DIRECT. War in Ukraine: Moscow ready to negotiate with the IAEA on a security zone around the Zaporizhia power plant

According to the Ukrainian military authorities, around 40 missiles were launched at the kyiv region. 37 were able to be intercepted in flight.

The Russian occupation authorities in the Ukrainian region of Luhansk, in the east of the country, accused the Ukrainian forces of artillery fire on two localities, killing eight people and injuring twenty-three. “Today, early in the morning, nationalist artillery fire targeted the town of Stakhanov and the village of Lantratovka in the Troitsky district. Eight people died, twenty-three of ours were injured,” said Russian regional leader Leonid Passetchnik.

The Kremlin said it would study the European Union’s latest sanctions package against Russia and then formulate its response. The measures designate nearly 200 additional people and notably prohibit investments in the Russian mining industry.

The vice-president of the Security Council of the Russian Federation wonders about the attitude of NATO countries. “The leaders of the NATO countries unanimously sing that their countries and the whole bloc are not at war with Russia. But everyone is well aware that this is not the case, ”he launched on his Telegram account.

According to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, negotiations could open soon in Moscow with the IAEA to create a protection zone around the nuclear power plant.

A missile destroyed a house in the city. Two people died and five injured including two children were taken to hospital.

Following the bombardments, all metro lines were temporarily stopped in the capital.

According to the authorities, twelve missiles fell on the town near the nuclear power plant.

People could be under the rubble after a home in the city was bombed, authorities said.

According to initial reports, dozens were fired by the Russians into Ukraine. In the Nikolaiv region, no less than 60 Russian missiles were spotted heading into Ukrainian airspace, according to Vitaly Kim, governor of the region. The Ukrainian defense tries to destroy them in flight. Recently, the Minister of Defense stated that the army is capable of intercepting almost 80%.

A “critical facility” (energy) in the Kharkiv region was hit three times, according to the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov. An initial assessment does not report any casualties. The city is completely without electricity.

According to the British Ministry of Defence, “Russian forces have continued to make considerable efforts to build large defensive positions along the front line”. According to intelligence, these Russian constructions follow traditional military entrenchment plans, largely unchanged since World War II. “Such constructions are likely to be vulnerable to modern precision indirect strikes,” the ministry said.

While military exercises are underway in Belarus, Vladimir Putin is due to visit this country next week.

Ukrainian officials warn of another major Russian offensive next year, possibly as early as February. Certain elements point in this direction: the partial mobilization by Russia of approximately 300,000 soldiers, ongoing training for 150,000 men or even missile orders in Iran.

The US Senate passed the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDDA), which authorizes $858 billion in military spending, including an additional $800 million in security assistance for Ukraine.

This resolution notably condemns Crimea for the purpose of aggression against Ukraine. Beyond that, the votes for this resolution allow us to see the countries that support Russia.

The United States is reportedly ready to send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine. This information from CNN triggered a warning from the Russian Embassy in the United States, which spoke of “unforeseeable consequences”. Yesterday, it was the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, who reacted during a briefing in Moscow. Asked about Russian warnings that sending the Patriot system would be “provocative”, Pentagon press secretary Gen. Pat Ryder said the comments would not influence US aid to Ukraine. “The United States is not at war with Russia and we are not looking for conflict. Our goal is to provide Ukraine with the security assistance it needs to defend itself.”

For the time being, the United States limited the training of Ukrainian soldiers to the armaments they supplied to kyiv. Change of strategy. This time, Washington will develop, from January, its program with the aim of training more soldiers and giving them broader skills. Joint maneuvers will be organized with the aim of teaching the Ukrainian military to coordinate infantry maneuvers with artillery support, according to the spokesman for the US Department of Defense, General Pat Ryder. This program should train in Germany about 500 Ukrainian soldiers per month.

Belarus is holding a surprise inspection of its armed forces, after repeated warnings from Ukraine of a threat from its Moscow-aligned northern neighbor.

“Since the beginning of this day alone, Russia has bombed Kherson more than 16 times! Only in one day! “, lambasted President Volodymyr Zelensky Thursday evening in his daily address on social networks, also deploring “brutal Russian attacks” in the Donbass (east) and in the Kharkiv region (northeast).

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he intended to call his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

“The most urgent subject today is to continue to call for a truce in bombings and drone attacks,” he said during a press conference after a European summit. in Brussels.

“I intend to call on President Putin on this subject because very clearly these attacks (..) for a good part of them are war crimes, they (target) civilian infrastructure, civilians themselves”, he said.

“It’s not the nature of the special operation he launched, of the war he launched at the beginning, which was a territorial conquest,” he added.

The 27 member states of the EU agreed on Thursday evening to adopt new sanctions against Russia, in response to the war initiated by Moscow in Ukraine. Nearly 200 individuals and entities have been added to the EU blacklist, including Russia’s armed forces and three of the country’s banks. Blacklisting leads to a freezing of assets and a ban on entry into EU territory. Started in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea, this list already includes 1,241 individuals and 118 entities.

Welcome to this direct dedicated to the war in Ukraine and its consequences.