While kyiv repelled a Russian attack by Iranian drones overnight from Thursday to Friday, the day after massive bombardments against energy infrastructures which deprived millions of Ukrainians of electricity, new Russian strikes targeted several regions of Ukraine on Saturday, including the capital kyiv, where the bombings left at least one dead and several injured, according to local authorities. AFP journalists heard at least 11 explosions early in the afternoon in kyiv. The Ukrainian commander identified 20 missiles fired by Russian forces, 12 of which were shot down. The authorities released images from the scene of one of the bombings, which gutted a hotel in the center of the capital.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that his country “will not forgive” Russia for the invasion and the bombardments, after new strikes targeting kyiv and other cities before the New Year. “No one will forgive you for terror. No one in the world will forgive you for it. Ukraine will not forgive,” he wrote in Russian on Telegram, assuring that “those who order such strikes, and those who carry them out , will not be pardoned, to say the least”.
Ukrainian officials also reported destruction and fires in Mykolaiv in the south, where at least two people were injured, and in Khmelnytsky in the west, where four people were injured. On Friday, the Ukrainian army claimed that Russian forces tried to advance near Bakhmut and Avdiivka, with the aim of taking the entire Donetsk region in the east of the country. For their part, the United States is worried about the rapprochement between Beijing and the Kremlin.
- Ukrainian army advances in Donbass, according to Volodymyr Zelensky
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian troops are holding their positions against Russian forces in the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, “where the fiercest fighting is taking place”. In his Friday night video address, he also added that Ukrainian forces were “slowly advancing” in some areas of the region. The Ukrainian head of state claimed that kyiv had strengthened its anti-aircraft capability and would make it “even stronger” in the new year to protect itself and the entire European continent.
- Putin reaffirms ‘moral rightness’ of invading Ukraine in New Year’s greetings
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his New Year’s greetings this Saturday, December 31, that “moral and historical correctness” was “on the side” of Russia, in full offensive in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin, who spoke alongside soldiers who had fought in Ukraine and whom he had just decorated, according to the Kremlin, spoke of a past year full of “really decisive and important events” which “lay the foundations […] of our true independence”.
The Russian president also castigated “a real sanctions war that has been declared to us” by the West. “Those who started it expected the total destruction of our industry, our finances and our transport. That did not happen,” he added. He accused the Americans and Europeans “of cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and divide Russia”. “The West was lying about peace and preparing for aggression. And today, it is not ashamed to admit it, in broad daylight,” said the Russian head of state. After launching a military offensive against Ukraine in February, Russia claimed in September the annexation of four Ukrainian territories that it controls at least partially, on the pattern of that of the Crimean peninsula in March 2014.
- US ‘closely monitoring’ Sino-Russian relationship
The United States is concerned about China’s alignment with Russia, more than a decade after Moscow’s forces began invading Ukraine, the US State Department said on Friday. The statement came after a videoconference meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, during which the Kremlin ruler said Russia-China ties were the “best in history”, and expressed his wish to expand military collaboration.
“Beijing claims to be neutral but its behavior clearly shows that it is still committed to close relations with Russia,” a State Department spokesperson said, adding that Washington was “closely monitoring the activity” of China. . Vladimir Putin has also invited his Chinese counterpart to pay a state visit to Moscow next spring.
- Kremlin gives tax gift to Russian soldiers and officials deployed in Ukraine
Russian soldiers and civil servants deployed in Ukraine will no longer be required to declare their income, the Kremlin announced on Friday, under an exemption from anti-corruption laws. “It concerns those who work in the (four) territories,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press, referring to the four Ukrainian regions (those of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporizhia) for which Moscow claims responsibility. annexation – without however fully controlling them – and where most of the fighting is currently taking place.
This new provision is part of the Kremlin’s incentive measures to push the Russians to leave to fight in Ukraine: promise of significant bonuses, banking and real estate facilities, financial aid to families in the event of death or injury, etc.
- 95 billion dollars withdrawn from Russian oligarchs in 2022
Russia’s wealthiest oligarchs have lost nearly $95 billion this year amid tough sanctions imposed by Western countries following the war in Ukraine, or nearly $330 million a day since the Kremlin ruled. launched its invasion. Roman Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea FC, is the biggest loser, his fortune having fallen 57% to $7.8 billion this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The UK government has frozen more than £18 billion in assets belonging to oligarchs and other Russians, according to the first official total recently revealed. Sanctions were imposed on 1,271 people – including Abramovich and “nickel king” Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s second richest person – according to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation’s annual tally.
