12/20/2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 06:08 Ukrainian fighter jet pilots will soon begin training in France +++
France plans to start training Ukrainian fighter jet pilots in early 2024. “The first pilots will arrive in early 2024. After the first training in France, they will continue their training on fighter aircraft through training from our partners,” said a statement from the Defense Ministry in Paris. The training program for the Ukrainian military will also be expanded to other areas, such as the navy, it said. The ministry adds that the number of Ukrainian soldiers trained in France will reach 8,000 by the end of 2023.
+++ 05:30 Secret service: Russian troops near Kupyansk suffer from fever after rat bites +++
The Russian troops in the Kupyansk sector of the front are increasingly suffering from fever, which is transmitted through rat and mouse bites. This is reported by the Ukrainian secret service HUR on Telegram. Symptoms include severe headaches, high fever, rash, low blood pressure, bleeding eyes, nausea, vomiting and severe lower back pain. In the early stages, the disease resembles a common flu, they say. The disease later attacks the kidneys. The command ignores the complaints of its own soldiers and sees them as an attempt to avoid the war. That is why the Russian units have now been considerably weakened.
+++ 03:47 Serious blow for Ukraine: US Congress postpones agreement on billions in aid until 2024 +++
The US Congress will not approve any new military aid for Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia, this year. The leaders of the ruling Democrats and the opposition Republicans in the Senate, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, admitted this in a joint statement. Negotiators from the Chamber of Congress and the administration will continue to work on outstanding issues in the coming days, said Schumer and McConnell. The hope is that action can be taken “quickly” at the beginning of next year. The failure to reach an agreement on new aid to Ukraine before the end of the year does not come as a surprise, but it is a symbolically heavy blow for Ukraine.
+++ 02:27 Russian air strikes on Kiev +++
According to the military, the Ukrainian capital Kiev is the target of Russian air strikes for the fifth time this month. “According to preliminary information, there were no injuries and no destruction in the capital,” said the head of the Kiev military administration, Serhiy Popko, via Telegram. The Ukrainian air defense destroyed all missiles.
+++ 01:25 Putin confiscates holdings in Wintershall Dea and OMV +++
According to a presidential decree, the German Wintershall Dea and the Austrian OMV are to formally lose their shares in gas production projects in the Russian Arctic. All activities with Russian participation, including Wintershall Dea’s participation in the Nord Stream gas pipeline and joint ventures with Gazprom, are to be legally separated by mid-2024, according to a decree signed by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
+++ 00:25 Kiev: Want to produce a million drones ourselves in 2024 +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced the production of one million drones next year. “We will produce a million drones next year,” Zelensky said at his year-end press conference in Kiev. In the war against Russia, his country is relying on modern weapons of its own manufacture: “Our soldiers will receive Ukrainian-made drones in their units.”
+++ 23:25 Zelenskyj against joining NATO for a divided Ukraine +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejects the idea of Ukraine joining NATO without the Russian-occupied territories. Ukraine will not agree to a split accession, he said in Kiev. “We have not received such a proposal from any of our partners. I find it difficult to imagine what that would look like.” The strongest security guarantee for Ukraine is its accession as a whole country. Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has suggested that Ukraine could be admitted to the Western military alliance even if it does not control all of its territory. This would deter Russia from attacking Ukrainian territory in NATO.
+++ 22:03 Hyundai sells its only Russian factory for a symbolic price of 77.74 euros +++
South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai Motor announces that it is selling its only Russian factory. The company will sell the St. Petersburg plant for a symbolic sum of 7,000 rubles (77.74 euros), a Hyundai official told Reuters. The company joins the list of major car manufacturers leaving Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and a wave of sanctions, including Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Toyota and others. “Hyundai Motor Company approved at a board meeting today the plan to sell its entire stake in Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus (HMMR LLC) to Art-Finance LLC,” the company said in its statement.
You can read all previous developments here.