live blog
US President Biden wants to sign an order for further sanctions against supporters of Russia. After another drone attack on Ukraine, Kiev reports a fire in a high-rise building. All developments in the live blog.
The EU is providing Ukraine with an additional 500 electricity generators. Russia’s ongoing brutal attacks have left the country’s energy infrastructure vulnerable, the European Commission said. Despite the efforts of local authorities, it is impossible to restore all of the destroyed power grids in a timely manner.
According to the Commission, the generators now made available come from an EU warehouse in Poland and are worth around 16.5 million euros. The devices also include those that could supply entire hospitals with energy in the event of a power outage, it said. 40 of the 500 generators should go to schools.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the power generator donation as a further sign of unwavering solidarity and support. “In these dark, cold months, we are bringing light to Ukraine,” she wrote on the short message service X.
In total, with the delivery now announced, the EU has already sent more than 5,500 electricity generators to Ukraine via the EU civil protection mechanism. Transformers, high-voltage systems and LED light bulbs are also supplied, for example.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, two people were injured in the major nighttime Russian drone attack on Kiev. Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that a drone hit an apartment block and started a fire on the upper floors.
Emergency services said several apartments were damaged. One of the two injured people had to be treated in hospital.
The nighttime attack was the sixth on the Ukrainian capital in December and was part of a larger swarm of drones launched by the Russian army towards the southern, western and central parts of Ukraine. According to Mayor Klitschko and the head of Kiev’s military administration, drone debris also caused damage in other areas of the capital.
With a decree from US President Joe Biden, the USA wants to expand its legal options to impose sanctions on Russia’s supporters in the war of aggression against Ukraine. Biden will sign a corresponding order today, a high-ranking government official in Washington announced. This gave the US authorities a precise tool to specifically target financial institutions that supported Russia’s war machine by processing transactions, it was said.
So-called secondary sanctions will then be possible for the first time. This is done in coordination with partners and allies. The previous sanctions had had an effect, but the Kremlin had found ways to circumvent them, said the government representative. A number of companies that helped Russia circumvent the measures have already been prosecuted.
The key point is the financial system, because it requires transactions to procure weapons and military equipment. The aim is to “throw sand in the gears of the Russian war machine and destroy its supply chain.”
Poland’s new Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski used his first trip abroad to visit Ukraine. “First visit abroad; already at the scene,” Sikorski wrote on online services under a photo that showed him in the center of the capital Kiev. A senior Ukrainian government official confirmed the foreign minister’s visit.
The visit is a signal from the new Polish government that it will continue to support Ukraine. There had recently been tensions between Warsaw and Kiev under the previous right-wing nationalist government.
At the end of the year, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg looks hopefully to the developments of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, the Ukrainians have liberated 50 percent of the originally occupied territory, he said in an interview with the dpa news agency. “They won major battles in Kiev, Kharkiv and Kherson – these are remarkable military victories,” said Stoltenberg.
He also reiterated that he would continue to provide Ukraine with support in the form of military supplies: “The Allies have dug deep into existing stockpiles to be able to provide ammunition and support for Ukraine. That was the right decision. Now it exists Need to replenish these stocks.”
The Ukrainian military says it shot down 24 of 28 Russian drones during the night. The Iranian-made drones were destroyed over the south, west and center of Ukraine. There were two injured in the capital Kiev.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian parties to the conflict cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Ukraine’s problems in mobilizing soldiers to repel the Russian invasion will have no practical consequences for Ukrainians living in Germany, according to Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann. “It will not be the case that we now force people to do military service or conscription against their will,” said the FDP politician to the dpa news agency.
It is good that the war refugees from Ukraine were accepted into Germany in an uncomplicated process and were given the opportunity to work. “We are trying to ensure that more people from Ukraine get into work and fewer end up living on citizens’ money,” he added.
According to authorities, a high-rise building was hit in a new Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko spoke that night of an impact on the upper floors of the building and of a fire. Emergency services are on duty. One injured person was taken to hospital.
According to preliminary information from Kiev’s military administration, debris from a downed drone fell into the residential building in the southwest part of the city. The authority also published photos of a destroyed apartment. There are also said to have been impacts from debris from drones shot down in other parts of the city. The military administration said it would be clarified whether there was any destruction or casualties.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assumes that Russia can no longer achieve its war goals in Ukraine despite great military efforts. The purpose of the invasion ordered by President Vladimir Putin was to prevent Ukraine from moving towards NATO and the European Union, he said in an interview with the dpa news agency.
After almost two years of war, Ukraine is now closer to NATO and the EU than ever before. “President Putin has lost Ukraine forever,” said Stoltenberg, noting that Russia saw Ukraine as part of its sphere of influence for decades. This is a major strategic defeat for Russia. He is absolutely sure that Ukraine will eventually achieve its goal of joining NATO.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sees signs of slowing planning and activity in the Russian military. Hungarian Prime Minister Orban agreed to bilateral talks with Zelensky. Thursday’s live blog for reading.