Ukraine’s military said Russia had pulled some troops from towns on the opposite bank of the Dnieper River from Kherson city, the first official Ukrainian report of a Russian withdrawal on the main frontline in the south. The statement gave only limited details and made no mention of any Ukrainian forces having crossed the Dnipro. Ukrainian officials also stressed that Russia had intensified shelling across the river, knocking out power again in Kherson where electricity had only begun to be restored nearly three weeks after Russian troops vacated the city and fled across the river.
An investigation is under way into a suspected letter bomb sent to the US embassy in Madrid. It would be the sixth after five were sent to the Ukrainian embassy, Spanish politicians, a Spanish airbase and a company that makes rocket launchers on Wednesday. Spanish police confirmed to the Reuters news agency that an envelope similar to the previous letter bombs had been intercepted at the embassy.
A private energy company in Ukraine has said that 40% of the country’s power infrastructure is damaged, as Russian attacks continue to target the supply. Millions have been without or with intermittent power since October, as Russia has focused its attacks on Ukraine’s energy system.
As Ukrainians wake up on the first official day of winter, nearly 6 million people across a majority of Ukraine’s regions have no electricity, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday night. Ukraine’s state emergency service has said nine people had been killed in fires, after breaking safety rules in an attempt to heat their homes after Russian attacks on power facilities.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that it was impossible to discuss nuclear arms control while the war in Ukraine continues, claiming the “western involvement” must not be ignored. Lavrov said that the US was trying to break up Russia, and that it was “naive” to think talks could take place while this happened.
Ukraine dismissed the deputy chief engineer of its Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, accusing him of collaborating with Moscow’s forces and treason, the Energoatom state nuclear energy company said. The statement was published a day after Russia said it had promoted the engineer, Yuriy Chernichuk, to serve as the director of the vast nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine.
The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, has urged China’s top leaders to use their influence over Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Michel, who chairs EU leader summits, held talks with Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Thursday, in the first face-to-face encounter between the head of an EU institution and China’s top officials since the start of the pandemic.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Europe should go back to its prewar “peace order” with Russia if Russian president Vladimir Putin will renounce aggression against his neighbours, according to a report in the Times of his comments at a security conference in Berlin.
The US army awarded a $1.2bn contract to Raytheon Technologies Co for six national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) for Ukraine on Wednesday, the Pentagon said. The United States has approved sending Ukraine a total of eight Nasams to help fend off Russian missile and drone attacks.
Russia said on Thursday the German parliament’s move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past. In a decision welcomed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, German lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday declaring the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians – the Holodomor – was genocide.
Another PoW exchange will take place later on Thursday between Russia and Ukraine. Fifty prisoners of war will be handed over in the latest swap between the two sides.
The UN appealed for record funds for aid next year, AFP reports, as the Ukraine war and other conflicts, climate emergencies and the still-simmering pandemic push more people into crisis, and some towards famine. The United Nations’ annual Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that 339 million people worldwide will need some form of emergency assistance next year – a staggering 65 million more people than the estimate a year ago.
France has become the first major western state to publicly back the creation of a special tribunal to try senior Russian officials – potentially including Vladimir Putin – for the crime of aggression in Ukraine.
Russian forces tried to advance in eastern Ukraine and trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Kherson in the south, the Ukrainian military said, as western allies sought to buttress Ukraine and its neighbours against Moscow.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has called for the EU to include Russia’s missile industry in its next sanctions package. Kuleba says it is warranted for their part in Russia’s war efforts, including those which have targeted Ukraine’s power infrastructure.
Ukraine needs the US made Patriot missile defence systems to protect its civilian infrastructure, under heavy attack by Russia, foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said, adding he would be working with the German government on this issue. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Nato on Tuesday against providing Ukraine with Patriot systems, Reuters reported.
The UK has announced a fresh round of sanctions against 22 Russians, including those the Foreign Office says were involved in enlisting criminals to fight in Ukraine. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said on Wednesday his department would target a new set of officials, including Denis Manturov, the deputy prime minister, who is responsible for troop equipment supplies.
US president Joe Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, pledged on Wednesday to make the release of detained Americans a priority if she is confirmed to one of most important, and challenging, US diplomatic posts.
