12/26/2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 05:44 Kiev wants to terminate trade agreement with Belarus +++
The government in Kiev plans to terminate a free trade agreement with Belarus. The relevant law is already before parliament, reports the Suspilne news agency. The reason for this is the neighboring country’s participation in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
+++ 05:10 Kamikaze drones in Mykolaiv and Krivyi Rih +++
The Russian military attacked several regions of Ukraine overnight with kamikaze drones. Ukrainian media reported numerous explosions that were caused by the use of anti-aircraft defenses. In addition to Mykolaiv and Krivyi Rih in the south of the country, other regions in central Ukraine also reported drone flights.
+++ 03:59 Attack on Crimea: Russian landing craft sunk +++
According to officially unconfirmed reports on social media, a ship loaded with ammunition was hit in the attack on the port of the Crimean city of Feodosiya. The Ukrainian Air Force later reported that it had sunk the Russian amphibious landing craft Novocherkassk. It had Iranian drones on board.
+++ 03:01 Strong explosions in Crimea +++
Ukraine has attacked the city of Feodosiya and set the city’s port area on fire, the Russian-appointed head of the peninsula’s administration, Sergei Aksyonov, said on the Telegram text messaging service. “The port area has been cordoned off. The explosions have stopped. The fire is under control.” The emergency services are on site and several residential buildings have been evacuated. Images published by several Russian news agencies on Telegram show powerful explosions and fires over the port area.
+++ 02:15 Zelensky praises the air force +++
Following reports of several Russian fighter jets being shot down, Ukrainian President Zelensky praised his air force and anti-aircraft units. In the week before Christmas, a total of five enemy planes were shot down, Zelensky said in his evening video speech. “That’s really impressive!”
+++ 01:25 Ukraine plans lower draft age +++
Ukraine wants to lower the draft age for soldiers from 27 to 25 years. This emerges from a draft law on the Ukrainian parliament’s website. President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that the army wanted to mobilize another 450,000 to 500,000 Ukrainians. The number of Ukrainian troops is not known, but in the past it was said that the country had around a million people under arms. U.S. officials estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed and wounded on both sides since Russia invaded Ukraine. Neither country publishes its death toll.
+++ 00:30 Mützenich wants to talk more about peace than war +++
While Russia continues the war against Ukraine with undiminished severity, the SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich would like to talk more about peace than war. “We should not only concern ourselves with war, but also with how wars can be ended,” Mützenich told the editorial network Germany (RND). “Security policy is more than military policy.” He complained that his party colleague and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had called for the country to become “war-ready” again: “We should not put it in such a way that we have to train Germany for war, but rather that we have to be capable of defending ourselves.”
+++ 23:25 USA concerned about Navalny’s condition +++
The USA expresses concern about the prison conditions of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The US State Department said it was welcome that after almost three weeks of uncertainty there was information about Navalny’s whereabouts. “However, we remain deeply concerned about Mr. Navalny’s well-being and the conditions of his unjustified detention.” The State Department statement continued: “We have communicated to the Russian government that it is responsible for what happens to Mr. Navalny in its custody and that the international community is monitoring this closely.”
+++ 22:22 Putin increases visa fees for EU countries +++
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill that will reintroduce fees for issuing Russian visas for citizens of certain European countries. According to the state news agency TASS, the law affects nationals of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, as well as the entire European Union. People who were previously exempt from the visa fee, such as close relatives of Russians, schoolchildren, students or long-distance drivers, now have to pay it. The law suspends the provision that set the visa fee at 35 euros. From now on, all citizens of European countries will be charged visa fees, which will range from US$50 to US$300 depending on the urgency and number of entries requested.
+++ 21:05 Zelenskyj: Every Russian pilot has to make a choice +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has on Christmas Day in his speech thanked the men and women who defend Ukraine from Russian aggressors. He also thanked the emergency services, the civil protection services and the fire departments, as well as the country’s police forces. Zelensky also listed recent downings of Russian drones and jets and said every Russian pilot must make a clear personal decision about whether or not to continue participating in the war. Ukraine’s air defense will become even stronger – especially if promised air defense systems are put into service. Zelenskyj also explicitly mentioned F-16 jets.
You can read all previous developments here.