Peace is a long way off in Ukraine. More than 440 children have been killed since the war began. The situation in the Ukraine war in the news ticker.
- Zaporizhia NPP: Russia stationed rocket launchers at the nuclear power plant.
- Battles for Bachmut: “Very tough confrontation. Every meter counts.”
- Editor’s note: Read the latest developments in Ukraine conflict in our news ticker. The information processed here Ukraine war come partly from the warring parties from Russia and the Ukraine. They can therefore not be independently checked in part.
updates from Friday, December 9, 6:30 a.m.: The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyj laments the danger posed by Russian mines on Ukrainian territory. “This is the form of Russian terror that we will grapple with for years to come,” he said in his daily video address on Thursday (December 8).
He accused Russia of deliberately leaving mines as a deadly threat to civilians. That is why mine terror will also be one of the charges after the war.
Putin admits attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure – “Yes, we do it”
+++ 10.45 p.m.: The Russian President Wladimir Putin rarely comments on the Ukraine war. After an award ceremony for “Russia’s Heroes,” the Kremlin chief addressed a group of distinguished soldiers on Thursday, the report reported CNN. “Yes, we do. But who started it?” Putin said, referring to Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
He listed a series of events that he blames on Kyiv. “Who destroyed the Crimean Bridge? Who blew up the power lines of the Kursk nuclear power plant?” Putin said. Ukraine itself has vehemently denied responsibility for the explosion on the Crimean bridge and the attack on an airfield in the Kursk region
News about the Ukraine war: Russia wants to send minors to the front
+++ 9.32 p.m.: The Kremlin has already tried in various ways to mobilize recruits for the Ukraine war. In addition to the partial mobilization of Vladimir Putin the Kremlin in Moscow also sent prison inmates to the front. Now, apparently, 17-year-olds should also fight for Russia.
The mobilization does not stop in the face of Russian losses, quoted Ukrainska Pravda Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Andrii Yusov. There are signs that Russia is planning new forms and methods of mobilization. “We are already talking about 17-year-olds in the occupied territories who have no way of evading mobilization,” Yusov said.
443 children killed by Russian army in Ukraine war
+++ 7.35 p.m.: According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian military has killed a total of 443 children and injured 855 since the start of the Ukraine war. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office emphasized on Telegram that the numbers are not final. Information on currently contested areas could not be made.
The number of victims is particularly high in the regions of Donzek, Kharkiv and Kyiv. 2,719 educational institutions were also damaged by Russian fire, of which 332 were completely destroyed. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office in Ukraine, 330 children are missing.
News about the Ukraine war: Russia stationed rocket launchers at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
+++ 5.44 p.m.: Russia has deployed several BM-21 multiple rocket launchers at the site of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom reported on Telegram. The rocket launchers were “situated near Power Unit No. 6, right next to the dry spent nuclear fuel storage facility.” In doing so, Russia would violate “all the conditions of the organization of nuclear and radiation safety”.
Energoatom assumes a provocation. The opposite bank of the Dnieper, especially the towns of Nikopol and Marhanets, were shelled from the site of the nuclear power plant. “We appeal to the IAEA and the entire world nuclear community and inform about the additional placement of rocket launchers (…) directly on the site of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” said the Ukrainian company. The creation of a security zone around the nuclear power plant was repeatedly demanded.
News about the Ukraine war: dead after shelling in Donetsk
+++ 3:58 p.m.: The fighting in the Ukraine war continues – also in the Donetsk region. According to Ukrainian sources, Russia is said to have shelled numerous cities in Ukraine along the front line. “During the night, the Russians continued to shell different sections of the front line,” Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Donetsk Oblast, wrote on Telegram.
Among other things, the settlements Marjinka and Ocheretyn were hit. “In the morning Avdiivka came under artillery fire three times,” it said. Two people are said to have lost their lives in Bakhmut and Ivanivka. There were several injured. “We document all Russian crimes,” emphasized Kyrylenko.
News about the Ukraine war: USA want to deliver cluster munitions to Ukraine
+++ 2.40 p.m.: The US is now also considering supplying cluster munitions to Ukraine in the war with Russia. This is reported by the news channel CNN. Kyiv had already requested the delivery of such ammunition in Washington some time ago. The military leadership of Ukraine hopes that cluster munitions will give them a decisive advantage on the battlefield.
+++ 12.30 p.m.: According to the Kremlin, Russia is not currently planning to incorporate new territories in its war against Ukraine. “There is no talk of that,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency interfax according to Thursday (December 8). Rather, there is “a lot of work” to do to bring the areas recaptured from Ukraine back under Russian control.
Ukraine war: Putin strikes ‘imperialist tone’
+++ 12.00 p.m.: The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has announced after Vladimir Putin’s meeting with the Russian Presidential Council on Wednesday (December 7), at which he said the war in Ukraine was a “protracted process”. could, created a paper. This reports the Guardians.
Putin struck an “imperialist tone” in the meeting. He compared himself to Peter the Great by pointing out that Russia controls the Sea of Azov, which the Russian tsar had also fought over. According to the ISW, Putin appeared unwilling to take a temporary lull in fighting to regroup. The NATO Secretary General suggested this to the Kremlin.
“The Russian military is continuing offensive operations around Bakhmut and is refusing – until now – an operational pause that would reflect best military practice. Putin’s current fixation on continuing offensive operations around Bakhmut and elsewhere helps Ukraine maintain the military initiative in other parts of the area. Ukraine’s further operational successes depend on the ability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to continue their operations in the winter of 2022-2023 without interruption,” the paper said.
Ukraine War: Russia takes part in military exercises in Bellarus
+++ 11.28 a.m.: Russian soldiers take part in military exercises in Belarus. “Soldiers of the Western Military District continue intensive combat training at the firing ranges of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus,” the Russian Defense Ministry reports. Combat training takes place both during the day and at night.
Videos released by the ministry show Russian soldiers training near tanks in a winter landscape, firing weapons including artillery. In the past, Belarus had declared that it did not want to intervene in the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had ordered the movement of troops to the Ukrainian border.
“A very tough confrontation. Every meter counts” – Heavy fighting in the east
updates from Thursday, December 8, 6:40 a.m.: Heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine. Most recently, ten people died in Russian attacks in the Donetsk region, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video speech.
Ukraine demands more help from the West – Russia desperate?
First report from Wednesday, December 7th, 1.30 p.m.: Kyiv/Moscow – Poland now wants to accept the Patriot air defense systems offered by Germany to defend its airspace. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter on Tuesday (December 6) that work is being done to station the Patriots on Polish territory and to place them under the Polish command system. However, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) had insisted that the German air defense systems should be treated as part of the integrated NATO air defense system. There was initially no question of placing them under a Polish command.
News about the Ukraine war: Zelenskyj thanks Ukrainian armed forces
During a visit near the front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked his soldiers for defending their country under the most difficult conditions. During his stay in Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in a video that he published on Telegram after his return to Kyiv that he gave awards to those soldiers who had been deployed to the “most dangerous and most responsible” locations. He was also in the Kharkiv region and met doctors there treating wounded fighters.
News about the Ukraine war: Number of entries and exits at borders with Ukraine constant
After the heavy Russian rocket attacks on Ukraine’s energy supply, the EU border protection agency Frontex has so far not registered any significant change in border traffic. Last week, 229,542 people entered an EU country from Ukraine, Frontex announced on Tuesday via Twitter. In the same period, 208,988 people crossed the border of an EU country towards Ukraine. Comparative figures from the previous weeks were initially not immediately available. (Talk to agencies)