Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russian helicopter shot down in historic sea drone strike as Kyiv attacks oil depot
The Ukrainian strike on a Russian chopper is the first time an unmanned sea drone has shot down an aerial target, Kyiv said
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Your support makes all the difference.A Russian helicopter was shot down by an uncrewed Ukrainian naval drone, in what Kyiv’s spy agency says was the first such strike in history.
In a battle near Cape Tarkhankut, on Crimea’s western coast, a missile-armed Magura V5 maritime drone struck a Russian Mi-8 helicopter. Dramatic video footage appears to show the moment the chopper was downed into the sea.
It is the first time an aerial target was destroyed by an uncrewed vessel, Ukraine’s GUR spy agency said in a post on Telegram.
Another Russian helicopter was damaged but managed to reach an airfield, the agency said. The reports have not yet been independently verified.
It comes as the Ukrainian military said it attacked an oil depot in Russia’s western Smolensk region, which it says was used for military purposes. Powerful explosions and tanks with oil products caught fire.
Local governor Vasily Anokhin said earlier that wreckage from one of the 10 Ukrainian drones shot down by Russian air defences fell on the oil facility. The situation is now “under control”, he said, offering no further detail.
Meanwhile, Kyiv brought home 189 former captives in a prisoner exchange with Moscow on Monday, in which 150 Russian soldiers were also freed.
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If the last 25 years have taught us anything, it is exactly who the Russian president is – and what he is capable of:
If the West gives an inch when it comes to Ukraine, Putin will take a mile
Editorial: If the last 25 years have taught us anything, it is exactly who the Russian president is – and what he is capable of
Hundreds of soldiers freed in the latest prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates, officials said Monday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 150 Russian soldiers were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people.
Read more here:
Hundreds of soldiers freed in the latest prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that released hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates
-- AP
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Putin has ruled Russia for 25 years – but what can he show for it?
What 25 years of Putin has done to the world, in a presidency bookended by war
Crisis has aided the Russian strongman’s regime stability far more than any index of economic success, writes Mark Almond
Putin has ruled Russia for 25 years – but what has he really got to show for it?
When Boris Yeltsin suddenly resigned as Russia’s first post-communist president on New Year’s Eve, 1999, his country seemed to be spiralling downhill into economic and political disintegration. Few gave his largely unknown successor as acting president much chance of reversing the economic implosion or remaining in office for long.
The then prime minister Vladimir Putin’s media operation had already begun to portray the ex-KGB operative in stark contrast to the moribund Yeltsin as an action man. That same year the second Chechen war on the country’s southern border raged. Twenty-five years later, Vladimir Putin is still in the Kremlin but Russia is again in the grip of war on its post-Soviet periphery after last week’s downing of an airliner over Chechen airspace.
Add to the tension that Putin’s Russia has been engaged in a covert war against Ukraine since 2014, which he had turned into a full-scale invasion by early 2022 – a conflict that remains at an impasse today. As with his earlier war against Chechnya, Putin’s obduracy turned an opening military fiasco into a brutal war of attrition which Russia’s resources could win at a huge price.
But Putin’s rise over the years owed more to bureaucratic infighting skills than any dark espionage arts, or even the judo skills which he would at one time display in front of loyal cameras.
Born in post-war Leningrad amid the grim legacy of the Nazi siege, the young Vladimir Putin learnt survival arts more appropriate to the chaotic post-Soviet dog-eat-dog society of the 1990s than the shining utopian future promoted by communist propaganda.
Read the full piece by Mark Almond here:
What 25 years of Putin has done to the world, in a presidency bookended by war
Crisis has aided the Russian strongman’s regime stability far more than any index of economic success, writes Mark Almond
Russia's Gazprom says it will halt gas supplies to Moldova starting Jan. 1
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An oil depot in Russia’s Smolensk region reportedly caught fire following a drone attack overnight on 31 December, according to regional authorities.
“A Ukrainian drone attack targeted a fuel and energy facility, resulting in fires,” the head of the Yartsevo district, Roman Zakharov, wrote on his Telegram channel.
The claims could not be verified independently.
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Hundreds of soldiers freed in the latest prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates, officials said Monday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 150 Russian soldiers were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people.
Read more here:
Hundreds of soldiers freed in the latest prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that released hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates
- AP
Biden announces almost $6bn in military and budget aid for Ukraine
The Biden administration has announced almost $6bn in military and budget aid for Ukraine before president-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.
“I’ve directed my administration to continue surging as much assistance to Ukraine as quickly as possible,” Mr Biden said in a statement.
“At my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war over the remainder of my time in office.”
This includes $2.5bn more in weapons and $3.4bn in economic assistance to help pay for other government services.
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