LIVE – War in Ukraine: kyiv claims drone attacks in annexed Crimea

Three people were killed by Russian shell fire around Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine which has been under intense Russian bombardment for months, Ukrainian authorities announced Tuesday. This regional capital was retaken by Ukrainian forces just over a year ago, but is constantly bombarded by Moscow’s army positioned nearby, across the Dnieper River.

“In the morning, the Russian army relentlessly shelled the city center of Kherson. The occupiers killed two people,” said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the region. A woman was also killed in her garden in Bilozerka, about fifteen kilometers from Kherson, the prosecutor general’s office said.

The International Federations and National Olympic Committees called on Tuesday for the admission “as soon as possible” of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the 2024 Paris Olympics, under a neutral banner. The “representatives of the International Summer Sports Federations”, supported by those of the 209 national Olympic organizations, “asked the IOC to declare eligible” for the Paris Games “neutral individual athletes who have qualified or will qualify” for the Paris Games. the event.

The formula targets Russians and Belarusians, first excluded from world sport following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, then readmitted under a neutral banner and under conditions from last March, without their possible presence in the Olympic Games-2024 is then decided.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks virtually on Tuesday before the American Congress, hoping to obtain the release of a new, highly debated but crucial package for his country at war. Washington is the largest provider of military aid to Kiev, having committed tens of billions of dollars since the Russian invasion in February 2022. But Democratic President Joe Biden’s promise to continue financial support to Ukraine is seriously endangered, a disaster scenario for Kiev, whose disappointing counter-offensive did not bring the hoped-for territorial gains.

Washington announced on Tuesday a series of sanctions against around ten Belarusian personalities and entities, accused of having supported the Russian war effort, in particular the kidnapping of Ukrainian children in regions occupied by Russian troops. Among the American targets, the secretary general of the Belarusian Red Cross, Dzmitry Shautsou, for having assisted Russia in the “transfer of several hundred thousand Ukrainian children”.

Another target of the sanctions, the public companies BelOMO, which manufactures small arms, and its subsidiaries, and Alevkurp, as well as all of their main managers, accused of participating directly in the Russian war effort. The sanctions also target a series of local personalities and companies financially supporting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, including several public companies in the industry, timber and logistics sectors.

Ukraine on Tuesday claimed responsibility for drone attacks against Russian military sites in the eastern part of Crimea, the annexed Ukrainian peninsula which serves as a rear base for the Russian invasion. Drones “hit several important military installations in Crimea” including a radar system near the village of Baguerové, in the Kerch peninsula (eastern Crimea), a source in the Ukrainian defense sector told AFP having knowledge of the operations of the security services (SBU).

According to the Ukrainian source, the attack hit a helicopter landing site, another radar system, and an anti-aircraft missile control system located on the Arabat spit, a strip of sand in the Sea of ​​Azov that connects Crimea in the vicinity of the occupied town of Genitchesk, in the Kherson region. The SBU and GUR (Ukrainian military intelligence services) also inflicted “considerable” damage to a maritime oil terminal in Feodossia, which “supplies fuel to Russian troops”.

Crimea, annexed in 2014, is regularly targeted because it is the rear base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and a key supply route for Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called for two key decisions for Ukraine, on budgetary support and the opening of EU membership negotiations, to be removed from the agenda of the European summit in mid-December. EU. “I respectfully ask you not to invite the European Council to decide on these subjects in December because the lack of obvious consensus would inevitably lead to failure,” wrote the nationalist leader in a letter dated Monday and addressed to Charles Michel, in charge to organize the agenda and debates at the summit, to which AFP had access.

This is the second letter of this content sent recently to the President of the European Council by Viktor Orban, the only one among EU leaders to have maintained close ties with the Kremlin after the Russian invasion launched in Ukraine in 2022. “The European Council must avoid this counterproductive scenario in the name of unity, our most important asset,” adds the Hungarian leader. Viktor Orban, who questions the European strategy in support of kyiv and the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia, has the possibility of blocking these decisions since the unanimity of the 27 is required for adoption.

Two Finnish companies are suspected of having exported drones and other military products worth more than three million euros to Russia, violating European sanctions, the country’s customs said on Tuesday. “There are a total of six suspects…one of whom has been detained since September,” the customs agency said in a statement. Some 3,500 drones have thus been delivered to Russia.

In the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine, drones have been widely used, particularly for reconnaissance and the delivery of explosives. Exported products also included microcontrollers, semiconductors and defense equipment designed to stop drones. The export had been approved for another country, but the material ended up being brought into Russia, authorities suspect.

Six Ukrainian children taken by Russia after the invasion of Ukraine will be reunited with their families thanks to mediation by Qatar, the authorities of this country announced on Tuesday. Moscow is accused of displacing thousands of children from occupied Ukrainian territories since February 2022. This group of children, aged 8 to 15, is the second to be repatriated under a deal negotiated between the two country through Qatar, and which made it possible to bring back four minors last October.

Doha “continues to play a mediating role between the Ukrainian and Russian governments, facilitating the reunification of six other Ukrainian children with their families, in time for the end-of-year holidays”, welcomed Lolwah Al-Khater, the Qatari Minister of State for International Cooperation. “Both parties have fully cooperated and engaged in good faith throughout the process,” she added.

Ukraine has opened an investigation into arms purchase contracts for its armed forces, the head of the Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) Oleksandr Klymenko said on Tuesday. “There are several procedures related to arms purchases. The investigation is ongoing and we will not disclose the details,” he told reporters. These involve several contracts, some worth up to 100 million euros, he clarified, while adding that an “investigation does not necessarily mean” that there was an embezzlement of funds. “We have to investigate and establish facts,” he explained, “that’s what we do.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to the Kremlin, visits notably devoted to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and oil.

“President Putin’s working visits to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will take place tomorrow. All this will take place in a single day,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi is expected in Russia on Thursday to meet Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin announced, as the two countries under Western sanctions strengthen their economic and military ties. “There will be Russian-Iranian talks on December 7,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists when asked about the dates of the Iranian leader’s visit.

Russian troops are stepping up their assault on Avdiïvka, in eastern Ukraine, the main hot spot on the front. In the United States, Joe Biden’s camp is urging Congress to pass additional aid for Ukraine. A look back at the highlights of the last 24 hours.

Russia claims to have neutralized 35 drones over Crimea and the Sea of ​​Azov overnight. “An attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using aerial drones (…) was foiled last night,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“Air defense systems destroyed 22 Ukrainian drones and 13 others were intercepted over the Sea of ​​Azov and Crimea,” according to the same source.

Hello and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the news of the war in Ukraine.