Summary
Ukraine was hit by a 48-hour cyber-attack this week that the UK has described as probably “one of the highest-impact disruptive cyber-attacks on Ukrainian networks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion”. Kyivstar, the operator which was hit, supplies over half of Ukraine’s population with mobile and home internet services. The cyber-attack also reportedly disrupted air raid sirens, some banks, ATMs, and point-of-sale terminals.
Vladimir Putin’s supporters have formally nominated him to run as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election. Putin is running as an independent in March’s election, which he is all but certain to win. Constitutional reforms that he himself has enacted could allow him to remain in power until 2036.
A Ukrainian missile attack on a Russian-held village in southern Ukraine killed two people, according to Moscow’s occupying authorities in the Kherson region. It comes after Russian-occupying forces said that at least 15 aerial targets had been downed, while Ukraine says its air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters have shot down 30 out of 31 Russian drones over 11 regions.
Hungary has threatened to veto Bulgaria’s entry into Europe’s passport-free Schengen Zone unless it ends its transit tax on Russian gas. The foreign ministry said the country would lift its veto as soon as the transit tax on Hungary’s main gas import route is repealed. Hungary receives 4.5 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Russia under a deal signed in 2021, mainly via Bulgaria and Serbia.
Russia is stepping up its efforts to capture Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, moving battalion reserves to the area, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army has said. Kupiansk is seen as a key logistics centre.
We’ll be closing this blog shortly, but head to our Ukraine page for all our latest reporting on the war.
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Hungary has threatened to veto Bulgaria’s entry into Europe’s passport-free Schengen Zone unless it ends its transit tax on Russian gas.
“We have made it clear to the Bulgarians that if they keep this in place for long, if they jeopardise the safety of Hungary’s energy supply for long, then we will veto their Schengen entry,” the Hungarian foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, is quoted as saying by Reuters.
He said the country would lift its veto as soon as the transit tax on Hungary’s main gas import route is repealed. Hungary receives 4.5 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Russia under a deal signed in 2021, mainly via Bulgaria and Serbia.
The foreign ministry’s move comes amid Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s resistance towards Ukraine in Brussels. Orbán has sided with Moscow, even as all the other European Union members support the beginning of accession talks with Ukraine, despite its invasion by Russia.
Ukraine has expressed confidence it will receive a €50bn aid package from the EU, despite Orbán vetoing the funding at a crucial summit in Brussels. Russia has congratulated Hungary for blocking aid to Ukraine.
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A Ukrainian missile attack on a Russian-held village in southern Ukraine killed two people, according to Moscow’s occupying authorities in the Kherson region.
Moscow’s forces said the missile hit the village of Nova Mayachka, on the Russian-occupied bank of the Dnipro river, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) east of the Ukrainian-held city of Kherson.
“Two civilians were killed. Two other (civilians) were wounded,” Russian-installed official Vladimir Saldo said.
It comes after Saldo said that at least 15 aerial targets had been downed, while Ukraine says its air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters have shot down 30 out of 31 Russian drones over 11 regions across the country so far on Saturday.
As well as the material destruction, the 160 days of Russian occupation left an insidious psychological legacy that may take just as long to heal. It’s hinted at by the phone number daubed on walls throughout the town in white paint. The number is for a hotline run by the Ukrainian SBU security service, an invitation to provide information on who did what during the dark days of occupation.
Shaun Walker reports from Izium, where people remain divided a year on from the end of the five-month Russian occupation:
Vladimir Putin’s supporters have formally nominated him to run as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election, Reuters cites Russian state news agencies as reporting.
Putin is running as an independent in March’s election, which he is all but certain to win. He previously ran as in independent candidate in 2018.
Under Russian election law, independent candidates must be nominated by a group of at least 500 supporters and must gather at least 300,000 signatures in their support.
Putin was nominated by a group that included top officials from the ruling United Russia party, and public figures including Russian actors, singers and athletes.
Mikhail Kuznetsov, the head of the the executive committee of the Putin-founded political coalition, the People’s Front, announced he had been back unanimously.
Under constitutional reforms he orchestrated, the 71-year-old may seek two more six-year terms after his current term expires next year, allowing him to potentially stay in power until 2036.
The beginning of Putin’s fifth term in March appears almost inevitable due to the tight control over Russia’s political system that he has established in his 24 years in power, with a lack of free press and influential critics jailed or in exile.
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Ukraine hit by one of the worst cyber-attacks of the war, says UK
This week, Ukraine was hit by a 48-hour cyber-attack that the UK says was probably “one of the highest-impact disruptive cyber-attacks on Ukrainian networks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion”.
Th UK’s Ministry of Defence said:
On 12 December 2023, Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile network operator, suffered a cyber-attack. Effects continued for at least 48 hours, impacting the company’s mobile and data services.
Kyivstar supplies over half of Ukraine’s population with mobile and home internet services. The cyber-attack reportedly left users without mobile signal or the ability to use the internet. Kyivstar reported that no personal data was compromised during the attack.
The cyber-attack also reportedly disrupted air raid sirens, some banks, ATMs, and point-of-sale terminals. At the same time, the Ukrainian bank Monobank was targeted with a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, disrupting access to the bank’s website.
With Ukraine’s government resources and emergency services affected, this incident is likely one of the highest-impact disruptive cyber attacks on Ukrainian networks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
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Putin to seek re-election as an independent candidate, Russian media says
Vladimir Putin will run for president again as an independent candidate with a wide support base but not on a party ticket, Russian news agencies are reporting, citing his supporters.
Putin, who has been in power as either president or prime minister for more than two decades, has announced he will seek another six-year term in March next year in an election he is comfortably expected to win.
Putin will not run as a candidate for the ruling United Russia (UR) party, even though he has its complete support, but as an independent candidate, Andrei Turchak, a senior UR party official, was cited as saying by the RIA news agency.
Sergei Mironov, a senior politician from the Just Russia party who supports Putin, was also quoted by RIA as saying Putin would run as an independent and that signatures would be gathered in his support.
Reuters reports that for Putin, 71, the election is a formality: with the support of the state, the state-run media and almost no mainstream public dissent, he is certain to win.
Supporters of Putin say he has restored order, national pride, and some of the clout Russia lost during the chaos of the Soviet collapse and that his war in Ukraine - something Putin calls a “special military operation” - is justified.
A years-long crackdown on opponents and critics bolstered by sweeping new laws on “fake news” and “discrediting the army” has seen critics and opponents of the war handed long jail terms or flee abroad as the room for dissent has steadily shrunk.
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Summary
It is just after 2pm in Kyiv. Here is a summary of the day’s developments so far.
Ukraine’s interior ministry has placed the head of Russia’s Orthodox church – a backer of the Kremlin’s 21-month-old war against Kyiv – on its wanted list. The measure is a symbolic one, as Patriarch Kirill is in Russia and under no threat of arrest.
Russia is stepping up its efforts to capture Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, moving battalion reserves to the area, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army has said. Kupiansk is seen as a key logistics centre.
Ukraine says its air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters have shot down 30 out of 31 Russian drones over 11 regions across the country so far on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Russian-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, in Ukraine’s partly occupied southern Kherson region said that at least 15 aerial targets had been downed.
Russia had suffered 930 casualties over the past day, according to figures published by the Ukrainian army. This brings Russia’s total number of casualties since the invasion began to 344,820 troops, according to Ukraine.
Ukraine has expressed confidence it will receive a €50bn aid package from the EU, despite Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, vetoing the funding at a crucial summit in Brussels. Russia has congratulated Hungary for blocking aid to Ukraine.
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Russia is increasing its efforts to capture Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, transporting battalion reserves to the area, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army has said.
Kupiansk was liberated from Russian occupation in September 2022 by the Ukrainian counteroffensive, and has been a target since then, as it serves as an important logistics centre for the Russian invasion’s progression to the south and west. It was captured by Russia in February 2022.
Russia is spending significant amounts of equipment and troops on its offensive on Kupiansk, the Ukrainian news organisation Ukrinform quoted the Ukrainian army spokesperson Volodymyr Fito as saying. Fito claimed the “equipment is more protected” than Russian soldiers.
The governor of the Kharkiv region announced last month that all families with children living in and around Kupiansk had been evacuated to safer regions, according to the Kyiv Independent.
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Some images from the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine:
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Russia has lost 344,820 troops since it invaded Ukraine last February, according to the latest figures shared by Ukraine’s armed forces.
Russia had suffered 930 casualties over the past day, the army said.
According to Ukraine’s report, Russia has lost 5,720 tanks, 10,667 armoured vehicles, 10,710 vehicles and fuel tanks, 8,100 artillery systems, 920 multiple-launch rocket systems.
It had also lost 605 air defence systems, 324 planes, 324 helicopters, 6,238 drones, 22 ships and boats, and one submarine, Ukraine said.
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As we have just reported, Ukraine faces hurdles in its path to becoming a member of the EU. On the subject of those accession talks, the Guardian has published this editorial:
When tens of thousands of lives have been lost, and Ukrainians remain under Russian occupation or assault, it seems perverse to focus on symbolism. The harsh reality is that the country faces another cold, bleak winter, locked in a military stalemate, with more wounded soldiers and grieving families. It needs massive material support to continue its fight.
Yet the EU’s agreement to open membership talks with Ukraine – and Moldova – on Thursday is nonetheless welcome and important. While the path to accession is in reality long and winding, this decision reaffirms solidarity with Kyiv. Volodymyr Zelenskiy greeted it as a triumph for both his country and Europe: “A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens.”
Many had feared that Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU, would block the move. Instead, Hungary’s prime minister took the highly unusual step of effectively abstaining at the Brussels summit. What some have portrayed as unaccustomed deftness on the part of Olaf Scholz – with the German chancellor suggesting that he step outside for a coffee while others voted – is clearly not the critical part of the story. Unfreezing some of the frozen EU funding for Hungary following judicial reforms doubtless helped. But a highly transactional leader has presumably cut an unspecified deal off stage.
Though Mr Orbán was correct to say that Hungary could pull the handbrake in future, that was a message for his domestic audience. The fact is, he is allowing negotiations to proceed now.
Continue reading here:
Ukraine confident of securing EU funding package
Ukraine has expressed confidence it will receive a €50bn aid package from the EU, despite Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, vetoing the funding at a crucial summit in Brussels.
In a statement, the foreign ministry in Kyiv shrugged off Orbán’s blocking tactics. It said it expected “all necessary legal procedures” to be completed at an EU summit in January, with the aid delivered “as soon as possible”.
“This is a clear signal that the financial support of Ukraine from the EU will continue,” it said. It added that the cash would be used to “modernise” the state and speed up its integration into the EU bloc.
Hungary’s veto topped a rollercoaster week for Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which he attended the inauguration ceremony for Argentina’s new president and scrambled to Washington to meet President Joe Biden and leading US Republicans.
Russia says it has thwarted a series of Ukrainian drone attacks. It said anti-aircraft units had destroyed 32 drones over the Crimean peninsula and six in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.
In Ukraine’s partially occupied southern Kherson region, the Russian-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, reported on Telegram that at least 15 aerial targets had been downed.
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Here are some of the latest images coming through from Ukraine:
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Ukraine says its air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters have shot down 30 out of 31 Russian drones over 11 regions across the country so far on Saturday.
Witnesses told the Reuters that a series of explosions resounded throughout the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as air defence units engaged Russian drones.
Serhiy Popko, the head of the city’s military administration, said:
This is the sixth air attack on Kyiv since the start of the month.
Tonight, after three days of ballistic threats, the enemy again launched Shaheds on the capital. The drones attacked in groups, in waves, and from different directions.
There were no casualties and no major damage reported in Kyiv, Popko said.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said anti-aircraft units went into action as groups of the Russian drones flew across the outskirts of the city and targeted areas near the centre.
Anti-aircraft activity was heavy in the Darnytskyi district on the east bank of the Dnipro and explosions also struck historic Podil on the opposite bank, he said.
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Patriarch Kirill added to Ukraine's wanted list
As just mentioned, Ukraine’s interior ministry has placed the head of Russia’s Orthodox church – a backer of the Kremlin’s 21-month-old war against Kyiv – on its wanted list.
Ukraine’s security services accuse him of abetting the conflict.
Reuters reports that the measure is purely symbolic because Patriarch Kirill is in Russia and under no threat of arrest.
It is, however, the latest step in Ukraine’s campaign to uproot the influence of priests it alleges maintain close links to Russia and subvert Ukrainian society.
A post on the Ukrainian ministry’s wanted list identified Kirill by name, showed him in his clerical robes and described him as “an individual in hiding from the bodies of pre-trial investigation”. It said he had been “missing” since 11 November.
Orthodox Christianity is the dominant faith in Ukraine and authorities in Kyiv have launched criminal cases against clergy linked to a branch of the Orthodox church once directly linked to the Russian church and Kirill.
Parliament in Kyiv is considering a bill that would ban that branch of the church, which has lost many of its parishioners since Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022. The church says it severed all links to Moscow in May 2022.
Ukraine’s SBU security service issued a document last month saying Kirill “infringed Ukrainian sovereignty” by virtue of his position as “part of the closest entourage of Russia’s military and political leadership”.
Security forces have launched dozens of criminal cases, including accusations of treason, against priests and officials linked to the branch of the church associated with Moscow.
Kirill has denounced those actions and appealed to clerical leaders worldwide to stop Ukraine’s moves against the church.
A senior official in the Russian church told Russia’s RIA news agency that placing Kirill on a wanted list was “a step that is as ridiculous as it is predictable”.
Vladimir Legoida, responsible for ties with other churches, told RIA that Ukrainian authorities were guilty of “lawlessness and attempting to intimidate parishioners”.
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Opening summary
Hello and thanks for joining the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s interior ministry has placed the head of Russia’s Orthodox church, a backer of the Kremlin’s 21-month war against Kyiv, on a wanted list after security services accused him of abetting the conflict.
The measure is purely symbolic as Patriarch Kirill is in Russia and under no threat of arrest, but it represents the latest step in Ukraine’s campaign to uproot the influence of priests it alleges maintain close links to Russia and subvert Ukrainian society.
A post on the Ukrainian ministry’s wanted list identified Kirill by name, showed him in his clerical robes and described him as “an individual in hiding from the bodies of pre-trial investigation”. It said he had been “missing” since 11 November.
Orthodox Christianity is the dominant faith in Ukraine and authorities in Kyiv have launched criminal cases against clergy linked to a branch of the Orthodox church once directly linked to the Russian church and Kirill.
In other developments:
Ukraine expressed confidence it would receive a €50bn aid package from the EU, despite Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, vetoing the funding at a summit in Brussels. In a statement, the foreign ministry in Kyiv shrugged off Orbán’s blocking tactics. It said it expected all necessary legal procedures to be completed at an EU summit in January, with the aid delivered as soon as possible.
Emmanuel Macron said Orbán must not be allowed to take the EU “hostage” after blocking the aid package. As leaders of the European Union start working on the details of plan B to raise the money through cash and loans, the French president said Orbán was being dishonest to the public about his reasons for vetoing the financial package and would ultimately come around.
Russia congratulates Hungary for blocking the aid to Ukraine. “Hungary, in contrast to many European countries, firmly defends its interests, which impresses us,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow.
The European Commission will release a further €1.5bn for Ukraine in coming days under existing arrangements, the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said at a news conference at the end of an EU summit. A new summit to discuss financial support for Ukraine is planned for early new year, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, added.
Orbán said on Friday that his country would have plenty of future opportunities to interrupt Ukraine’s process of joining the EU, a day after the rightwing leader’s turnaround allowed EU leaders to move forward on bringing Kyiv into the bloc. In an interview with Hungarian state radio, Orbán said EU leaders had told him he would “lose nothing” by dropping his veto because he would have chances in the future to block Ukraine’s accession if he chose to. “Their decisive argument was that Hungary loses nothing, given that the final word on Ukraine’s membership has to be given by the national parliaments, 27 parliaments, including the Hungarian one,” he said.
A council member of the western Ukrainian village of Keretsky detonated three hand grenades during a meeting Friday, critically injuring himself and at least 25 other people, authorities said. The motive of the man, who was initially identified as Serhii Batryn, a council member belonging to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party, was unclear.
Ukraine’s biggest mobile operator, hit by a mass cyber-attack this week, said on Friday that it had restored mobile internet throughout Ukraine and international roaming. In a statement on Facebook, Kyivstar said it was working on restoring SMS messaging. The network was operating on all standards, including 4G, it said.
Russia’s central bank on Friday raised its key interest rate to 16%, announcing a fifth hike since summer in an effort to rein in accelerating inflation. The central bank has been grappling with the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine that includes western sanctions, a surge in government military spending and the call-up of hundreds of thousands of men.
Japan announced expanded sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, revealing dozens of newly sanctioned firms and other organisations, including export bans against some outside Russia and its ally Belarus. Tokyo added to its sanctions list 57 organisations in Russia and six others in countries including the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, Syria and Uzbekistan, the trade ministry said in a statement.
Russian anti-aircraft units destroyed 26 Ukrainian drones over the Crimean peninsula on Friday, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram. Separately, the Russia-installed governor of part of the southern Kherson region held by Moscow, Vladimir Saldo, reported on Telegram that Russian anti-aircraft units had downed at least 15 aerial targets near the town of Henichesk and the defence ministry said Russian forces shot down six Ukrainian drones in the border region of Kursk.
Ukraine has agreed dozens of contracts for joint production or technology exchanges with western partners, Kyiv said on Friday, as it strives to reduce its dependence on military supplies from the west and to boost domestic output.
“We have dozens of new contracts between companies on joint production or technology exchange,” the defence minister Rustem Umerov said in a Facebook post.Polish hauliers on Friday said they expected to resume a month-long blockade at the largest freight crossing point with Ukraine, as their Slovak counterparts announced the end of their protest. Truckers from both countries are demanding the reintroduction of permits to enter the European Union for their Ukrainian competitors, which the 27-nation bloc had waived after Russia invaded Ukraine.
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