DIRECT. War in Ukraine: Volodymyr Zelensky personality of the year 2022 for Time magazine

Since the fall and a series of military defeats, the Russian authorities have accelerated the construction of fortifications in the border regions, suggesting that Ukraine, supported by NATO, may want to invade Russia.

In its daily report on the Russian offensive, the British Ministry of Defense considers that these efforts aim to “boost the patriotic feeling” of the Russians. But he also notes that some decision-makers seem “truly” convinced that there is a “credible threat of invasion by Ukrainian forces”.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who embodied his country’s resistance to the invasion of Russia, was named personality of the year 2022 by the American magazine Time, which also paid tribute to the ” spirit of Ukraine”.

“Whether the battle for Ukraine inspires hope or fear, Volodymyr Zelensky has galvanized the world in a way we haven’t seen in decades,” wrote Time editor Edward Felsenthal. .

The terror campaign against Ukrainian diplomats is unprecedented, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. “Over the past two days, suspicious packages have been sent to the embassies of Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Denmark, as well as to the consulates in Gdansk.” The minister pointed out that Ukrainian embassies and consulates have been operating in heightened security mode for a week already.

According to the Zeit newspaper, Russia has ordered hundreds of drones and missiles from Iran. For now, these devices have not been delivered.

Four ships left the ports of the Odessa region with 149,300 tons of grain. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, they will take the direction of Asia and Europe.

Russia is seeking to freeze fighting in Ukraine over the winter to build up its forces for a fresh spring assault, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warns.

“What we are seeing now is that Russia is trying to impose some kind of freeze on this war, at least for a short time, so that it can regroup, repair, recover and then try to launch a bigger big offensive next spring,” Stoltenberg said at a public event hosted by the British daily Financial Times.

The Atlantic Alliance’s secretary general said NATO members were continuing their “unprecedented” supply of arms and support to Ukraine, despite concerns over a possible depletion of Western stockpiles.

According to Nexta, at least 50,000 dolphins have been killed in the Black Sea as a result of the hostilities.

According to a study by the Institute of World Economy in Kiel, for the first time since the start of the war, Europe has overtaken the United States in aid commitments to Ukraine. EU countries and institutions have pledged to provide nearly €52 billion in military, financial and humanitarian aid. The obligations taken by the USA amount to just under 48 billion euros.

According to Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko, “This figure includes all infrastructure. These are mainly libraries and clubs, as you understand, but among them there is an extremely large number of cultural heritage sites that are either damaged or completely destroyed”.

In the Kursk region of Russia, on the border with Ukraine, anti-tank defense structures began to be built.

Lviv artists created paintings on rocket debris. They will be sold at a charity auction. Proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase drones. This sale organized by Fondation Serhiy Prytula will take place on December 17th.

Ukraine’s energy grid could collapse before Christmas, plunging millions into a winter humanitarian crisis, according to the international organization Mercy Corps. “The entire national network of the country could be destroyed within a few weeks if the attacks continue”, continues the organization. The air temperature in Ukraine in winter often ranges from -3°C to -20°C, so Ukrainian cities “could become unlivable in the next four months”.

The Security Service of Ukraine conducts searches in the premises of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church attached to Moscow in the regions of Cherkasy, Volyn and Kherson.

The United 24 association allows through donations to participate in several initiatives in the field of medical aid in Ukraine, military equipment or for the reconstruction of the country.

In a traffic accident between a Russian military truck carrying soldiers and a van, 16 people died and three were taken to hospital.

According to the Ukrainian army, 13 Russian ships including a submarine have concentrated in the Black Sea. The Ukrainian army fears a possible missile attack from these ships.

Officially, Belarus will move military equipment to “verify the response to terrorism”, according to state news agency BelTA. “The movement of citizens along certain roads and public areas would be restricted and the use of dummy weapons for training purposes is planned.” If Belarus has said it will not go to war in neighboring Ukraine, kyiv fears that Russia and Belarus are planning a joint incursion across Ukraine’s northern border. Last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with his Belarusian counterpart, Viktor Khrenin, to discuss military cooperation.

Russia, which in recent weeks had used little drones for these attacks, is starting its bombardments again with these Iranian-made devices. According to the Ukrainian general staff, 14 unmanned planes were shot down in one day.

France has the baguette, Ukraine has Borscht. UNESCO handed over the certificate on the inclusion of the item “Culture of making Ukrainian borscht (a kind of stew)” in the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent protection.

The American businessman and philanthropist will hand over large capacity generators to Ukraine. The total cost of electrical equipment is $30 million, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

On BFMTV, Alexander Makogonov estimated that Moscow must “prepare to prevent this kind of strikes” which hit Russian soil. He claimed that if Volodymyr Zelensky “keeps sowing the wind”, he “will always reap the storm”. “It shows that there are vulnerable points that need to be better defended,” admitted Alexander Makogonov all the same, adding: “the kyiv regime is capable of carrying out this kind of strikes. We have to be prepared to prevent this kind of thing. We must prepare for everything” by affirming that the “response will not be long”.

According to Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar recalled that the state budget for 2022 provided for 3.37 billion euros in expenditure for the Ministry of Defense. In 2023, Ukraine’s budget deficit is expected to exceed 20% of GDP.

Ukraine’s permanent representative to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, told the UN Security Council that “the Kremlin has finally shown that it has neither moral nor legal grounds for possessing weapons nuclear. According to the ambassador, the international community should start “to think about the modalities of post-Putin agreements with Moscow”.

During the night, the Russians fired with drones and S-300 missiles at several villages in the region, said the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Starukh. According to an initial assessment, two houses were destroyed and eight others were damaged in one of the villages. Three people were injured, including a 15-year-old girl. In another village, a house was destroyed by a rocket and 10 others were damaged. No one was hurt.

During the night, several cities were bombarded or air alerts sounded. Explosions were heard in Nikopol, Zaporizhia and alerts were issued in Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.

To the question “Is the United States trying to prevent Ukraine from developing its own long-range strike capability?” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin replied, “The answer is no, we absolutely don’t do that.” He pointed out that the United States had already spent more than $19 billion to provide security assistance to Ukraine.

National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksiy Danilov assured that Ukrainian armed forces would be in Luhansk, Donetsk and Sevastopol in the spring. According to him, winter will be a key phase in the struggle for independence of Ukraine, reports Ukrinform. “The winter campaign of the Ukrainian army. It will end with the Ukrainian spring in Sevastopol, Donetsk and Luhansk liberated”, he launched on Twitter.

Welcome to this live on the war in Ukraine and its consequences. It has been 287 days since Russia invaded this country.