decree also gives them the right to receive “rewards and gifts” if they are “humanitarian in nature” and received as part of the military operation in Ukraine. The measure also applies to “spouse and minor children”, retrospectively from February 24 – the beginning of the offensive in Ukraine.
+++ 21:52 Kyiv: 12,000 men arrested illegally crossing the border to the west +++
Since the outbreak of the Russian war of aggression and the declaration of a state of war in Ukraine, several thousand young Ukrainians have attempted to evade military service. According to the Ukrainian border troops, almost 12,000 men were caught trying to illegally cross the border to western countries. 15 men died illegally crossing the border. Among other things, according to the information, two men froze to death in the Carpathians on the way to Romania.
+++ 21:19 Selenskyj: Ukrainian air defense could become the strongest in Europe +++
As a result of repeated Russian rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a further expansion of the air defense system. “In the new year, Ukraine’s air defense will be even stronger, even more effective,” says Zelenskyy in his daily video address. As a result, Ukraine’s air defense could become the strongest in all of Europe. “This will be a security guarantee not only for our country but for the entire continent.” In recent weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces’ air defenses have achieved relatively high numbers of kills in large-scale Russian attacks with cruise missiles, rockets and so-called kamikaze drones. Given the mass of incoming projectiles, not all missiles could be repelled. The Ukrainian army, which already uses a number of foreign anti-aircraft systems, is awaiting the deployment of the announced US Patriot battery. Ukrainian soldiers are currently being trained on the system.
You can read earlier developments in the Ukraine war here.