RUSSIA could be preparing a “large offensive” as Vladimir Putin looks “to conquer all of Ukraine" – despite heavy battlefield losses.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, warned Russian dictator Vladimir Putin could launch a massive offensive come January, as the bloodthirsty leader looks to “leave millions without power.”
Mr Kuleba said: “I think the Russian capability to conduct an offensive, maybe a large offensive, may be restored somewhere by the end of January, February. That’s what they’re trying to do. And we, of course, do everything possible to prevent it from happening.
He added: “No one should be fooled. Russia has not changed its ultimatums and still wants to conquer all of Ukraine. What they want right now is not peace, but a pause in aggression to continue it later. We will not play this game."
It comes as Russia has lost an eye-watering 100,000 troops in the Ukraine war – including 12 ships, 70 helicopters, 4,500 armoured vehicles and 600 artillery systems as part of the nations losses.
Read our Ukraine-Russia live blog below for the latest news…
Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted the European parliament should create a special tribunal for the Russian leadership as soon as possible.
The Ukrainian president made the statement on Wednesday in his speech via video link during the ceremony of the 2022 Sakharov Prize, which was awarded to the Ukrainian people.
Zelensky said: “It is necessary to act now – without waiting for the end of the war – to hold to account all those who started it, and to prevent any repetition of aggression.
“This will be the most effective protection of freedom, human rights, the rule of law and other common values of ours, which are embodied, in particular, by this award of the European Parliament – the Sakharov Prize,”
“I call on all of you, your parties and states to effectively support this work. The tribunal must start working.
“And when the principle of the inevitability of punishment works for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, we will be able to make the corresponding institutional basis of justice permanently effective.
He added: “When any potential aggressor knows that punishment for criminal war is inevitable, it will be the most effective tool for war prevention.”
In an effort to trick Russian fighter jets, the Pentagon has delivered threat emitters to Ukraine.
The training tool emits radio frequency signals, imitating anti-aircraft and air-defence artillery radar systems.
The emitters are usually used to help pilots hone their skills and learn to identify hostiles signatures, but in a war scenario the emitters are used confuse pilots who cannot tell the difference between real and fake electromagnetic signals.
Charles Q Brown, US Air Force chief of staff general, told Aviation Week: “Low-cost emitters were built for ranges inside the US but now are in the hands of Ukrainians.”
Hollywood megastar Jean-Claude Van Damme met with military personnel in Ukraine.
A video of the meeting was first shared by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior, on Telegram.
Flanked by members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the all-action hero can be heard shouting: “Glory to Ukraine”.
It is no coincidence that Jean-Claude Van Damme @JCVD shouts "Slava Ukraini!" [Glory to Ukraine] twice.
He, like no one else, knows what double impact is. pic.twitter.com/CDPieu2MR5
Russian forces are attempting to break the Ukrainian people’s spirit by targeting energy and water supplies.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office tweeted: “Russian forces are attempting to destroy Ukraine’s electricity, water and heating supplies.
“They hope to break the people’s spirit.
“Yet Ukrainian civilians show unshakeable resolve in the face of Putin’s horrific war, finding light in the darkest places.
“#StandWithUkraine”
Russian forces are attempting to destroy Ukraine’s electricity, water and heating supplies.
They hope to break the people's spirit.
Yet Ukrainian civilians show unshakeable resolve in the face of Putin’s horrific war, finding light in the darkest places.#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/OYui0Iqe3m
More than seven million Ukrainians — 20% of the population of Ukraine — fled overseas because of Russian invasion.
The Verkhovna Rada commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, made the announcement during a briefing in Ukraine-Ukrinform Mediacentre on December 14.
Lubinets said: “7,900,000 people went abroad seeking refuge; this is 20 per cent of the actual population of our country.
“4,900,000 citizens became internally displaced persons within our country, 30 per cent of these are pensioners and persons with disabilities.
“Effectively every second family has one or more children [displaced].”
Lubinets said 13 million Ukrainians remain in occupied territories and areas of intense combat.
He added that 46,000 Ukrainian people have been evacuated from areas on the verge of humanitarian catastrophe.
Pope Francis urged people to spend less on Christmas and send the difference to Ukrainians in need.
Speaking on Wednesday at the end of his weekly general audience, Pope Francis said: “let’s have a humbler Christmas, with humbler gifts, sending what we save to the Ukrainian people who need it.
“Let us not forget Christmas, but with the people of Ukraine in our hearts, and let us offer concrete signs of help for them.”
Officials in Washington have hinted an announcement on the decision to provide Patriot missile defence system to Ukraine could be made today.
The Patriot is in short supply, with allies all around the world crying out for it.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, warned NATO against equipping Kyiv with the Patriot.
It is highly likely the Kremlin would view such a move as escalation.
The United States has given Ukraine $19.3 billion in military assistance since Russia’s invasion on February 24.
13 Russian drones were shot down over Kyiv on Wednesday, but two administrative buildings were damaged, officials said.
Iranian-made Shahed drones were shot down and amid explosions in the central Shevchenkivskyi district, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Head of Kyiv’s city military administration, Serhii Popko, said 13 Russian drones were destroyed.
“The air defences worked well,” Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said.
“Thirteen (drones) were shot down.”
Ihnat said the attack was intentionally timed for when it was dark to make it more difficult to shoot the drones down, but Ukrainian air defence systems were effective.
In a brief video message president Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Well done, I am proud.”
Putin could be preparing a “large offensive” in the new year, as Russia looks “to conquer all of Ukraine.”
Speaking from Kyiv on Tuesday, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, warned Russian dictator Vladimir Putin could launch a massive offensive come January, as the bloodthirsty leader looks to “leave millions without power.”
Mr Kuleba said: “I think the Russian capability to conduct an offensive, maybe a large offensive, may be restored somewhere by the end of January, February.
"That’s what they’re trying to do. And we, of course, do everything possible to prevent it from happening.
He added: “No one should be fooled. Russia has not changed its ultimatums and still wants to conquer all of Ukraine.
"What they want right now is not peace, but a pause in aggression to continue it later. We will not play this game.
“Putin hopes that without power, water and heating, Ukrainians will stop resisting and accept Russian ultimatums, but this is a grave miscalculation.
"Russian missile terror will not break Ukraine down.”
This is the moment Ukrainian forces try their best to move through the thick mud on the front line.
Ukrainian tanks have been filmed attempting to move through the sludge as they continue to progress in the war.
Today, russia has only one ally – mud. But it is a temporary ally, and one that lasts only until the winter freeze. pic.twitter.com/UX2WL8nwG8
Russia is building up to more nuclear showboating as it marks the annual Strategic Missile Forces Day on 17 December.
Missile force commander Colonel Alexei Sokolov made clear the latest exercise was aimed at sending a message to the West, with both the UK and US within range.
“The importance of this operation lies in the fact that the missile will be put on combat duty on schedule,” he said.
“The homeland will get another nuclear missile weapon, which will make it possible to solve any tasks at the strategic level.”
Germany on Wednesday signed a deal to buy dozens of US-made F-35 fighter jets, US officials said, part of the country's military overhaul following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"The German F-35 programme will ensure the continuation of Germany's alliance commitments and guarantee NATO's credible deterrence in the future," said the US embassy in Berlin in a statement.
The 35 jets, the world's most advanced warplanes, should be delivered between 2026 and 2029, it said.
Berlin had announced in March the planned purchase of the aircraft made by Lockheed Martin to replace its ageing Tornado fleet.
But the defence ministry in Berlin earlier this month raised concerns about the plan, warning of "delays and additional costs" in the nearly 10 billion euro ($10.5 billion) acquisition, in a letter to parliament's budget committee.
Germany's lower house of parliament still decided to press ahead and approve the acquisition on Wednesday.
"The German-US defence partnership has never been stronger and is a central pillar of NATO's transatlantic partnership," said the embassy statement.
The cost of the jets is to come from a planned 100 billion euro investment in the armed forces, unveiled following the outbreak of the Ukraine war in a bid to overhaul Germany's underfunded military.
The Kremlin said a ceasefire was not on Moscow's agenda, and that it had not received any proposals from Kyiv to pause fighting in Ukraine during the upcoming holiday period.
"No, no proposals have been received from anyone and no topic of this kind is on the agenda," the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Meanwhile earlier today, Zelensky accepted the European Union Sakharov Prize for human rights on behalf of the people of Ukraine.
As he accepted the EU's top rights award, he urged Europe to help set up a tribunal swiftly to try Russia's leadership for the "crime of aggression".
Ukraine said Wednesday it had shot down more than a dozen Iranian-made drones launched at the capital by Russian forces in their latest assault on Kyiv.
The attack came as the Kremlin promised no let-up to fighting over Christmas and as Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky urged European leaders to back a court to try Russian officials.
"The terrorists started this morning with 13 Shaheds," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, referring to the Iran-made weapons.
"All 13 were shot down" he added, urging residents to heed air raid sirens.
The national energy provider Ukrenergo said no electricity facilities had been damaged in the attack, crediting Ukrainian air defences for their "brilliant" work.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday told the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that his country opposes the idea of Russian athletes taking part in the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, the presidential office said.
Zelensky, noting that 184 Ukrainian athletes had died in the war with Russia, spoke to IOC President Thomas Bach, who last week said the participation of Russian and Belarusian sportsmen and women at the 2024 Olympics was still unclear.
Zelensky said Ukraine was disappointed by what he called the IOC's intention to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete under a neutral flag.
"One cannot try to be neutral when the foundations of peaceful life are being destroyed and universal human values are being ignored," Zelenskiy's office quoted him as saying.
"A just response to such actions can only be the complete isolation of the terrorist state in the international arena. In particular, this applies to international sporting events."
Zelensky did not give any details of the 184 Ukrainian athletes he said had died in the war.
Families who host Ukrainian refugees for more than a year are to receive increased payments in recognition of their ongoing support during the cost-of-living crisis, the Government has said.
Hosts under the Homes for Ukraine scheme will get £500 a month after their first 12 months of sponsorship, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said.
Councils will also be given money to help prevent homelessness among arrivals and to acquire more homes for people fleeing conflict in places such as Ukraine and Afghanistan.
But the sum local authorities receive for each Ukrainian refugee who arrives into their area under the scheme will be reduced "in light of wider pressures on the public finances", DLUHC said.
Some 107,100 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, with 144,600 visas issued, latest Government figures show.
DLUHC said the monthly thank you payments to hosts will be extended from 12 months to two years.
The increase – from £350 a month for the first year to £500 a month thereafter – is less than former refugees minister Lord Richard Harrington had been calling for.
Ukraine's SBU security service says it has found "propaganda literature" in counter-intelligence searches in churches and monasteries across the country, in its most recent descent on religious sites of the Russia-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
"The Security Service of Ukraine found Russian passports, propaganda literature and laissez-passer" issued by Russian occupation authorities during searches on Wednesday, the agency said in a statement.
The SBU earlier announced "counter-intelligence measures" in more than a dozen religious sites in several Ukrainian regions, including the western Lviv region, Kherson region in the south and Zhytomyr region in the northwest.
"In the publications, representatives of the Russian Federation deny the existence of the Ukrainian people, their language and culture, and question Ukrainian statehood," the SBU said.
It published photos of seized Russian passports, Saint George ribbons — Russian military symbols widely taken up by supporters of the war — and documents in support of Moscow.
Ukraine said Wednesday that it had secured the release of a US citizen as well as 64 Ukrainian members of the military in its latest prisoner swap with Russian forces.
"Sixty-four soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who fought in Donetsk and Lugansk — in particular participated in the defence of the city of Bakhmut — are going home," the Ukraine presidency's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on social media.
"It was also possible to free a US citizen who helped our people — Suedi Murekezi."
The White House confirmed the release of a US citizen.
"We certainly welcome the news. But for privacy reasons, I really can't go into any more detail about this individual," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists.
An estimated 6,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the start of Russia’s invasion.
Most of the deaths were caused by Russian artillery and missile strikes.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office tweeted: “An estimated 6,000 Ukrainian civilians have died since the start of Russia’s invasion, mainly due to Russian missile and artillery strikes.
“Intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects is a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law.”
An estimated 6,000 Ukrainian civilians have died since the start of Russia’s invasion, mainly due to Russian missile and artillery strikes.
Intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects is a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law. pic.twitter.com/fywFOIsRWH
Today the Kremlin said US Patriot missile defence systems in Ukraine would be a legitimate targets for Russian strikes.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said Patriots would "definitely" be a target for Russia.
Peskov also said he wouldn’t comment further on unconfirmed media reports.
American officials announced on Tuesday a decision on whether to send the Patriot to Ukraine could be made by as early as tomorrow.
Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted the European parliament should create a special tribunal for the Russian leadership as soon as possible.
The Ukrainian president made the statement today in his speech via video link during the ceremony of the 2022 Sakharov Prize, which was awarded to the Ukrainian people.
Zelensky said: “It is necessary to act now – without waiting for the end of the war – to hold to account all those who started it, and to prevent any repetition of aggression.
“This will be the most effective protection of freedom, human rights, the rule of law and other common values of ours, which are embodied, in particular, by this award of the European Parliament – the Sakharov Prize,”
“I call on all of you, your parties and states to effectively support this work. The tribunal must start working.
“And when the principle of the inevitability of punishment works for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, we will be able to make the corresponding institutional basis of justice permanently effective.
He added: “When any potential aggressor knows that punishment for criminal war is inevitable, it will be the most effective tool for war prevention.”
Nearly seven million children are at risk this winter because of Russia's persistent attacks on Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned today.
The continued assault caused widespread blackouts and the disruption of water and heating supplies.
Executive director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, said in a statement: “Millions of children are facing a bleak winter huddled in the cold and the dark, with little idea of how or when respite may arrive.
“Beyond the immediate threats the freezing conditions bring, children are also deprived of the ability to learn or stay connected with friends and family, putting both their physical and their mental health at desperate risk.”
The European parliament’s 2022 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought has been awarded to the people of Ukraine.
Roberta Metsola, president of the European parliament, said in a speech at the award ceremony: “Today, we are awarding the European parliament’s most prestigious prize for freedom and human rights to the brave people of Ukraine, represented by their president, elected leaders and civil society.
“The Ukrainian people are not just fighting a war of independence, but fighting a war of values.”
Metsola went on: “Let today’s award serve as a reminder of our unwavering support. And let it be dedicated to all those brave Ukrainian women and men on the ground.
“To all those who have [been] welcomed with open hearts into our homes. And to all those who have lost their beloved family and friends.
“And I know that the brave people of Ukraine will not give up. And let me assure you that neither will we.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, joined the ceremony via video link, saying: “Greetings to you on behalf of all our people, it is a great honour for me.
"Greetings from all those who fight, who work for the sake of Ukraine and for the sake of freedom.
“We see such a crime now – Russia’s terrorist war against Ukraine and Europe.
"This was also the case in the past, when tyrannies tried to subjugate Ukrainians and deprive all Europeans of their freedom.
“But when we win now – Ukrainians and all Europeans – we will win in such a way that there will never again be attempts to deprive Europe and Ukraine of freedom.
“We will win in such a way that there will be no attempt to apply genocidal policy against our people again, both in Ukraine and throughout Europe.”
In an effort to trick Russian fighter jets, the Pentagon has delivered threat emitters to Ukraine.
The training tool emits radio frequency signals, imitating anti-aircraft and air-defence artillery radar systems.
The emitters are usually used to help pilots hone their skills and learn to identify hostiles signatures, but in a war scenario the emitters are used confuse pilots who cannot tell the difference between real and fake electromagnetic signals.
Charles Q Brown, US Air Force chief of staff general, told Aviation Week: “Low-cost emitters were built for ranges inside the US but now are in the hands of Ukrainians.”
Hollywood megastar Jean-Claude Van Damme met with military personnel in Ukraine.
A video of the meeting was first shared by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior, on Telegram.
Flanked by members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the all-action hero can be heard shouting: "Glory to Ukraine".
It is no coincidence that Jean-Claude Van Damme @JCVD shouts "Slava Ukraini!" [Glory to Ukraine] twice.
He, like no one else, knows what double impact is. pic.twitter.com/CDPieu2MR5
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