live blog
The presidential election in Russia in March 2024 is also scheduled to take place in the four annexed Ukrainian regions. According to the authorities, Russian attacks on Kiev during the night caused damage and several people were injured. All developments in the live blog.
The presidential election in Russia in March 2024 is also scheduled to take place in the four annexed Ukrainian regions. This is reported by the state news agency Interfax, citing the election commission. Russia annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions last year but does not fully control the areas. President Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that he would run for another term in office. The election is for March 15-17, 2024 and will take place over three days for the first time.
Ukraine has warned the European Union that its Brussels summit on Thursday and Friday will fail. It would have “devastating consequences” if Hungary prevailed with its blockade stance, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba before consultations with his EU colleagues in Brussels.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban is threatening to veto a planned decision by the heads of state and government to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. He also expressed his opposition to further economic and military aid worth billions for Kiev as well as the twelfth EU sanctions package against Russia. All of these decisions require unanimity among the 27 member states.
According to authorities, nighttime Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine caused damage and injuries in the capital Kiev. “Four people – all adults – were injured in the Darnytskyi district by an enemy rocket strike,” Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram channel. The injured were treated on an outpatient basis.
The Ukrainian military reported shooting down all 18 drones and eight ballistic missiles launched by Russia. However, the debris from a rocket fell into a house under construction and set it on fire. The fire department has now extinguished the flames. According to the authorities, the blast wave also caused the windows in dozens of surrounding houses to break. No major damage has been reported so far.
The EU foreign ministers are in Brussels discussing further support for Ukraine. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will join in via video.
At their summit at the end of the week, Europe’s heads of state and government actually want to approve a billion-dollar financial package for Ukraine and give the starting signal for accession negotiations. However, Hungary is threatening a veto.
Helga Schmidt, ARD Brussels, tagesschau, December 11, 2023 12:00 p.m
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has warned of targeted disinformation by Russia in the war in Ukraine. “Russia’s campaign aims to discourage democratic decision-makers and societies from supporting Ukraine, provoke domestic political divisions and influence democratic votes – including the decisions we make at our polling stations,” Kallas wrote in a guest article for the editorial network Germany.
“The Kremlin’s disinformation campaign reaches an enormous audience through social media – it’s literally in our pockets, phones and apps.” The “latest trap of Russian disinformation” is to “make us believe that supporting Ukraine is a lost cause, that we are the first to tire. We can prove the opposite,” Kallas continued.
According to Ukrainian information, Russia is attacking the capital Kiev from the air. Debris from the rockets fired by the anti-aircraft defense fell in several parts of the city and at least one residential building was damaged, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said via Telegram. Rescue workers are on the way to the Holosiiwskyj district in the southwest of the city, where a piece of debris hit the roof of a residential building. Rescue workers are also on duty in two other parts of the city.
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.
According to a study, if Ukraine were to join the EU, up to 17 percent of the alliance’s common budget would flow into the country. Experts from the German Economic Institute (IW) estimate the financial impact of Ukraine’s full membership in the EU on the EU’s current multi-year budget at around 130 to 190 billion euros, according to a report.
The EU’s multi-year common budget amounts to around 1.1 trillion euros from 2021 to 2027. The exact amount depends on what assumptions are made about the arable land area and population for Ukraine, the scientists write. In their calculations, they assume 70 to 90 billion euros in agricultural subsidies for Ukraine. The so-called cohesion policy would account for 50 to 90 billion euros. These funds are intended to help structurally weak regions grow in order to compensate for economic and social differences in the European regions.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock underlined the importance of aid for Ukraine in the war against Russia before discussions with her EU department colleagues in Brussels. There is more and more talk of “fatigue” in Europe these days. And some asked whether support for Ukraine wasn’t enough, the Green politician wrote in a guest article for the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.
But she emphasized: “We support Ukraine not just out of loyalty to a friend. We support it so that it can free its people from hell. And because it is in our own security interests.” It is the “courageous men and women in Ukraine” who prevented the war from spreading to other European countries such as Moldova. The claim that international support is ineffective is false.
Britain provides Ukraine with two ships to clear mines in the Black Sea. They are intended to help Kiev detect Russian sea mines and open important export routes, as the British Ministry of Defense announced.
The deployment of the two minesweepers comes as part of the creation of a new coalition to strengthen Ukraine’s maritime capabilities, led by Britain and Norway. The aim of the initiative is to enable Kiev to “defend its territorial waters and increase security in the Black Sea,” said British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps. Since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine began in February 2022, the threat from sea mines in the Black Sea has increased significantly.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said he had an “open” conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the sidelines of the inauguration of Argentine President Javier Milei. “It was as open as possible – and of course it was about our European affairs,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Telegram.
Orban’s press chief Bertalan Havasi confirmed the meeting in an email, but left it open whether the Hungarian head of government was still against Ukraine joining the European Union. “With regard to Ukraine’s EU accession, Viktor Orban has signaled that European Union member states are continuously discussing this issue,” the email said. An EU summit on December 14th and 15th will decide whether accession talks will begin with Ukraine. A decision on this must be made unanimously in the EU.
Rebecca Barth, ARD Kiev, tagesschau, December 11, 2023 12:00 p.m
US President Biden has invited his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky to the White House. Ukraine says it is negotiating with Sweden to receive Gripen fighter jets. Sunday’s live blog for reading.