Donetsk, Luhansk and Sevastopol: The Russian-held city of Bakhmut and the site of a Ukrainian assault on Ukraine

Sources on Ukrainian social media “previously claimed that Ukrainian forces completely pushed Russian forces out of the eastern outskirts of Bakhmut” around Dec. 21, the report added.

The Russian front line had a link with Lyman that was important for both communications and logistics. Located 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, it is in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk region, both of which Russia annexed Friday after a local “referendum” was held at gunpoint.

Each day, it would seem, Russian President Vladimir Putin has become ever more adept at creating more victims and new enemies – solidifying, even enlarging, the ranks of those arrayed against him, and strengthening the resolve of those he would seek to conquer. At home and abroad, there seems to be no limit to Putin’s appetite to wreak mayhem in pursuit of an ever more elusive victory.

As Ukrainian forces have continued to push back Russian units and regain control of territory captured in the early days of the war, Russian retaliation has expanded.

Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, blamed the retreat on a general being “covered up for” by higher-up leaders. He called for “more drastic measures.”

The emergency situation at the airfield in the city of Sevastopol was announced by the governor. Explosions and huge billows of smoke could be seen from a distance by beachgoers in the Russian-held resort. Authorities said a plane rolled off the runway at the Belbek airfield and ammunition that was reportedly on board caught fire.

Russia began a two-day attack on Ukraine that killed at least 19 people and left many others injured, sparking global outrage. The strikes caused damage to the power systems and led people to reduce consumption during peak hours.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military vowed to fight to liberate the region Putin claims to have annexed.

U.N. Security Assistance to Ukraine in the Strikes Against a Russian Six-Reactor Plant in Zaporizhya

Of the 16 people killed in Russian attacks across the Kherson region, three of them were emergency workers. He said another 64 people received injuries that were of varying severity.

The Security Service of Ukraine, a secret police force, uploaded photographs of the attack. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. One of the vehicles was ablaze at the front of the convoy. Bodies lay on the side of the road or still inside vehicles, which appeared pockmarked with bullet holes.

At least two people were hurt and key infrastructure has been damaged in a Russian drone assault on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, the latest attempt by Moscow to ravage Ukraine’s power supplies.

The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog is going to visit Ukranian this week in order to discuss the situation after Putin signed a decree that claimed the six-reactor plant was going to Russia. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry considers Putin’s decree “null and void”, as they said it was a criminal act. The plant will continue to operate according to the operator.

Russia did not comment on the report. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Russia told it that “the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.”

On Sunday, Vladimir Leontie, a Russian-installed official in Nova Kakhovka, alleged on Russian state TV that the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant had received “enormous” damage as a result of shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces, with repairs to take at least a year.

Russia annexed the region of Zaporizhya last month despite the fact that 20% of it still belongs to the Ukrainian military.

US President Joe Biden is expected to announce an additional $1.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s expected visit to the White House. The significant boost in aid is expected to be headlined by the Patriot missile defense systems that are included in the package, a US official told CNN.

Shortly after the president announced that the military had retook three villages in one of the areas that were annexed by Russia, the strikes came.

The Russian invasion of Kherson, a part of Russia, and a warning to the Czech authorities to look for security in the zone around the Zaporizhhia nuclear power plant

Governor Oleksandr Starukh wrote on his Telegram channel that many people were rescued from the multi-story buildings, including a 3-year-old girl who was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Rogov also said that Ukrainians “have concentrated significant number of militants in Zaporizhzhia direction” and that the risk of storming the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “remains high”.

The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency plans to discuss the Russian move with Ukrainian officials. He will look at ways to set up a secured zone around the facility, which has been damaged in the fighting and has had staff kidnapped by Russian troops.

The leaders from more than 40 countries are meeting in the Czech Republic on Thursday to launch a “European Political Community” that is meant to boost security and prosperity.

The region is a part of Russia, according to the spokesman for the Kremlin. It has been fixed and defined. There can’t be changes here.

The borders of the areas Moscow claims are still unclear, but Putin has vowed to protect Russia’s territory, including the annexed region, with nuclear weapons.

Oleksii Hromov, a senior Ukrainian military official, said last week that Kyiv’s forces have recaptured some 120 settlements since late September as they advance in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson regions. On Wednesday, Ukraine said it had liberated more five settlements in its slow but steady push in Kherson.

The deputy head of the Ukrainian regional government, Yurii Sobolevskyi, said military hospitals were full of wounded Russian soldiers and that Russian military medics lacked supplies. Once they are stabilized, Russian soldiers are being sent to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

When Russian troops pulled back from the Donetsk city of Lyman over the weekend, they retreated so rapidly that they left behind the bodies of their comrades. Some were still by the road that leads into the city.

During the occupation, it was damaged and as the Ukrainians fought to take it, it was also damaged. Mykola, a 71-year-old man who did not give his last name, was among about 100 residents who lined up for aid on Wednesday.

Enerhodar is under Russian control: the nightly killing of the Crimean bridge by a Russian rocket attack on the Dnipro River

The war should end so that the shops and hospitals will work as they used to. “Now we don’t have anything yet. Everything has been destroyed and pillaged.

In his nightly address, a defiant Zelenskyy switched to speaking Russian to tell the Moscow leadership that it has already lost the war that it launched Feb. 24.

The attack continued after the award of the peace prize to the rights activists in Russia and other states, which was seen as a rebuke of Russia and its president, Putin.

Overnight nearly 40 Russian rockets hit Nikopol, on the Dnipro River, damaging at least 10 homes, several apartment blocks and other infrastructure, according to the head of the regional military administration, Valentyn Reznichenko. He stated that a man was killed and another was wounded by further shelling on Friday evening.

The city of Enerhodar has power and a cellular connection but it is under the control of Russia, an official said Sunday.

“Water supply will be restored in the near future,” Rogov, a pro-Russian leader in the regional Zaporizhzhia government, wrote in a telegram post Sunday

Orlov said “the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly tried to deliver humanitarian supplies with food, hygiene products and so on to the city,” adding that Ukraine is “ready to organize prompt delivery and distribution of drinking water in Enerhodar” but that Russian forces have not let humanitarian aid through.

Russia has accused the Ukrainians of being behind the attack on the Crimean bridge, though it isn’t clear who was responsible. He said Monday’s strikes were in response to the attack, butUkrainian intelligence said the strikes had been planned for last week.

The bridge was temporarily suspended after the blast but both automobiles and trains were able to cross again on Sunday. Russia has also started a car ferry service.

The attack by a bridge explosion on a Russian city building in Dnipro, southern Russia, caused by an air-shock blast

“We have already established the route of the truck,” he said, adding that it had been to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and Krasnodar — a region in southern Russia — among other places.

Explosions rocked civilian areas of Dnipro, a major southern city. One site hit was a bus stop, nestled between high rise apartment buildings. There was a missile that blew out the windows in the apartments next to the bus, and just a few feet in front of the bus.

Tetyana Lazunko, 73, and her husband, Oleksii, took shelter in the hallway of their top-floor apartment after hearing air raid sirens. The explosion shook the building and sent their possessions flying. The couple looked at the damage to their home for nearly five decades.

Three volunteers dug up a shallow grave for a dog that was killed by a missile in another neighborhood that had been ravaged by the blast.

Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and a former speechwriter for Putin, said the Russian president, who formed a committee Saturday to investigate the bridge explosion, had not responded forcefully enough to satisfy angry war hawks. The attack and response, he said, has “inspired the opposition, while the loyalists are demoralized.”

“If the authorities say that we are winning and we are going according to plan, that is when they are lying and it demoralizes them,” he said.

Russian attacks on Ukrainian power systems: a critical look at Donetsk, Ukraine, a city with the longest bridge in Europe and the most visited region of Ukraine

Putin personally opened the Kerch Bridge in May 2018 by driving a truck across it as a symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea. Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine rely on the longest bridge in Europe.

There are a lot of Russians who like to vacation inrussia is a popular vacation resort People trying to get to the bridge from the Russian mainland were stuck in traffic.

The towns and the city of Donetsk lie in the industrialized Donbas region, where Russian-backed rebels are fighting Kyiv. Russia annexed the four regions that were not already in its borders last month.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had lost its last external power source early Saturday, but the International Atomic Energy Agency’s head said it had been reconnected to the grid.

Ukrainian authorities say that Russia struck multiple cities with missiles and drones. Check out everything you need to know on Monday.

Ukrenergo, the national electricity company of the country, says it has fixed the power supply in the central region of the country after Russian missile attacks. But Ukrainian Prime Minister has warned that “there is a lot of work to do” to fix damaged equipment, and asked Ukrainians to reduce their energy usage during peak hours.

The US and NATO countries have been grappling in recent months with how to help Ukraine defend itself against relentless Russian strikes, which have, according to Ukrainian officials, destroyed about half of the country’s energy infrastructure.

Russian troops have been bombarding the power grid of Ukraine with drones and missile strikes in recent months. The attacks have spanned the country on the cusp of winter, leaving Ukrainians vulnerable and in the dark just as the coldest time of the year is beginning.

Russian rockets killed at least ten people and injured dozens in downtown Kherson on Christmas Eve, Ukrainian officials said. Zelensky said those attacks were killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure.

There were blasts as early as 6:30 a.m. in the Shevchenkivskyi district. Authorities said that Kyiv had been hit four times prior to 9 a.m. One of the strikes hit close to the main train station, which was occupied by an advisor to the minister of internal affairs. Authorities have asked people to stay indoors.

The head of the Dnipro city council’s department of transport stood by the wreck while he said that the accident happened at rush hour. He added that the bus driver and four passengers had been taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Makovtsev’s “artillery” campaign against civilian civilians in Russia a few years after the Pulsar Explosion

“It’s difficult for me to find any logic to their so-called artillery work because all our transportation is only for civilian purposes,” Makovtsev said.

The first floor balcony on which Shevchenko looked out was once the windows of the bus stop. There was shattered glass on the ground. He said he went to make breakfast in his kitchen just minutes before the blast and had been watering his plants on his balcony.

He said that the explosion blew his cabinets open and nearly sent him to the ground. I was on the balcony, full of glass, only five minutes before.

Instead, it is in protecting the civilian population from Russia’s drone and missile campaign against critical civilian infrastructure – a campaign designed to end Ukrainian resistance by making the country uninhabitable.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov wrote a letter saying that Russia had not really started yet, in part because of the incompetence of the Defense Ministry.

What happened to the Kerch bridge bombing? A hilarious moment for Ukrainians and for Russians, and a reminder of the triumph of the Ukrainian president

Editor’s Note: Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) is a global affairs analyst. He is a current senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and once worked for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a commentator for CNN Opinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinion.

Recent days have shown that sites beyond the current theater of ground fighting are not immune to attacks. It remains unclear exactly how the Kerch bridge bombing was carried out – and Kyiv has not claimed responsibility – but the fact that a target so deep in Russian-held territory could be successfully hit hinted at a serious Ukrainian threat towards key Russian assets.

The strikes occurred as people headed to work and while kids were being dropped off at schools. A friend told me that she just left the bridge span when it was struck.

As of midday local time, the area around my office in Odesa remained eerily quiet in between air raid sirens, with reports that three missiles and five kamikaze drones were shot down. (Normally at this time of the day, nearby restaurants would be heaving with customers, and chatter of plans for upcoming weddings and parties).

Residents of the northeastern city ofKharkiv stocked up on canned food, gas and drinking water after seeing more bombardments than the ones in the capital city of Kyiv. They enjoyed themselves at the Typsy Cherry. Vladyslav Pyvovar, the owner, said the mood was cheerful. People had fun while wondering when the electricity will come back. The power came back a few hours later.

Indeed, millions of people in cities across Ukraine will be spending most of the day in bomb shelters, at the urging of officials, while businesses have been asked to shift work online as much as possible.

Just as many regions of Ukraine were starting to roar back to life, and with countless asylum seekers returning home, the attacks risk causing another blow to business confidence.

For Putin, the symbolism of the only bridge linking mainland Russia and Crimea cannot be overstated. The attack on the president was a blow to the aging autocrat and came on the heels of Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President’.

The reaction among Ukrainians to the explosion was instantaneous: humorous memes lit up social media channels like a Christmas tree. Many shared their sense of jubilation via text messages.

Moscow’s Weak Reaction on the Dnipro River as a Test of Putin’s Power in the Kremlin

It was also an act of desperation as Putin faced increasing criticism at his home, including on state-controlled television.

The Ukrainians have moved to the river bank and will have to take care of some Russians that did not survive the Dnipro River battle. But those that are there will probably either surrender or in essence be eliminated from the fight.”

Now is the best time for Washington to use urgent telephone diplomacy to urge China and India to refrain from using even more deadly weapons.

It’s necessary to protect the crucial energy infrastructure around the country. With winter just around the corner, the need to protect heating systems is urgent.

Turkey and the Gulf states, which get a lot of Russian tourists, need to be pressured to join the West in further isolating Russia with trade and travel restrictions.

Putin’s violence will only get worse if the measures are not put into place. Weak reaction will be seen as a signal that the Kremlin can continue to weaponize energy, migration and food.

On Monday, February 9, 2001: Russian attacks on civilians and infrastructure in Kyiv, Ukraine: a first test of Putin’s ill-equipped nuclear arsenal

He added that 55 people were wounded, 18 of them in grave condition. A girl is among the scores of others who were wounded by Russian shelling a day earlier.

Critical and civil infrastructure was hit in 12 regions and the capital, where more than 30 fires broke out, the emergency services said, adding the blazes have been put out.

Russian missiles damaged a glass-bottomed footbridge in Kyiv that is a popular tourist site, tore into intersections at rush hour and crashed down near a children’s playground on Monday. In places where the water supply was cut off the power went off, but the terror suffered by civilians in the invasion had mostly dissipated in recent months.

The city dwellers who were forced to spend months in air raid shelters after the war in subways have been able to reestablish their lives but fear more strikes.

Above all, Putin still does not appear to have learned that revenge is not an appropriate way to act on or off the battlefield and in the final analysis is most likely to isolate and weaken Russia, perhaps irreversibly.

The Monday targets had little military value and were a sign of Putin’s need to find new targets, as he didn’t have success in the Ukrainian battlefield.

These two headline packages alone could impact the course of the war. Russia’s most potent threat now is the constant bombardment of energy infrastructure. It is making the winter harsher for some, turning some cities into darkness up to 12 hours a day in order to make them less attractive to tourists.

The attacks on civilians, which killed at least 14 people, also drove new attention to what next steps the US and its allies must take to respond, after already sending billions of dollars of arms and kits to Ukraine in an effective proxy war with Moscow.

The lesson of Ukraine from a terrible war: How Putin has fought the last battle and how he wants to destroy the future: CNN’s Anderson Bolduan

President Joe Biden Monday spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and offered advanced air systems that would help defend against Russian air attacks, but the White House did not specify exactly what might be sent.

John Kirby said the National Security Council in Washington was in constant touch with the government in Kyiv, who he said had a good relationship with the US. “We do the best we can in subsequent packages to meet those needs,” he told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

Kirby was unable to say if Putin was moving his tactics from a lost battlefield war to a campaign of mass destruction against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, or if it was just the beginning of a trend.

“It likely was something that they had been planning for quite some time. Now that’s not to say that the explosion on the Crimea bridge might have accelerated some of their planning,” Kirby said.

The resume of the general in charge of the war is consistent with what he has done before, such as serving in Syria and Chechnya. Russia is accused of committing serious human rights violations in two places, indiscriminately bombarded civilian areas and razed built-up districts.

The President of France warned that the rush hour attacks in Ukraine could be the beginning of another conflict.

The former director of European affairs on the National Security Council believes that Putin was sending a message regarding how he will prosecute the war in the near future by attacking targets designed to hurt Ukrainians.

If we had modern equipment, we could possibly increase the number of drones downed and not kill innocent civilians or hurt Ukrainians.

The lesson of this horrible war is that everything Putin has done to fracture a nation he doesn’t believe has the right to exist has only strengthened and unified it.

In an interview with Anderson Cooper that was aired on CNN Monday night, Olena Gnes said she was angry at the return of fear and violence to the lives of Ukrainian people from a new round of Russian terror.

She said this is just a threat to cause panic or scare people in other countries, that he is still a bloody tyrant, and look what fireworks we can arrange.

“We do not feel desperate … we are more sure even than before that Ukraine will win and we need it as fast as possible because … only after we win in this war and only after Russia is defeated, we will have our peace back here.”

Russia’s state media has insisted for a long time that they only hit military targets in Ukraine, ignoring the millions of people who have been killed in the conflict.

State television flaunted the suffering on Monday. It showed plumes of smoke and carnage in central Kyiv, along with empty store shelves and a long-range forecast promising months of freezing temperatures there.

The Russian military reported on Monday that it shot down a Ukrainian drone, which it claimed was flying towards an air base deep inside Russia.

It is simple for Moscow to calculate: A percentage of projectiles are bound to get through.

Western assessments show that Moscow may not have the ability to keep up with Russian aerial bombardment, although experts think it will not form a recurrent pattern.

Some of that inventory was dispatched this week. But Russia has recently resorted to using much older and less precise KH-22 missiles (originally made as an anti-ship weapon), of which it still has large inventories, according to Western officials. Weighing 5.5 tons, they are designed to take out aircraft carriers. Dozens of people were killed in a shopping mall in Kremenchuk in June.

The Russians have also been adapting the S-300 – normally an air defense missile – as an offensive weapon, with some effect. The speed they have made them difficult to intercept has wreaked havoc in Zaporizhzhia, and other places. But they are hardly accurate.

This was the first time since the start of the war that Russia has targeted energy infrastructure.

A senior Defense Department official added that work was continuing on improving Ukrainian air defenses, including “finding Soviet-era capabilities to make sure that countries were ready (and) could donate them and help move those capabilities.”

The US had seen evidence that the Iranian drones had experienced failure, according to the deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.

At Wednesday night’s meeting,Ukraine wanted missiles for their existing systems, a transition to Western-origin Layered air defense system and early warning capabilities.

The Patriot system – advanced long-range air defense that’s highly effective at intercepting missiles – offers an immensely expensive means of defending a very limited number of high value targets. But it is neither a total solution to Ukraine’s air defense problem, nor a swift one, with one earliest possible in-service date in Ukraine estimated at February 2023.

The western systems are starting to arrive. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Tuesday that a “new era of air defense has begun” with the arrival of the first IRIS-T from Germany, and two units of the US National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAM) expected soon.

“This is only the beginning. There is an item on the agenda for this morning that focuses on strengthening Ukraine’s air defense. Feeling optimistic.”

The IRIS-T that arrived this week from Germany was intended for the United States, and is badly needed in Ukraine.

What Do We Know About the Shaheed Bombings in Ukraine? How Did Poland Give Ukraine the Weapons? The Case of the Chern-Simons-Iraly Bridge

Poland was thanked by the senior military commander of the Ukrainians for training an air defense battalion that destroyed nine Shaheeds.

He said Poland had given Ukraine “systems” to help destroy the drones. Last month there were reports that the Polish government had bought advanced Israeli equipment (Israel has a policy of not selling “advanced defensive technology” to Kyiv) and was then transferring it to Ukraine.

Approximately 70 countries and international organizations pledged over $1 billion to repairUkrainian infrastructure on Tuesday. Last week the Pentagon announced that it had approved an additional $275 million in security assistance for Ukraine, which will include weapons, cannons and equipment. In November, the US announced a $53 million package to support repairs to Ukraine’s power system.

The images captured hundreds of cargo trucks backed up and waiting to cross from Crimea into Russia by ferry, some five days after the bombing. The images, captured on Wednesday by Maxar Technologies, show a big backup at the port in Kerch and a line of trucks miles away at an airport that is apparently being used as a staging area.

Oleg Ignatov, a senior Russia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the long lines for the ferry crossing had been exacerbated by security checkpoints set up after the bridge explosion.

But Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says Ukrainian intelligence believes that Russian forces planned the attack as a pretense to escalate the war in Ukraine.

The Russian military has a convenient alibi for all of it’s losses in southern Ukraine, according to Podolyak.

He addressed the group of soldiers receiving awards after the ceremony. He said of the attacks, “yes, we are doing it. But who started it?”

The Explosive Blast on the Moscow-bound Bridge: “It was a triumph, not a rocket,” an analyst with Bellingcat

The bent beams on the Russia-bound lanes have been pictured on social media. That side of the bridge reopened to traffic only hours after the blast.

Nick Waters, an analyst with the digital forensics firm Bellingcat, points out that the bridge’s underside shows barely any blast damage, dismissing a popular Ukrainian theory that a special naval operation destroyed the bridge from below.

Many people inUkraine celebrated the blasts as a Ukrainian triumph because of the bridge’s symbolic and strategic value to Russia.

FSB published a video of an “examination of the truck” and its “X-ray”, which allegedly shows explosives. Where on the “x-ray” another axle with wheels and a frame disappeared, the FSB does not specify ???? pic.twitter.com/onKbOndxVO

The Ukrainian journalists pointed out that the images of different trucks they saw differed from the one shown by the Russian state media.

He says the bridge in the peninsula consists of a single piece of road floating above several piers. The spans are pulled by one falling into the water.

Barr theorizes that the truck was loaded with specialized compounds that burned hot enough to cause a train to go off the tracks, which would have crippled it.

Mika Tyry, a retired military demolition specialist, told YLE, Finland’s national broadcaster, that the flames and sparks are consistent with a thermite bomb. Russia’s military has been known to use thermite, though Ukraine could have recovered the substance from unexploded Russian munitions.

“This was a successful attack on a guarded structure with explosives and timed to coincide with the train,” Barr says. That’s a sign of a carefully planned military operation rather than a single actor.

The war is entering a new phase, not for the first time. “This is now the third, fourth, possibly fifth different war that we’ve been observing,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme.

With the cold months nearing and likely bringing a slowdown in ground combat, experts say the next weeks of the war are now expected to be vital, and another potential spike in intensity looms over Ukraine as each side seeks to strike another blow.

Giles said that anything that was described as a Ukraine victory is now more plausible than when it was a distant prospect. “The response from Russia is likely to escalate further.”

The counter-offensives have made a difference and disproved a suggestion made in Russia and the West that Ukraine lacked the ability to seize ground.

The Russians have been playing for the whistle to avoid a collapse of their frontline before the winter sets in.

“If they can get to Christmas with the frontline looking roughly as it is, that’s a huge success for the Russians given how botched this has been since February.”

Landing a major blow in Donbas would send another powerful signal, and Ukraine will be eager to improve on its gains before temperatures plummet on the battlefield, and the full impact of rising energy prices is felt around Europe.

There are many reasons why theUkrainians get things done quickly. It’s going to be a test of resilience for the people of Ukraine and the people in the West who support them during the winter energy crisis in Europe.

NATO leaders have said they are standing by Ukraine regardless of how long the war goes on, but several European countries rely heavily on Russian energy and are in danger of running out of money if the war is not stopped.

Jeremy Fleming, the UK’s spy chief, said in a rare speech on Tuesday that Russian commanders on the ground know that their supplies are running out.

The use of precision weapons by Russia may make it hard for Putin to disrupt the ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensives.

The success rates against Russian cruise missiles have risen since the beginning of the invasion, according to a military expert with the London-based Royal United Services Institute.

Some help for Putin may be on the way, however. An announcement by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that Belarus and Russia will “deploy a joint regional group of troops” raised fears of deepened military cooperation between the close allies and that Belarusian troops could formally join Russia in its invasion. There have been allegations of potential Ukrainian threats to its security in recent days, which could be a signal to some level of involvement.

“The reopening of a northern front would be another new challenge for Ukraine,” Giles said. Russian President Putin should use the territory that was reclaimed by Ukranian soldiers as a launching point for an effort to regain it, he said.

Now Zelensky will hope for more supplies in the short-term as he seeks to drive home those gains. In the second wave of strikes on Russia on Tuesday, more than half of their missiles and drones were brought down, according to the leader.

Ahead of a NATO defense minister’s meeting in Belgium, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that more missiles needed to be installed in eastern Europe.

Putin and the Russian Counteroffensive in the Kherson-Belgrincha border region: A French attack at the Russian border, and an admission of child smuggling

Experts say the coming weeks are important both on the battlefield and in Europe. Giles said, “Where Putin goes next depends on how the rest of the world is responding.” “Russia’s attitude is shaped by the failure of Western countries to confront and deter it.”

“If the Russians thought that the war would not affect anyone in the deep rear (of Russia) or anywhere else, they were deeply mistaken. “So, let’s hope that this will only benefit Ukraine, because we see such things happening more and more often.”

A day earlier, two men killed 11 Russian soldiers and injured 15 at a military training camp in the Belgorod region before killing themselves.

The Ukrainian officials have not commented on the detonations in the region and CNN is unable to verify the cause or extent of the damage.

Zelenskyy accused Russia of including convicts “with long sentences for serious crimes” in its front-line troops in return for pay and amnesty — something Western intelligence officials have also asserted.

Zelenskyy’s office said Moscow was shelling towns and villages along the front line in the east Sunday, and that “active hostilities” continued in the southern Kherson region.

France is stepping up military training forUkraine and promising air-defense missiles in an attempt to puncture notions that it has lag in supporting the country. Up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers will be embedded with military units in France, rotating through for several weeks of combat training, specialized training in logistics and other needs, and training on equipment supplied by France, the French defense minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said in an interview published in Le Parisien.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, Moscow may have committed ethnic cleansing by forcibly deporting Ukrainians.

Russian authorities have said that they placed several thousand children from a southern region occupied by Moscow in rest homes and children’s camps during the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The original remarks by Russia’s deputy prime minister, Marat Khusnullin, were reported by RIA Novosti on Friday.

Russian authorities previously admitted to placing children from Russian held areas ofUkraine who were orphans, for adoption with Russian families, in a potential violation of an international treaty on genocide prevention.

The Ukrainian military accused pro-Kremlin fighters of violating international humanitarian law by evicting civilians from occupied territories to house officers in their homes. It said the evictions were happening in Rubizhne, in the eastern Luhansk region. It did not give evidence for its claim.

pro-Kremlin commentators are saying that a Russian commander wanted in connection with the downing of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine has been sent to the front. Posts by Maksim Fomin and others said Igor Girkin, also known as Strelkov, has been given responsibility for an unspecified Russian front-line unit.

Girkin has been on an international wanted list over his alleged involvement in the downing of Kuala Lumpur-bound flight MH17, which killed 298 people. He is the most high-profile suspect in a related murder trial, with a verdict expected in November.

Recently, Girkin’s social media posts have lashed out at Moscow’s battlefield failures. A $100,000 reward is being offered by the Ukrainian defense intelligence agency to anyone who captures him.

Anton Gerashcenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Internal Ministry, reported attacks on infrastructure near the city’s main rail station, but lines were operating as normal midmorning Monday.

“”The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us. The occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of future generations, and we will get victory,” wrote Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy’s chief-of-staff, Andriy Yermak, again called on the west to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems. He said that there is no time for slow actions.

After commenters said he was wrong to confirm a Russian strike, he removed the picture of the bomb labeled Geran-2.

Ukrainian Defense Forces in Kamianske District: “Censorship Problem” in the Dnipropetrovsk Region

Foreign ministers of the European Union will meet in Luxembourg today. Before the meeting, Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, told reporters that the bloc would look into “concrete evidence” of Iran’s involvement in Ukraine.

At least one person was killed and several dozen others were injured when a wave of drones attacked the Ukrainian capital early Monday.

suicide drones are small and portable aerial weapon systems that can be fired at a distance. They can be easily launched and are designed to hit behind enemy lines and be destroyed in the attack.

After hours of combing through the charred debris of the building, authorities said 13 residents, including three children, were found dead. Nineteen were hospitalized with injuries.

The attack on energy infrastructure in the Kamianske district of the Dnipropetrovsk region caused “fire” and “serious destruction,” according to regional military official Valentyn Reznichenko.

The services are working on getting rid of the consequences of shelling. Each region has a crisis response plan,” Shmyhal added.

“We ask Ukrainians, in order to stabilize the energy system, to take a united and conscious approach to economical consumption of electricity. Especially during peak hours.”

The power grid in the country is under control, Ukrenergo said, and repair crews are trying to stop the attacks.

Shmyhal’s announcement comes as Ukraine grapples with sweeping attacks on critical energy facilities, following deadly Russian strikes over the past week.

The incident of the crash of a Russian military jet into the courtyard of an apartment building in the coastal port city of the Sea of Azov

Emergency officials stated that at least 13 people,including three children, were killed in southern Russia on Monday when a Russian military jet crashed into the courtyard of an apartment building.

According to the report from the ejected pilots, the plane crash was caused by theignition of the engine during take-off. At the site of the crash of the Su-34 in the courtyard of one of the residential quarters, the plane’s fuel ignited,” the ministry said in a statement to RIA.

RIA reported that 13 bodies, including those of three children, were removed from the debris as of Tuesday morning, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The state media reported that at least 25 people were injured.

It’s a port town on the shore of the Sea of Azov that’s separated from Russian territory in southern Ukrainian by a narrow stretch of the sea.

Images and videos of the crash’s aftermath showed smoke billowing and fire blazing in the residential area. A building, believed to house hundreds of people, was later engulfed in flames, say officials.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given instructions for authorities to give all the necessary assistance to the victims of the crash, according to the statement.

Officials have opened an investigation into the incident, according to the prosecutor’s office of the Krasnodar Krai region and the military prosecutor’s office of the Southern Military District.

NPR’s State of Ukraine: News on a Phenomenological Operation in the Krasnodar Krai Region

The remains of the aircraft have not been found yet. The evacuation of residents of nearby houses has been cancelled. The fire has been contained,” the head of the Krasnodar Krai region, Veniamin Kondratyev, said on his Telegram channel, citing a statement from the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

According to the head of the affected district in Yeysk, Roman Bublik, the residents of a nine-story building that caught fire will be provided with all the necessary support.

Earlier on Monday, an eyewitness told Russian state media TASS of the chaos that ensued after the crash: “Plane crashed in our city … Ambulances and firefighters are coming from all over the city, helicopters are in the air,” said the eyewitness.”

The Russian Emergency Ministry wrote on the messaging app Telegram early Tuesday that rescue efforts were complete. The ministry said 19 people were injured.

Nuclear deterrence exercises will be held by NATO. NATO has warned Russia not to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine but says the “Steadfast Noon” drills are a routine, annual training activity.

A group suspected of carrying out an explosion on a bridge to the peninsula, including Russians, Ukrainians and Armenians were arrested by Russian agents.

It’s hard to imagine any other country being permitted by the world to wage the kind of campaign Russia has in Ukraine (and in Syria before it); still less with an overt agenda of exterminating the Ukrainian people.

Past recaps can be read here. For context and more in-depth stories, you can find more of NPR’s coverage here. Listen to NPR’s State of Ukraine for more updates throughout the day.

Explosions of the Su-34 nuclear-capable twin-engine bomber during the U.S. war in Syria and Ukraine: Monitoring the impact of the invasion on the environment

Vice governor of the region, Anna Menkova, said three of the four victims died when they jumped from the upper floors of the building in a desperate attempt to escape the flames, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency.

The authorities reserved emergency rooms at local hospitals and scrambled medical aircraft. Over 500 residents were evacuated and provided with temporary accommodations.

Surveillance cam videos posted on Russian messaging app channels showed a plane exploding in a giant fireball. Other videos showed a building that was burning and loud bangs from the warplane’s weapons.

The Su-34 is a supersonic twin-engine bomber equipped with sophisticated sensors and weapons that has been a key strike component of the Russian air force. The plane was used during the fighting in Syria and in the war in Ukraine.

Three servicemen were killed when pieces of the air base that houses the Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers fell on them, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

The environmental costs of the invasion have been receiving a lot of attention since they began eight months ago, usually forgotten in the context of war. Doug Weir, research director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory, said that there was an unprecedented amount of data coming out of the country in the form of social media reports and remote monitoring. It’s also due to the attention of the Ukrainian government, which says it aims to hold Russia accountable for the massive ecological price tag. The Ukrainian Nature conserver group and other organizations are still evaluating the damage on the ground but the government has pegged the cost at $34 billion. Next month, it plans to present a framework at the UN Climate Conference in Egypt that will outline its rationale for how its damaged ecosystems and poisoned air, soil, and waterways translate into specific costs that Russia should cover—though it is far from clear how it would be made to pay.

Blown-up tanks and other vehicles leak oil and diesel. Fires cause pollutants to aerosolize, and this leads to chemicals and particulate matter falling as toxic snow. Battles also spark forest fires, which chew through previously protected areas: 250,000 acres have burned in Ukraine so far, Vasyliuk says.

The contamination of groundwater is uniquely insidious. Wind does a good job of blowing air pollution out of a given area, but if chemicals seep underground, they tend to stay there much longer, says Nickolaï Denisov, deputy director of the Zoï Environment Network, which has long monitored Ukraine. “It’s a much more stable environment,” says Denisov. “Once it’s polluted, it’s polluted. And it may take a very, very long time—many years—for groundwater to get rid of pollution.”

On Russia’s scorched-earth attacks on Kherson: a message from the Kremlin to the U.S.

Grisly videos filmed by Ukrainian drones showing Russian infantry being struck by artillery in poorly prepared positions have partly supported those assertions, as has reporting in Russian news media of mobilized soldiers telling relatives about high casualty rates. The videos have not been independently verified and their exact location on the front line could not be determined.

Russian forces have tripled the intensity of attacks along some parts of the front, said the commander of the Ukrainian military in a Telegram post on Thursday. He did not say what the time frame was or where the attacks were coming from.

General Zaluzhnyi mentioned that they discussed the situation at the front. Ukrainian forces, he said he had told his U.S. colleague, were beating back the attacks, “thanks to the courage and skills of our warriors.”

An assessment from the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based analytical group, also said that the increase in infantry in the Donbas region in the east had not resulted in Russia’s gaining new ground.

“Russian forces would likely have had more success in such offensive operations if they had waited until enough mobilized personnel had arrived to amass a force large enough to overcome Ukrainian defenses,” the institute said in a statement on Thursday.

Ukraine has faced a blistering onslaught of Russian artillery fire, missiles, shelling and drone attacks since early October, much of it targeting the energy infrastructure in a bid to cut electricity and heating services as the freezing winter advances. The shelling has been especially intense in Kherson since Russian forces withdrew and Ukraine’s army reclaimed the city in November.

With Russian and Ukrainian forces apparently preparing for battle in Kherson, and conflicting signals over what may be coming, the remaining residents of the city have been stocking up on food and fuel to survive combat.

There was a limited war waged by the Kremlin in the east of the country for eight years before it invaded its neighbor, causing that eastern border region to be thrown into a state of turmoil. Many military and cybersecurity observers around the world warned that Russia’s scorched-earth hacking was demonstrating a playbook that would, sooner or later, be used outside of Ukraine too—a warning that soon proved true, with cyberattacks that struck everything from American hospitals to the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Cyber operations aimed at industrial plants can take many months to plan, and after the explosion in early October of a bridge linking Crimea to Russia, Putin was “trying to go for a big, showy public response to the attack on the bridge,” the senior US official said.

Ukrainian cyber officials had to protect their networks from Russia as well as protect themselves from criminal hackers in order to keep their job.

The State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP) said in a press release that four of their officials were killed in missile attacks. The four officials that didn’t have cybersecurity responsibilities have had a significant impact on the rest of the agency.

Menon notes that every single one of his comments could similarly apply to Russia’s previous waves of cyberattacks on the country’s internet, such as NotPetya, which caused hundreds of digital networks to be destroyed five years earlier. They’re not the same, but the goal is the same. Demoralizing and punishing civilians is what it is.

“I don’t think Russia would measure the success in cyberspace by a single attack,” the Western official said, rather “by their cumulative effect” of trying to wear the Ukrainians down.

In 2017, as Russia’s hybrid war in eastern Ukraine continued, Russia’s military intelligence agency unleashed destructive malware known as NotPetya that wiped computer systems at companies across Ukraine before spreading around the world, according to the Justice Department and private investigators. The incident cost the global economy billions of dollars by disrupting shipping giant Maersk and other multinational firms.

That operation involved identifying widely used Ukrainian software, infiltrating it and injecting malicious code to weaponize it, said Matt Olney, director of threat intelligence and interdiction at Talos, Cisco’s threat intelligence unit.

Olney said all of that was equally effective in responding to cyber incidents. It takes time and you can’t just conjure all the opportunities.

Kiev: Preparing for Emergency: A State-Leading Attorney for Kyiv City Council’s Urban Security Director, Roman Tkachuk

Zhora, the Ukrainian official who is a deputy chairman at SSSCIP, called for Western governments to tighten sanctions on Russia’s access to software tools that could feed its hacking arsenal.

Sepp told CNN that it was possible that the Russians would ramp up their cyberattacks as their battlefield struggles continued.

“Our main goal is to isolate Russia on the international stage” as much as possible, Sepp said, adding that the former Soviet state has not communicated with Russia on cybersecurity issues in months.

Preparing for emergency: The city’s Director for the Department of Municipal Security, Roman Tkachuk, relayed fears later in the afternoon on Sunday that all possible action plans are being considered in the case of an emergency but there were no plans to evacuate the city, according to a statement from the Kyiv City Council.

The city’s mayor encouraged some residents to think about staying with family and friends outside of Kyiv if the city is left without electricity or water.

He still holds that attempts by certain countries to rewrite and remake world history are becoming increasingly aggressive, and they are trying to divide the society and weaken Russia.

Each of the city’s districts will have about 100 heating centers that can be used in case of emergencies. The heating centers will have all the required conveniences, like heat, lighting, toilets, canteens, places to rest, warm clothes, blankets and an ambulance crew nearby.

Some Republicans warned that funding for Ukraine could be limited if the party wins control of the House of Representatives in the elections this week.

Ukrain invaded Kherson after Russia retreated from its strategic capital, Beryslav, on Nov. 2 during a Ukranian military retreat

Also Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Erdogan insists Sweden must meet certain conditions before it can join NATO.

Ukraine is expected to be on the agenda of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, when they are expected to discuss a report from the I Atomic Energy Agency.

The president of the Ukranian state accused Russia of energy terrorism because attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure left more than 4 million people without electricity.

On Nov. 2 Russia reentered a UN brokered deal to safely export grain and other agricultural goods from Ukraine. Moscow had suspended its part in the deal a few days prior after saying Ukraine had launched a drone attack on its Black Sea ships.

The Pentagon announced $400 million in aid to the Ukraine on Nov. 4, which includes 45 refurbished T 72 tanks and 1,100 Phoenix Ghost drones.

While state media in Russia said that Ukrainian shelling had damaged the power lines, Yaroslav Yanushevych, the exiled Ukrainian head of the Kherson regional military administration, blamed Russian troops.

Russian forces continued to fire from across the river on towns and villages newly recaptured by Ukrainian forces, according to the Ukrainian military’s southern command. Two Russian missiles struck the town of Beryslav, which is just north of a critical dam, the military said. It was not immediately known if there were any casualties.

Some 250,000 people lived in the city before the war. Ukrainian activists estimate that 30,000 to 60,000 people remain, but it is impossible to know how accurate such guesses are.

In November, Russia’s military retreated from Kherson city, the only regional capital it had captured since the invasion began, in a major setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since then, Russian forces have stationed themselves across the river from Kherson and regularly shell the city from there.

KYIV and MOSCOW — Ukrainian soldiers began entering Kherson on Friday after a Russian retreat from the strategic city, in a significant win for Ukraine.

If the Ukrainian government regained control of Kherson, that would bolster its argument that it should press on and not return to the bargaining table, as some American officials have advocated.

Videos shared by the Ukrainian government showed people who had been through an occupation cheering the arrival of Ukrainian troops.

As he spoke, Ukrainian soldiers continued to move through towns and villages in the region, greeted joyously by tearful residents who had endured nine months occupation.

The Ukrainians had no sight of a single car in the last few hours of the Russian occupation, according to Voitsehovsky

Oleh Voitsehovsky, the commander of a Ukrainian drone reconnaissance unit, said he had seen no Russian troops or equipment in his zone along the front less than four miles north of Kherson city.

“The Russians left all the villages,” he said. We looked at dozens of villages with our drones, and did not see a single car. We do not know how they are leaving. They retreat quietly at night.

The apparent final hours of the Russian occupation overnight Thursday to Friday featured several explosions and were chaotic and disorienting, according to residents of Kherson reached by telephone on Friday morning.

Serhiy, a retiree living in Kherson who asked that his last name not be published for security reasons, said in a series of text messages before Ukrainian soldiers swept in that conditions in the city had unraveled overnight.

The building was ablaze at night, and it was not possible to call the fire department. There was no water, no electricity, and no phone signal.

Zelenskyy and the human rights of the Russian people in Kherzegovin’s armed forces. The “I Want to Live” program on Ukraine’s east bank

The Russian military settled in local houses they seized, schools and kindergartens. Federov said military equipment is located in residential areas.

The report said that the Russian forces were making defensive moves on the east bank of the Dnipro and they were shelling Ukrainians across the river.

“Even when the city is not yet completely cleansed of the enemy’s presence,” Zelenskyy said in his address, “the people of Kherson themselves are already removing Russian symbols from the streets and buildings and any traces of the occupiers’ stay in Kherson.”

The depth of their suffering has yet to come into focus. Residents interviewed by journalists have told harrowing stories of friends being kidnapped, children being illegally deported and their relatives being killed. Evidence of human rights abuses has arisen when Russian have been out of the country.

Videos shared on social media by Zelenskyy and other officials and citizens showed crowds in the street celebrating and chanting “ZSU! ZSU!” is the name of the country’s armed forces.

The Kremlin insists that Russia still has a legal hold over the territory. “Here there can be no changes,” Peskov said Friday.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence agency said it would guarantee the rights of any abandoned Russian soldiers who surrendered, under a program called “I Want to Live.”

The Russian withdrawal to Kherson last week is not the end of the fight against the Russian occupation in Ukraine, says CNN’s Nic Robertson

The Russian withdrawal came amid reports of heavy damage to the Antonivsky Bridge — the area’s only road crossing over the Dnipro. Satellite images showed a section of the bridge was sheared off.

The Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was told by the commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine to withdraw from Kherson.

In what appeared to be carefully staged remarks, Surovikin called the decision to withdraw to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River “difficult,” but one that would allow Russia to save the lives of military personnel and preserve Russia’s combat capability.

This week, the Kremlin also appeared to rebuff Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace solution that involved asking Russia to start withdrawing troops from Ukraine this Christmas – as the war approaches the 10-month mark.

The Russian pullback is widely believed to be a blow to Putin’s war effort in Ukraine — a view underscored by the Russian leader’s continued silence on the pullback.

“There is practically no water supply in the town. There is a shortage of drugs, as well as bread that isn’t produced because of the lack of electricity. There are also problems with food supplies,” Roman Golovnya, adviser to the mayor of Kherson, said in a TV broadcast Saturday.

But life remains far from normal, with authorities warning residents to be wary of explosives littering the city, and Russian forces still nearby – just across the strategically important Dnipro River.

This is not the end of the struggle against the Russian occupation in the country, reports CNN’s Nic Robertson, who witnessed emotional scenes Saturday in Kherson’s central square as residents hailed their liberation.

“Kherson is now a front line city,” he said. You could hear shots being fired towards the Russian forces last night and this morning.

The mines are dangerous. Four people, including an 11-year-old, were killed when a family driving in the village of Novoraysk, outside the city, ran over a mine, Mr. Yanushevich said. Another mine injured six railway workers who were trying to restore service after lines were damaged. And there were at least four more children reportedly injured by mines across the region, Ukrainian officials said in statements.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Saturday of the dangers of the Kherson region, saying that more than 2,000 explosive items have already been removed. He warned Kherson residents to be careful and not to try to check the buildings themselves.

In Kherson, there are bomb disposal experts, the police, and various units of the defense forces.

Urban warfare in Kherson, Ukraine: a military analyst’s prediction after the end of the Ukrainian War on the CNKV-Zeniya River for an urban operation

Weather conditions are getting tougher, with sub-zero temperatures at night, CNN’s team in Kherson city reports, and no heating in the city. Ukrainian authorities have said that those who find it too hard to live in Kherson can move to other parts of the country, since they do now have freedom of movement.

CNN obtained images from Maxar Technologies that showed the water flowing out of three gates at the dam.

Pro-Russian officials in the annexed Kherson region claim that the evacuation of civilians and the retreat of Russian troops from the west bank to the east bank of Dnipro River is due to the threat of flooding that could occur if the Ukrainian military hits the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam.

“This is going to be a big urban operation,” said a CNN military analyst when he spoke Saturday about the next steps for the Ukrainian military. What you are going to see is a methodical operation to clear buildings of potential booby traps and mines.

Russian troops are focusing their efforts in the Kherson region on equipping their defensive lines on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, an operational update from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) General Staff said Sunday night.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian and Russian forces traded fire on Monday from across the broad expanse of the Dnipro River that now divides them after Russia’s retreat from the southern city of Kherson, reshaping the battlefield with a victory that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, declared marked “the beginning of the end of the war.”

The Dnipro has become the new front line in southern Ukraine, and officials there warned of continued danger from fighting in regions that have already endured months of Russian occupation.

Through the afternoon, artillery fire picked up in a southern district of the city near the destroyed Antonivsky Bridge over the Dnipro, stoking fears that the Russian Army would retaliate for the loss of the city with a bombardment from its new positions on the eastern bank.

puffs of smoke were sent up by mortar shells near the bridge. Near the riverfront, incoming rounds rang out with thunderous, metallic booms. It was not immediately possible to assess what had been hit.

The deaths underscored the continued threats, even as Mr. Zelensky made a surprise visit to Kherson.

Mr. Zelensky made a short appearance in the city’s main square, where hundreds of jubilant residents celebrated, to say that he was coming to all of the country step by step.

Why do Russians wander around? The example of Tatiana, the owner of a secure messaging app in Skadovsk, Kherson city

“Occupants rob local people and exchange stuff for samogon,” or homemade vodka, said one resident, Tatiana, who communicated via a secure messaging app from Oleshky, a town across the river from Kherson City. They get even more aggressive after they’re drunk. We are so scared here.” She asked that her surname be withheld for security.

Ivan, 45, stated in a text message that Russian people wander around, 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609-. He lives in Skadovsk, which is south of Kherson city, and asked that his surname not be used out of concern for his safety. “We try to connect with the owners and to arrange for someone local to stay in their place. It is not abandoned and Russians don’t take it.

Editor’s Note: David A. Andelman, a contributor to CNN, twice winner of the Deadline Club Award, is a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, author of “A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Might Still Happen” and blogs at Andelman Unleashed. He was a correspondent for CBS News in Europe and Asia. The views are his own, and they are not in this commentary. CNN has more opinion.

The War on Ukraine: What Putin Has Learned from his Miscellaneous Launch of a Russian Missile and the First Arrival of an Anti-Aircraft Missile

Polish and NATO leaders suspect that a Ukrainian anti-aircraft rocket intercepting an incoming Russian missile caused the first missile to have landed in Poland. (President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, has insisted the missile was not Ukrainian)

Whatever the exact circumstances of the missile, one thing is clear. “Russia bears ultimate responsibility, as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Wednesday.

Putin’s string of missile attacks have only been the beginning of a series of horrors he has unleashed that has driven his nation further away from the civilized powers that he once wanted to join.

His forces have planted mines in vast stretches of territory in Kherson from which they’ve recently withdrawn – much as the Khmer Rouge did in Cambodia stretching back to the 1970s. Indeed, Cambodian de-mining experts have even been called in to assist with the herculean task facing Ukraine in 2022. At the same time, Russian armies have also left behind evidence of unspeakable atrocities and torture, also reminiscent of the Khmer Rouge.

That said, a growing number of Russian soldiers have rebelled at what they have been asked to do and refused to fight. The Defense Ministry of the UK believes that Russian soldiers may be prepared to shoot retreating soldiers.

The hotline and Telegram channel was launched by the Ukrainian military in order to help Russian soldiers interested in defecting.

Putin has also tried, though he has been stymied at most turns, to establish black market networks abroad to source what he needs to fuel his war machine – much as Kim Jong-un has done in North Korea. The United States has already uncovered and recently sanctioned vast networks of such shadow companies and individuals centered in hubs from Taiwan to Armenia, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, and Luxembourg to source high-tech goods for Russia’s collapsing military-industrial complex.

Putin is increasingly isolated on the world stage. He was the only head of state to stay away from a session of the G20, which Zelensky dubbed the “G19.” Though he wanted a return to the G7, the inclusion is no longer a goal of Putin’s. The comparison with North Korea made by Russia’s sudden ban on 100 Canadians, which included Canadian-American Jim Carrey, was striking.

The best and brightest in almost every field have fled to other countries. Writers, artists, journalists and some of the most creative technologists and scientists are included.

I spoke with one of the leading Russian journalists in Berlin last week who said that like many of his countrymen, he could never come back to his homeland.

Russian War on the Crossroads: The Joint French-German Project for a Next-Generation Jet Fighter at the Heart of the Future Combat Air System

The West is trying to suck out material resources from the country in order to pursue this war. Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission told the G20 on Tuesday that she understood that it was an unsustainable dependency.

Putin wanted this conflict to drive more wedges into the western alliance, but it didn’t happen. The long-awaited joint French-German project for a next- Generation jet fighter at the heart of the Future Combat Air System started to move forward on Monday, with word getting out that it was beginning to move forward.

In a statement, the energy company Ukrenergo said that the three nuclear power plants — Rivne, South Ukraine and Khmelnytskyi — were disconnected from the grid as a safety measure.

The company said the nuclear reactor have been turned back on, but were not reconnected to the national grid.

The military administrator in the southern region of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim said that the nuclear plant had been cut from the grid and was about to be shut down.

The cascading effect of the power cuts on the heat and water is stressed by the Ukrainian officials. The water in the pipes could freeze when it is below freezing.

President Maia Sandu wrote a post about Russia on Facebook, saying that she couldn’t trust a regime that leaves the people in the dark and cold.

Zelenskyy: “What is not supplying water to Donetsk”: Putin’s response to the Russian military attack on Ukraine

Ukraine is preparing for the winter. President Zelenskyy claimed in a Tuesday night video address that there are 4,000 centers to help civilians in the event of power cuts.

He called them “points of invincibility,” saying they will provide heat, water, phone charging and internet access. Many will be in schools and government buildings.

After ending his speech, he drank from his champagne glass and said that the speech wouldn’t interfere with combat missions.

At the awards ceremony, Putin asked who is not supplying water to DONETSK. It is an act of genocide to not provide water to a million people.

The reference to Kursk appears to reference Russia’s announcement that an airfield in the Kursk region, which neighbors Ukraine, was targeted in a drone attack. The Ukranian Defense Ministry has not commented on the recent explosions, which were deep within Russia. Officially, the targets are well beyond the reach of the country’s declared drones.

He ended his apparently off-the-cuff comments by claiming that people seem to refrain from mentioning that water has been cut off from Donetsk. “No one has said a word about it anywhere. It was at all! Complete silence.

Local Russian authorities in Donetsk — which Putin claimed to annex in defiance of international law — have reported frequent shelling of the city this week.

President Vladimir Putin made rare public comments specifically addressing the Russian military’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure Thursday, while clutching a glass of champagne at a Kremlin reception.

In his Kremlin appearance Thursday, he continued to say: “Who is not supplying water to Donetsk? Not providing water to a city of million is an act of genocide.

The Russian president tersely compared the difference in reactions to attacks on Russia and attacks on Ukraine, saying, “as soon as we make a move, do something in response – noise, clamor, crackle for the whole universe.”

The Ukrenergo crisis in Zaporizhzhia: What we have learned from the missile attack on Melitopol

In a statement issued in November, Ukrenergo said that the restoration of power was hampered by strong winds and rain.

Several explosions, including at the Christian Church, which the occupier seized several months ago, have been reported by the mayor.

Yevgeny Balitsky, Russia’s acting governor of Zaporizhzhia, said the missile attack on Melitopol had “completely destroyed” a recreation center where “people, civilians, and [military] base personnel were having dinner on Saturday night.”

Alexei Kulemzin, head of the Russian-backed city administration, said Ukraine launched 20 Grad missiles around 5:54 a.m. local time Sunday in the direction of the Voroshilovsky and Kalininsky districts.

There were dead and wounded at the Russian military barracks that were set on fire by an explosion, according to the unofficial Crimea media portal “Krymskyi veter”.

Sergey Aksenov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, said on Telegram: “The air defense system worked over Simferopol. All services are working as usual.

He said that the strikes using Iranian drones left many in the dark. Mr. Zelensky called the situation in the Odesa region “very difficult,” noting that only the most critical infrastructure there remained operational. He said that restoration of power to civilians wouldn’t take hours, but would take days.

Zelensky said that emergency and stabilization power outages continue to occur in various regions. “The power system is now, to put it mildly, very far from a normal state.”

Kiev has a problem: nuclear weapons, missiles, shelling, and bullying by the Russian Orthodox Church – a nighttime speech by Ukrainian President Zelensky

“This is the true attitude of Russia towards Odesa, towards Odesa residents – deliberate bullying, deliberate attempt to bring disaster to the city,” Zelensky added.

Ukraine on Saturday received “a new support package from Norway in the amount of $100 million” that will be used “precisely for the restoration of our energy system after these Russian strikes,” Zelensky added.

In his nightly address on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine had shot down 10 of the 15 drones that Russian forces used. It was not immediately possible to verify his tally.

The repeated assaults on the plants and equipment that Ukrainians rely on for heat and light have drawn condemnation from world leaders, and thrust Ukraine into a grim cycle in which crews hurry to restore power only to have it knocked out again.

“The power system is now, to put it mildly, very far from a normal state — there is an acute shortage in the system,” he said, urging people to reduce their power use to put less strain on the battered power grid.

Even if there are no heavy missile strikes, this doesn’t mean there are no problems. There are often missile attacks, drones and shelling in different regions. Energy facilities are hit on a regular basis.

Ukrainian authorities have been stepping up raids on churches accused of links with Moscow, and many are watching to see if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

U.S. President Zelenskyy’s Message on the Russian-Induced Crime against Crimea and its Implications for Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron hosts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store for a working dinner Monday in Paris.

In France, on Tuesday, a conference will be held to support Ukrainians through the winter with a video address by President Zelenskyy.

Following Brittney Griner’s release from Russian prison, fans, friends and family are celebrating the basketball player’s return to the U.S. Meanwhile, some Republican politicians have been complaining about the prisoner swap and other U.S. citizens still held by Russia.

The new measures targeting Russian oil revenue took effect. They include a price cap and a European Union embargo on most Russian oil imports and a Russian oil price cap.

President Zelenskyy had a phone call with President Biden on Dec. 11, as well as the leaders of France and Turkey, in an apparent stepping up of diplomacy over the 9 1/2-month-long Russian invasion.

Ukrainian forces have unleashed the biggest attack on the occupied Donetsk region since 2014, according to a Russia-installed official, in the wake of heavy fighting in the east of the country.

He claimed that a key in the intersection center had come under fire, and that forty rockets were fired at civilians in the city.

In Kherson, which was freed by Ukrainian forces in November, there were four deaths due to shelling and rocket attacks. There was a multi-storey apartment building ablaze as well as the body of a man found in one apartment, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General. The city is still struggling to restore basic services.

A member of the international organization is one of the victims. During the shelling, they were on the street, they were fatally wounded by fragments of enemy shells,” he added.

The Russian Air Defense Forces in Kyiv: Status of the Energy Security Project and Implications for the Future of U.S. Power Systems

The city of Kherson was completely disconnected from power supplies after the strikes, according to the regional head of the Kherson military administration.

Meanwhile, further west Kyiv received machinery and generators from the United States to help strengthen the Ukrainian capital’s power infrastructure amid the widespread energy deficits.

There are over 130 generators that were delivered by the Energy Security Project. All equipment was free of charge.

The realities that have developed over time need to be taken into consideration by the Ukranian side, according to a Kremlin spokesman.

The Russian Federation has new subjects, he said, referring to four areas that it has claimed to have annexed.

“They have set a goal to leave Ukrainians without light, water and heat,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting, adding that 60 of the 76 missiles fired at Ukraine were intercepted by its air defense forces.

The events of December 5, when the Russians launched a massive missile strike, remind us of this situation. We should make sure that we take it into account in our plans, and savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay

CNN teams in Kyiv reported hearing blasts Friday, as well as seeing and hearing missiles. The air defense systems were working in the Ukrainian capital.

The Kremlin says two planes were slightly damaged when adrones hit the air base in early December. Kyiv has not made a claim for the attack.

An MiG-31K, a supersonic aircraft capable of carrying a Kinzal hypersonic missile, was also seen in the sky over Belarus during the air attacks on Friday in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. It wasn’t clear whether a Kinzal was used in the attacks.

Kirby claimed that Russia’s defense industrial base is being taxed. They’re having trouble keeping up with that pace. Russian President Putin is having trouble with replenishment of precision guided munitions.

There are two key headline deliverables: first, the Patriot missile systems. Complex, accurate, and expensive, they have been described as the US’s “gold standard” of air defense. NATO guards them and requires the personnel who run them to be properly trained.

He declined to announce any details on the next security assistance package for Ukraine, but said that there “will be another one” and that additional air defense capabilities should be expected.

Air Force drone strike on Dnipropetrovsk: “Militor-induced destruction of critical infrastructure” in Kharkiv

All residents of the capital have regained water supply. In a post on Telegram, the mayor of the city said that half of the inhabitants of the city already have heating and they are working to restore it to the rest.

The head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration said that a little boy was pulled from the rubble of an apartment block which had been hit by a Russian missile.

The official said that the deaths of 16 people included three emergency workers killed in the process of demining the Berislav district. Yanushevich said that 64 more have been wounded.

More than 100 people lived in the apartment block that was struck, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih city military administration. He said that those who suffered damage in adjoining homes are being looked after in a temporary place.

In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubv, head of the regional military administration, said “critical infrastructure facilities” were hit in Chuhuiv district on Friday.

Sections of the Ukrainian railway system in Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk region were out of power following the missile strikes, and back-up diesel locomotives were replacing some services.

The energy minister of Ukraine warned of more emergency power cuts after nine power-generating facilities were damaged on Friday.

The Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 drones were launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov, the Air Force said in a statement.

What do we have to learn from the Ukrainian wars of colonial reconquest and how we will do business with it? And what will we do next?

Zelensky thanked everyone who carries out the repairs around the clock. “It is not easy, it is difficult, but I am sure: we will pull through together, and Russia’s aggression will fail.”

Ukrainians far from the eastern and southern fronts of the ground war are looking for some semblance of normality in the last weeks of the year.

An artificial Christmas tree has been installed in the center of Kiev and will be illuminated with energy-saving garlands, which will be powered by a generator at certain times.

There will be about 1,000 blue and yellow balls and white doves on the tree in Sophia Square. Flags of countries that are supporting Ukraine will be placed at the bottom.

Zelensky said in his virtual address that the Ukrainian children are asking St. Nicholas for air defense and weapons for victory.

Russia is determined to restore its empire at the expense of neighboring states. If the US and Ukrainian backers change the terms of the conflict they will set up more targets for Russia to knock down. The international community must do more than simply tolerate Russia’s naked aggression and the savagery with which it is pursuing its war of colonial reconquest. More direct intervention is long overdue.

But Russia will keep doing this because it works. And US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders consistently reassure Russia that it works by explicitly referring to the fear of escalation – precisely the fear Russia wants to stoke.

And yet, Russia’s UN Security Council veto and the fear it has instilled through nuclear propaganda have given it a free pass to behave as it wishes, without fear of interference from a global community looking on in either ambivalence or helpless paralysis.

Nuclear threats remain Russia’s most effective deterrent. A decade or so of driving home the message that Russia will use nuclear weapons if it’s cornered or humiliated has already had an effect.

Russia will continue to look for replacements, even though it is going to launch missiles at the people of Ukraine. Iran may be the only country that will supply Russia in the future.

That sets a disastrous example for other aggressive powers around the world. It says possession of nuclear weapons allows you to wage genocidal wars of destruction against your neighbors, because other nations won’t intervene.

If that’s not the message the US and the West want other aggressor states around the world to receive, then supply of Patriot should be followed by far more direct and assertive means of dissuading Moscow.

The second are precision-guided munitions for Ukrainian jets. Ukraine, and Russia, largely are equipped with munitions that are “dumb” – fired roughly towards a target. Ukraine has been provided with more and more Western standard precision artillery and missiles, like Howitzers and HIMARS respectively.

Western analysts have noted Russia has grumbled consistently about these deliveries, but been relatively muted in its practical response to the crossing of what, as recently as January, might have been considered “red lines.”

Whatever the truth of the situation, Biden wants Putin to hear figures in the billions and European partners to help more and make it seem like there is no limit toUkrainian resources.

This is not easy. The Biden administration cannot expect a blank cheque from the new House of Representatives, said Kevin McCarthy, Congress’s likely new Speaker.

Zelensky: The U.S. should never give up on Russia in a conflict of aggression, even though Ukraine is a war machine

The remnants of the Trumpist group have expressed doubts about how much aid the US should give to eastern Europe.

It’s not a big deal for the US to defeat Russia in this long and dark conflict, given its trillion dollar annual defense budget.

Zelensky’s physical appearance in Washington is surely designed to remind Republicans of the urgency of Ukraine’s fight and how a defeat for Kyiv would lead Moscow’s nuclear-backed brutality right to the doorstep of NATO, and then likely drag the US into a boots-on-the ground war with Russia.

He is an inspiring rhetorician, and – as a former reality TV star turned unexpected president – the embodiment of how Putin’s war of choice has turned ordinary Ukrainians into wartime heroes.

Russia decried what it called the monstrous crimes of the “regime in Kyiv”, after the US President pledged more military support to the country.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that no matter how much military support the West provides to the Ukrainian government, “they will achieve nothing.”

“As the leadership of our country has stated, the tasks set within the framework of the special military operation will be fulfilled, taking into account the situation on the ground and the actual realities,” Zakharova added, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Zelensky made a historic speech from the US Capitol, expressing gratitude for American aid in fighting Russian aggression since the war began.

“We see that, in fact, the United States and other countries are following the path of constantly expanding the range and raising the technical level of the weapons that they supply to Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a conference call. It doesn’t contribute to a swift settlement of the situation.

There were no calls for peace according to Peskov. But during his address to the US Congress on Wednesday, Zelensky did stress that “we need peace,” reiterating the 10-point plan devised by Ukraine.

Peskov told journalists, however, that Wednesday’s meeting showed the US is waging a proxy war of “indirect fighting” against Russia down “to the last Ukrainian.”

“I Know You Love You, but What Have You Don’t Know”: Ukrainian President Viktor Zelensky during a defiant Christmas address

Ukrainian-controlled areas of the neighbouring Kherson region were shelled 33 times over the past 24 hours, according to Kherson’s Ukrainian Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevich. There were no injuries.

Zelenskyy posted photos on his social media accounts from his trip to Washington. He stated that the destruction came as the Ukrainians were starting their Christmas celebrations and for many Orthodox Christians it will be their traditional celebration.

“This is not sensitive content — it’s the real life of Kherson,” Zelenskyy tweeted. The images showed cars on fire, bodies on the street and building windows blown out.

Earlier Saturday, the Donetsk regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said two people were killed and five wounded in shelling there over the past day. The deaths were in a town close to the Russian controlled city of Donetsk.

Stepne, a settlement on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, was also hit by shelling but there were no details on casualties, according to the governor, Oleksander Starukh,

President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Ukrainians to have “patience and faith” in a defiant Christmas address after a deadly wave of Russian strikes pounded the southern city of Kherson.

He urged the nation to stand firm in the face of a grim winter of energy blackouts, the absence of loved ones and the ever-present threat of Russian attacks.

There may be empty chairs surrounding it. Our houses and streets are not bright. And Christmas bells can ring not so loudly and inspiringly. Through air raid sirens, gunshots and explosions.

He said that Ukrainians have been fighting evil forces for more than a decade, however, they now have another powerful and effective weapon. The hammer and sword of our spirit and consciousness. The knowledge of God. Courage and bravery. They incline us to do good and overcome evil.

Addressing the Ukrainian people directly, he said the country would sing Christmas carols louder than the sound of a power generator and hear the voices and greetings of relatives “in our hearts” even if communication services and the internet are down.

“And even in total darkness – we will find each other – to hug each other tightly. If there is no heat, we will hug each other.

Zelensky said they will celebrate their holidays. As always. We will smile and be happy. As always. The difference is one. We are not going to wait for a miracle. We don’t have to make it ourselves after all.

Ukraine has traditionally celebrated Christmas on January 7 in line with Orthodox Christian customs, which acknowledge the birth of Jesus according to the Julian calendar.

The fate of Ukraine’s airfields: state of affairs in the Bakhmut-Saratov area and recent attacks in Saratov

“These are not military facilities,” he wrote on Telegram Saturday. This isn’t a war according to the rules. It is terror, it is killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told The Associated Press on Monday that his government wanted to hold a “peace summit,” hopefully mediated by the United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres, by late February, but that Russia could not be invited unless it first faced prosecution for war crimes. It was the latest in a series of claims by each country that they would be willing to negotiate peace but only on conditions that are acceptable to the other.

He said that “it’s not us who refuse talks, it’s them” — something the Kremlin has repeatedly stated in recent months as its 10-month old invasion kept losing momentum.

The think tank said that the pace of the Russian advance has slowed down due to the fact that Ukrainian troops have slowed down in the Bakhmut area.

Three Russian servicemen were killed Monday after a Ukrainian drone was shot down by air defenses as it approached a military airfield in Saratov Oblast, deep inside Russian territory, according to Russian state news agencies, citing the defense ministry.

There have been no emergencies in the city’s residential areas, and no damage to the civilian infrastructure. He also extended his condolences to the families of the servicemen, saying the government would provide them with assistance.

On Monday the South of Ukraine Security and Defense Forces warned of a potential Russian strike, referencing an incident earlier this month in the same region.

Earlier in the month, there was footage of an explosion in the sky. At the time, Gov. Busargin also reassured residents that no civilian infrastructure was damaged and that “information about incidents at military facilities is being checked by law enforcement agencies.”

The quiet night of Dec. 5 the Russian shelling of the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaprizhzhia regions

It appeared as though the night from Sunday into Monday in Ukraine was quiet. For the first time in weeks, the Russian forces didn’t shell the Dnipropetrovsk region, which borders the partially occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, its Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko reported on Telegram.

“This is the third quiet night in 5.5 months since the Russians started shelling” the areas around the city of Nikopol, Reznichenko wrote. Nikopol is located across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under control of the Russian forces.

missiles that fly from the airfields hit in the attacks could potentially destroy missiles on the ground before they can be deployed.

Mr. Zagorodnyuk, clarifying that he did not speak for the government and could not confirm the strikes, added: “You cannot consider, this person will attack you because you are fighting back. There is absolutely no strategic reason not to try to do this.”

The most sophisticated missile in Russia’s arsenal, the Kinzhal, a hypersonic weapon that can reach targets in minutes and is all but impossible to shoot down, is in even shorter supply, Mr. Budanov said.

The Russians were wrong to think that no people at home would be affected by the war. He added that explosions at Russian airfields complicated the bombing campaign against Ukraine, forcing Moscow to relocate some of its aircraft, though no one is claiming that the strikes have seriously impeded the Russian barrage.

The U.S. reaction to the Dec. 5 assaults was muted. Secretary Austin said they are not working to prevent Ukraine from developing their own capability. Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, stated only that the United States was neither encouraging nor enabling attacks on Russia.

A director of the Defense Priorities think tank spoke about the dangers of messing with the human body like the central nervous system, when he traveled to the Ukrainian capital. “It’s not only an inconvenience but an enormous economic cost. It’s an effort to create pain for the civilian population so the government can’t protect them adequately.

The lead for disaster response in the Ukrainian president’s office says several residential buildings in the capital were destroyed.

Ukrainian air defense systems shot down 21 cruise missiles near Odesa, said Maksym Marchenko, the regional administrator for that region along the Black Sea. The city was without water or electricity after successful missile strikes.

Strikes of the scale like the one launched Thursday’s have become less frequent since they began Oct. 10. The head ofUkraine’s military intelligence said last week that Russia was running out of cruise missiles.

In separate comments to Russian media Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Moscow would continue to pursue its objectives in Ukraine with “perseverance” and “patience.”