DIRECT. War in Ukraine: Pope Francis calls to pray for “the victims of war”

During his New Year’s Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis wanted to pray for the victims of war. “Let us pray to our Mother in a special way for her sons and daughters who suffer and no longer have the strength to pray, and for our many brothers and sisters throughout the world who are victims of war, spending these feasts in the dark and cold, in poverty and fear, immersed in violence and indifference,” he said. He called on Catholics to work actively for peace, and not “to waste time glued to a keyboard in front of a computer screen”.

Over the past week, around 350 wounded Russian soldiers have been taken to hospital in Bilovodsk, in the disputed Lugansk region, according to the General Staff of Ukrainian Forces. It also states that on December 30, up to 160 occupants were injured and 10 units of enemy military equipment of various types were destroyed in the Zaporizhia area.

A 22-year-old woman injured in a shelling in Khmelnitsky yesterday died in hospital, according to Serhiy Gamalii, the region’s military chief, who announced on Telegram. Seven other people were hospitalized yesterday after the Russian attack on Khmelnytsky.

Vadym Skibitskyi, spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, told Ukrainian television that Russia would run out of Iskander ballistic missiles and that “the number of Kh-101, Kh -555 decreases.

According to Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik, who posts photos on Twitter, a pediatric hospital in Kherson was hit by a Russian explosion. Two children were injured, she said.

Details have been provided on the 45 suicide drones shot down by Ukrainian air defenses. Thirteen were destroyed before midnight and 32 after the symbolic passage of the new year.

A decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin, from the end of August, came into force this morning. It increases the number of Russian armed forces. According to the text of the document, the workforce is set at 2,39,758 people, with 1,150,628 soldiers, to which will be added 695,000 soldiers under contract.

Boris Johnson is “more convinced than ever” that Vladimir Putin will lose the war in Ukraine. In a short clip shared on Twitter, the former prime minister said he was “confident” that things would improve in 2023, adding that the economy was already starting to recover.

He made no mention of his departure from Downing Street.

Metro traffic was halted after rocket fragments were found near Livoberezhna metro station. The demining brigade intervened and traffic was able to resume around 11 a.m. local time (10 a.m. French time).

A new exchange of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners took place yesterday, in an unknown location. Ukrainian MP Dmytro Lubinets, Human Rights Defender in Parliament, posted photos on Telegram that show the emotion of some Ukrainians to return to their country. 200 men would have been interchanged, according to Reuters.

“Russia coldly and cowardly attacked Ukraine in the early hours of the new year. But Putin still doesn’t seem to understand that Ukrainians are made of iron. America is absolutely convinced that Ukraine will win in 2023. Slava Ukraini! “, wrote on Twitter, while the first explosions sounded after midnight in the sky of kyiv, the ambassador of the United States in Ukraine, Bridget Brink.

A few hours earlier, she had accused Russia of having, “for the third time this holiday week”, launched “indiscriminate attacks” against the Ukrainian people, “hitting houses, hotels and other civilian sites”. .

The Russian strikes – 31 missiles, 12 air strikes and more than 70 attacks from multiple rocket launchers according to the Ukrainian General Staff – which were launched yesterday on Ukraine caused destruction in at least nine regions: around Chernihiv, Sumy, kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Donetsk, Zaporijjya, Mykolaiv and Kherson.

New Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Levan Dzhagaryan gave an interview to Ceylon Today. The diplomat, who worked for 12 years in Iran, welcomes “the upcoming agreement between Rosatom” and the small Asian country to “help Sri Lanka build two mini-nuclear power plants for official use. Each station would have a capacity of 55 MG,” he explains.

World No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka believes the banishment of Russian and Belarus players from Wimbledon last year was for naught. “We are just athletes practicing their sport. That’s all. We don’t play politics, ”she told the Melbourne Age newspaper on the sidelines of the Adelaide tournament. “If we could all do something, we would do it, but we have no control,” the 24-year-old said, noting that the decision to ban Russian and Belarus players hadn’t changed anything. “Nobody supports the war,” added the Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2021, who hopes to return to the London lawn in 2023.

Ukrainian forces claim on January 1 to have “eliminated”, that is to say killed or injured, 106,720 Russian soldiers since the start of the offensive by Moscow, ie 760 more than yesterday. This census cannot be verified and neither of the two countries gives a real assessment of its losses, which are significant.

The Ukrainian army claims the destruction of 45 drones during the night of New Year’s Eve. If the information is confirmed, it will show the extent of the attacks that the Russians wanted during this symbolic night.

“We will be together to build a just and lasting peace. Count on France and count on Europe,” he said in his televised address.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised that his country will continue to fight until “victory” against Russia and the return of all territories occupied by Moscow to the fold of kyiv.

“We are fighting and we will continue to fight. In favor of this word: victoire “, he declared in his speech on the occasion of the new year, saying he hoped that it would become “the year of the return (…) of our lands”.

The Kyiv City Military Administration said 23 “air objects” launched by Russia were destroyed after midnight. Fragments of a missile destroyed by Ukrainian air defense systems damaged a car in central kyiv, but there were no apparent injuries or casualties, the mayor, Vitali Klitschko.

Many explosions were heard in Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine, and air raid sirens sounded across the country in the first two hours of this new year. As the sirens wailed, residents of kyiv shouted from their balconies: “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes! witnesses told Reuters.

The attacks took place minutes after the Ukrainian President’s New Year’s message.

Welcome to our live on the war in Ukraine and its aftermath on this first day of 2023.