Ukraine Daily

Thursday, December 15

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A Ukrainian soldier walks hand in hand with a boy towards Lanzheron beach. People try to distract themselves from the ongoing war by enjoying any quiet moment they can still find. (Photo by Viacheslav Onyshchenko/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Zelensky: Ukraine prepares deals to strengthen air defense capabilities. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine has made “important progress” this week to strengthen its air defense capabilities. He also urged the European Parliament to launch a tribunal against Russia’s “terrorist war.” “When any potential aggressor knows that punishment for a criminal war is inevitable, it will be the most effective tool for war prevention,” Zelensky added.

Ombudsman: 20% of Ukraine’s pre-war population left country since Feb. 24. An additional 4.9 million people have had to relocate domestically due to Russia’s war, said Dmytro Lubinets, chairperson of Ukraine’s Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights. Approximately one third of IDPs (internally displaced persons) are pensioners or individuals with disabilities, Lubinets added.

64 Ukrainian prisoners of war return from Russian captivity. President’s Office Head Andriy Yermak said on Dec. 14 that Russia had released 64 Ukrainian prisoners of war. According to Yermak, they are service people of various ranks from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, taken captive in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast.

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Report: Russia deploys ‘at least’ 60 additional military vehicles to Belarus since Dec. 8. The Russian army has deployed at least 60 military vehicles to Belarus since Dec. 8, the Belarusian Hajun, a project that monitors the movement of Russian troops, reported on Dec. 14.

Zelensky talks with Guterres, urges UN to send experts to Ukraine’s energy facilities. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 14 that he had “urged” UN Secretary-General António Guterres to send experts to energy facilities in Ukraine “as soon as possible” amid Russia’s missile blitz targeting energy infrastructure.

Scholz: ‘Putin was wrong about the courage of Ukrainians.’ “Putin was wrong – about the courage of Ukrainians, about Europe, about us, about the nature of our democracies, about our will to oppose the great powers and imperialism,” said the German chancellor, speaking at the Bundestag.

ISW: Amid year-end address cancellation, Kremlin is not confident it can continue shaping Russian information space. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to postpone his annual address to the Russian Federation Assembly indicates that he remains uncertain of his ability to shape the Russian information space as his war plans in Ukraine continue to crumble, the Institute for the Study of War said in a Dec. 14 report.

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Ukraine war latest: Russia unleashes another drone attack on Kyiv.

Ukraine’s air defense on Dec. 14 shot down all 13 Iranian Shahed-136 drones that were launched against Kyiv and the surrounding region.

Photo: Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images

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Investigation: Where does Russian disinformation incubate in US?

The war in Ukraine is being decided on the battlefields in the south and east of the country. But how it’s discussed in America helps shape those battlefields.

llustration: Karolina Gulshani

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Ombudsman: Children’s torture chamber found in liberated Kherson. According to testimonies from locals, other torture victims in the large facility knew that Ukrainian children had been kept there by Russian security services, who had called the room “a children cell.”

General Staff: Russia has lost 96,000 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. On Dec. 14, the General Staff added 740 Russian troops to its estimated number of Russian losses.

International response

Voice of America: Pentagon sources confirm US will send Patriot system to Ukraine. According to Voice of America’s Pentagon correspondent citing an unnamed U.S. defense official, the decision to send a Patriot missile system to Ukraine could be announced this week.

Politico: EU and NATO almost ready to issue long-delayed joint pledge to back Ukraine. Nine months into the full-scale invasion, the EU and NATO are expected to soon formally issue a joint statement for Russia to stop its war and leave Ukraine, and to pledge full support to Kyiv.

Pope urges to spend less on Christmas, send difference to Ukrainians. “Let’s have a more humble Christmas, with more humble gifts, and send what we save to the Ukrainian people, who need it,” he said.

UK to train 90 Ukrainian judges for war crime trials against Russian soldiers. The first group of judges started training on Dec. 5. They are attending sessions in a secret location, according to a report by Sky News.

European Parliament approves 18 billion euro aid package to Ukraine after deal with Hungary. The European Parliament finally approved an 18 billion euro macro-financial aid package to Ukraine on Dec. 14, after striking a deal with Hungary to drop its veto.

Polish parliament recognizes Russia as sponsor of terrorism, says that Kremlin is responsible for ex-president’s death. Previously the Sejm had failed to recognize Russia as a sponsor of terrorism because the opposition did not support an amendment by the ruling Law and Justice party saying that Russia was “directly responsible” for the 2010 plane crash in Russia’s Smolensk Oblast that killed then Polish President Lech Kaczyński and 95 people onboard. However, on Dec. 14 the Sejm adopted both the resolution and the amendment on the plane crash.

Czech Republic recognizes Holodomor as genocide against Ukrainian people. On Dec. 14, the Czech Parliament recognized Holodomor, the man-made famine of Ukrainians ordered by the Soviet authorities, which killed millions in 1932-1933, as genocide of the Ukrainian people. President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the decision of the Czech Senate: “I am grateful to my Czech friends for affirming the truth and restoring historical justice. Punishment for all past and present crimes of Russia is inevitable,” he said in a tweet.

WSJ: China’s leader Xi deepening economic ties with Putin’s Russia despite public distance. China’s President Xi Jinping has instructed his government to deepen economic ties with Russia despite his months-long public distance from the Kremlin amid its humiliating battlefield defeats in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 14, citing policy advisers to Beijing.

In other news

Anti-Corruption Court seizes all property from ousted ex-President Yanukovych. The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) said on Dec. 14 that it had seized all assets from former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, nearly nine years after Euromaidan Revolution ousted him in 2014.

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