Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin hosts Slovak PM as Moscow video shows ‘Australian POW’s interrogation’
Australia urges Russia to act in accordance to international humanitarian law
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Russian president Vladimir Putin hosted Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico who marked a rare visit to the Kremlin by an EU leader since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The visit comes as Russian natural gas still flows to some European countries, including Slovakia, through Ukraine under a five-year agreement signed before the war that is due to expire at the end of this year.
At a summit in Brussels last week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told EU leaders that Kyiv has no intention of renewing the deal, something Mr Fico insisted will harm his country’s interests.
On the battlefront, Mr Putin threatened Ukraine with “more destruction” a day after drones struck several building in Kazan. Residential buildings were damaged and an airport was temporarily shut down.
Meanwhile, a video of a 32-year-old man claiming to be Australian captured by Russia sparked diplomatic concerns as authorities rushed to ascertain his identity.
Australia urged Russia to act in accordance to “international humanitarian law, including with respect to prisoners of war”, as they worked to provide consular support to the family of the man identified as Oscar Jenkins.
Vladimir Putin: Russia is ready to compromise with Trump on Ukraine war
Kim Jong Un ‘personally overseeing’ North Korean training for Ukraine amid reports of heavy losses
The huge spike in gun range openings in a country that borders Russia
Warning North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia ‘in months’
Russia captures two villages in Ukraine as Moscow’s forces advance on two cities
Russian forces captured two villages in Ukraine, one in Kharkiv region in the northeast and one in eastern Donetsk region, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday.
Donetsk region is where Moscow is concentrating most of its efforts to seize two cities.
Russian forces, making steady progress across Donetsk region, are moving on the towns of Pokrovsk, a logistics centre and site of an important coking colliery, and appear to be closing in on Kurakhove, farther south.
The Defence Ministry statement said troops had taken control of Lozova, near the town of Kupiansk, in an area north of Donetsk region also under Russian pressure in recent weeks. The village of Sontsivka, north of Kurakhove, was also captured.
The ministry on Saturday announced the capture of another village near Kurakhove, Kostiantynopolske.
The Ukraine military’s general staff made no mention of those villages falling into Russian hands, but said Sontsivka was in a sector subject to 26 Russian attacks in the past 24 hours. The general staff also reported heavy fighting near Pokrovsk, with 34 Russian attempts to pierce defences.
The popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState said Sontsivka was under Russian control.
Russian reports have described intensified pressure on Kurakhove.
Who are the other European leaders who met Putin?
Visits and phone calls from European leaders to Vladimir Putin have been rare since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, although Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban visited Russia in July, and Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer met with the Russian leader just weeks into the full-scale war.
Both trips drew condemnation from Kyiv and European leaders.
Mr Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with Mr Putin among EU leaders, has routinely blocked, delayed or watered down EU efforts to assist Kyiv and impose sanctions on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine.
He has long argued for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine but without outlining what that might mean for the country’s territorial integrity or future security.
Mr Fico’s views on Russia’s war on Ukraine differ sharply from most other European leaders. The Slovakian PM returned to power last year after his leftist party Smer won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform. Since then, he has ended his country’s military aid for Ukraine, lashed out at EU sanctions on Russia, and vowed to block Ukraine from joining Nato.
Mr Fico has also been a rare senior EU politician to appear on Russian state TV following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In an interview with the Rossiya-1 channel in October, he contended the West has “prolonged the war” by supporting Ukraine, adding that sanctions against Russia were ineffective. He declared that he was ready to negotiate with Putin.
Mr Fico also vowed to attend a military parade in Moscow next May that will mark the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II. The Kremlin has used the annual “Victory Day” celebrations to tout its battlefield prowess, and Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine as “heroes” at this year’s event.
What’s behind Fico’s rare visit to Russia
Robert Fico’s visit to Moscow was reaction to Volodymyr Zelensky’s opposition to gas transit to Slovakia through Ukraine.
Sharing details about his visit, Mr Fico said on Facebook that Ukrainian president supported sanctions against Russia’s nuclear program, which was against Slovakia’s interest as it relied on nuclear energy.
Mr Fico said Mr Putin confirmed to him that Russia is still ready to deliver gas to the West. He said the two also discussed the military situation in Ukraine, chances for a peaceful solution to the war and the bilateral relations between their two countries which Fico said they will seek to “standardise.”
His trip, however, was condemned by the major Slovak opposition parties.
Slovakia last month signed a short-term pilot contract to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan, as it prepares for a possible halt to Russian supplies through Ukraine.
Earlier this year, it struck a deal to import US liquefied natural gas through a pipeline from Poland.
The country can also receive gas through Austrian, Hungarian and Czech networks, enabling imports from Germany among other potential suppliers.
Ukraine says Russian forces executed five POWs
Russian forces executed five Ukrainian prisoners of war, Ukraine’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Sunday.
Lubinets said on the Telegram messenger app that Russian troops shot the five unarmed soldiers after capturing them. He gave no details, but will report this fact to the UN.
“Russian war criminals who shoot Ukrainian prisoners of war should be brought before an international tribunal and punished with the most severe punishment provided for by law,” Lubinets said.
Russia did not immediately comment on the incident, but has previous denied committing war crimes.
Putin holds talks with Slovakian PM Fico
Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday hosted Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to the Kremlin by an EU leader since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Mr Fico arrived in Russia on a “working visit” and met with Mr Putin one-on-one on yesterday evening, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s RIA news agency.
According to Mr Peskov, the talks were expected to focus on “the international situation” and Russian natural gas deliveries.
Russian natural gas still flows to some European countries, including Slovakia, through Ukraine under a five-year agreement signed before the war that is due to expire at the end of this year.
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told EU leaders that Kyiv has no intention of renewing the deal, something Mr Fico insisted will harm his country’s interests.
Russian oil refinery engulfed in flames after ‘Ukrainian drone strike’
Russian oil refinery engulfed in flames after ‘Ukrainian drone strike’
A fire burned at a Russian oil refinery in the Rostov region, video posted on Thursday, 19 December shows. Local governor Yuri Slyusar said Russian air defence systems repelled a Ukrainian attack in which 10 missiles were fired at the Rostov region. Footage posted on social media showed the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery engulfed in flames. It was the second time in six months that the facility had been hit. Slyusar said emergency crews were dispatched to the fire and details on casualties were being clarified.
Zelensky admits Ukraine does not have military strength to reclaim lost territories from Russia
Ukraine lacks the military capability to retake all the territories occupied by Russia since 2014, president Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged, as he urged the West to take stronger action to confront Moscow.
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Parisien, Mr Zelensky made it clear that Kyiv would not formally recognise Russian control over any Ukrainian territory.
“Legally, we cannot give up our territories. This is prohibited by the constitution,” the Ukrainian president said. “But let’s not use such big words. Russia actually controls part of our territory today.”
Read the full article here:
Zelensky admits Ukraine does not have military strength to reclaim lost territories
Ukrainian president rules out conceding land to Russia but calls for stronger Western intervention
UK may send British troops to Ukraine to train soldiers, defence secretary suggests
UK may send British troops to Ukraine to train soldiers, defence secretary suggests
John Healey has said Britain needs to ‘make the training a better fit for what the Ukrainians need’ and left the door open to it taking place in the war-torn country
The one battle President Zelensky looks set to win
Not so very long ago, Vladimir Putin, the would-be reincarnation of Joseph Stalin, had some cause for satisfaction. True, his ill-fated “special military operation” in Ukraine had spectacularly failed in its initial stated aim of subsuming the country into a Greater Russia, resistance supposedly crumbling in days, with Volodymyr Zelensky skulking off into exile.
However, the Kremlin’s “meat-grinder” strategy has succeeded in occupying roughly a third of what was left of Ukrainian territory after the 2014 invasion. Russian troops were advancing, albeit at a glacial pace and an obscene cost in human lives.
The attacks on civilians, homes and energy infrastructure were helping to demoralise and exhaust the Ukrainians, brave as they were. Some 40,000 fresh troops were promised by North Korea – Kim Jong Un’s elite squads, according to reports. Mr Kim and Russia’s other allies in the Middle East were assisting with the sanctions-busting; and the Iranians and Syrians (and, to a lesser degree, the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas) shared Russia’s agenda.
Read the full article here:
The one battle President Zelensky looks set to win
For all of Russia’s recent setbacks, it is increasingly unlikely Ukraine will be able to push back invading forces to the border positions when hostilities first broke out – but it may yet force Vladimir Putin into a negotiated peace that would ensure greater security for Europe
Ukraine strikes in heart of Russia with drone attack 1,000km beyond frontline
Ukraine brought the war into the heart of Russia on Saturday morning with drone attacks that local authorities said damaged residential buildings in the city of Kazan in the Tatarstan region, over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the front line.
The press service of Tatarstan’s governor, Rustam Minnikhanov, said that eight drones attacked the city. Six hit residential buildings, one hit an industrial facility and one was shot down over a river, the statement said.
It comes as Moscow’s troops continue to slowly advance in eastern Ukraine, with their defence ministry stating they had taken control of the village of Kostiantynopolske in the Donetsk province.
Read the full article here:
Ukraine strikes in heart of Russia with drone attack 1,000km beyond frontline
Russian authorities said the attacks damaged residential buildings in the city of Kazan
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments