11:05am: Ukrainian general dismisses possibility of New Year ceasefire

A Ukrainian general on Thursday dismissed the possibility of a ceasefire being agreed with Russia over the festive New Year period.

The Kremlin has said there will be no Christmas ceasefire in the nearly l0-month-old war in Ukraine.

Asked about the possibility of a New Year ceasefire, Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov told a news briefing: “There will be a total ceasefire only when not a single occupier remains on our land.”

10:51am: Ukrainian military says Russia seeks long confrontation in Ukraine

Russia is seeking to turn the war in Ukraine into a long military confrontation and is training new divisions on the territory of neighbouring Belarus, a senior Ukrainian military officer said on Thursday.

But Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov told a news briefing that the likelihood of a military operation being launched from Belarusian territory remained low.

10:38am: Kremlin says no decision yet on repair of Nord Stream gas pipelines

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that no decision had been made yet on whether to go ahead with a repair of the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines that were damaged by explosions in September.

Peskov also told reporters there was no decision on whether to start gas exports via the intact part of the Nord Stream 2 line.

He said Russia was not aware of the results of investigations into the pipeline blasts by Sweden and Denmark. Moscow, without providing evidence, has blamed the explosions on Western sabotage.

10:23am: Russian shelling kills two in city of Kherson, Kyiv says

Russian shelling killed two people on Thursday in the centre of the recently liberated city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said on the Telegram messaging app that the two were killed about 100 metres from the regional administration building, which was hit in shelling on Wednesday.

10:22am: ‘I want to live, not just survive’: Residents flee war-torn Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine

As Russian forces push to capture Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, residents of the city are facing near constant shelling. Forced to find refuge in basements and sleep in the bitter cold, many are taking the difficult decision to leave.

FRANCE 24 met with Angelina and Maxim, a young Ukrainian couple whose flat was blown up earlier this week. Watch the full report here:

02:53

 

10:20am: Putin to outline Russia’s response to oil price cap this week, Kremlin says

The Kremlin said on Thursday that President Vladimir Putin planned to sign a decree this week outlining Russia’s response to the West’s price cap on Russian oil exports.

10:17am: UN rights chief warns of ‘serious deterioration’ in Ukraine if strikes continue

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Thursday that further strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure could lead to a serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation and spark further displacement.

In a speech to the Human Rights Council following a trip to Ukraine, Turk said that Russian strikes were exposing millions of people to “extreme hardship”.

“Additional strikes could lead to a further serious deterioration in the humanitarian situation and spark more displacement,” he said.

9:58am: Linking Ukraine aid to corporate tax is blackmail, says Polish PM

Linking the issue of aid for Ukraine to the minimum corporate tax for large companies is a form of blackmail, the Polish prime minister said at an EU summit on Thursday.

“Combining aid for Ukraine with such distant topics which have nothing to do with aid like corporate tax is unnecessary, it is a mistake and an attempt at blackmail,” Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters at the summit in Brussels.

9:10am: Russia says all Western weapons in Ukraine are legitimate targets

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that all weapons supplied to Ukraine by the West are legitimate targets for Russia, and that they would be either destroyed or seized.

9:09am: Poland holds up EU deal on minimum corporate tax, aid for Ukraine

Poland was on Thursday holding up the European Union’s formal adoption of a minimum corporate tax for large companies and, by extension, blocking an entire package of other deals, including financing for Ukraine in 2023, diplomats said.

The minimum tax, along with €18 billion for Ukraine next year, the approval of Hungary’s recovery plan and the suspension of some EU budget funds for Budapest were all part of a complex deal reached by EU governments on Monday night.

The pact was to be signed off in what is called a “written procedure” by Wednesday, but Poland has twice demanded an extension of the deadline for this, the latest of which is now 12pm (1100 GMT) on Thursday.

FRANCE 24 correspondent Dave Keating, who is currently at the ongoing EU summit, explains:

01:19

8:00am: Ukrainian forces shell Russian-controlled Donetsk, officials there say

Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk overnight in some of the biggest attacks for years, Russian-installed officials in the annexed areas said on Thursday.

“At exactly 7.00 o’clock this morning they subjected the centre of Donetsk to the most massive attack since 2014,” Alexei Kulemzin, the Russian-backed mayor of the city, said on Telegram.

“Forty rockets from BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers were fired at civilians in our city,” Kulemzin said. He cast the attack as a war crime.

7:38am: Attacks damage buildings in Kyiv, US to send air defence aid to Ukraine

Residents of Kyiv on Wednesday woke up to air raid sirens after another barrage of Russian attacks. Buildings took the blow this time around, but no casualties were reported.

As inhabitants stay on high alert amid sub-zero temperatures, the US is finalising plans to send a Patriot missile defence system to Kyiv to help defend its skies.

FRANCE 24 journalist Camille Knight brings us this report on yesterday’s strike:

01:49

 

6:00am: EU leaders head for tussle over rescue plans for industries

European Union leaders will tussle on Thursday over how to prop up their countries’ industries, which have been hit by soaring energy prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and now face the threat of subsidy-fuelled US competition.

Poorer EU countries want a coordinated response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – $430 billion worth of tax breaks for green energy – because they lack the deep pockets of richer member states like Germany to underpin their industries.

The tug-of-war among 27 leaders in Brussels will be inconclusive, diplomats said.

12:27am: Russians tortured Kherson youngsters in ‘children’s cell’, says Ukraine human rights official

Ukrainian investigators in an area recaptured from Russian troops have uncovered a cell where children were detained and mistreated, a senior Ukrainian human rights advocate said on Wednesday.

Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights, said the cell was in one of four torture centres operated by Russian troops in Kherson – a city in southern Ukraine abandoned by pro-Moscow forces last month.

Russia denies targeting civilians in the war and rejects allegations it has mistreated civilians.

12:16am: US planning to send smart-bomb kits to Ukraine, says Washington Post

The United States is planning to send electronic equipment that converts unguided aerial munitions into smart bombs, allowing a high degree of accurate targeting, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing US officials familiar with the matter.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

© France Médias Monde graphic studio

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