Ukraine-Russia war latest: More than a dozen killed in daytime Russian glide bomb attack in Zaporizhzhia
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky describes the latest Russian glide bomb attack as ‘cruel’
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Your support makes all the difference.More than a dozen people have been killed after a Russian glide bomb hit a pedestrian street in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, local officials have reported.
The missile hit some of the city’s industrial infrastructure just before 3.45pm local time while civilians were out in the street.
Images released by local governor Ivan Fedorov showed bodies lying on the street with vehicles smashed and engulfed in flames behind them.
“Thirteen killed in enemy attack on Zaporizhia,” Mr Fedorov wrote. “Russia is a terrorist country.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as “cruel” and carried out in full knowledge that it would maim or kill civilians.
“There is nothing more cruel than launching aerial bombs on a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer,” he wrote.
“Russia must be put under pressure for its terror. The protection of lives in Ukraine must be supported. Only through strength can such a war be ended with a lasting peace.”
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Ukraine Kursk offensive: What Kyiv stands to gain and lose in surprise counterattack on Russian soil
Ukraine has launched a fresh counterattack in the Russian border region of Kursk as it looks to gain the most territory it can ahead of possible peace negotiations – with US president-elect Donald Trump saying he wants to end the war as soon as possible.
The attack started over the weekend, with unverified footage circulated by Russian military bloggers showing a column of Ukrainian tanks and armoured personnel carriers heading towards the village of Berdin, a small area outside of what Ukraine currently controls in Kursk.
Kyiv’s military has not officially acknowledged a fresh offensive, months after an initial incursion that caught Russia off guard and allowed Ukraine to capture a swathe of Russian territory in the region. The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said: “Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves.”
What Kyiv stands to gain and lose in surprise counter-attack on Russian soil
Russian military commentators are ‘worried’ about the multipronged Ukrainian attack in the border region
Ukrainian refugee family learns that son is alive after almost three years of captivity in Russia
A Ukrainian refugee family have received the heartwarming news that their son is alive – nearly three years after he was captured by Russian forces while battling the invading forces in his homeland.
Valeriia and Roman Biletskiy fled to Washington state at the start of the brutal war in February 2022 along with seven of their children. Their other child, Roman Jr., instead remained, and enlisted to defend Ukraine. However, three months later, he was captured by Russian forces and later, presumed dead.
But on Monday 30 December, the couple saw a picture shared by Ukraine’s media that showed their son Roman Biletskiy Jr., 25, alive, and sitting at the back of a bus with a group of men who had just been freed from a Russian prison.
Ukrainian family learns son is alive after nearly three years of captivity in Russia
The 25-year-old soldier was captured by Russian forces in May 2022 ‘while defending civilians in Mariupol’ said family
Biden set to announce ‘substantial’ final weapons package for Ukraine
The Biden administration is set to announce a massive, final weapons aid package for Ukraine as part of defence secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Germany tomorrow to meet with representatives of about 50 partner nations who have come to Ukraine’s defence since Russia invaded nearly three years ago, two senior defence officials said.
The officials did not provide an exact dollar amount but said the package was expected to be “substantial,” although it would not include all of the roughly $4bn left in the congressionally authorised funding for Ukraine.
There likely would be “more than a couple of billion dollars” remaining for the incoming Trump defence team to provide to Ukraine if it chooses to do so, the officials said yesterday in briefing reporters traveling with Mr Austin.
Mr Biden’s defence officials working on Ukraine have been in contact with Trump’s transition team to discuss “all the issues that we believe are important,” one of the officials said.
Ukraine is in the midst of launching a second offensive in Russia’s Kursk region and is facing a barrage of long-range missiles and ongoing advances from Russia as both sides seek to put themselves in the strongest negotiating position possible before president-elect Donald Trump takes office on 20 January.
Trump sympathises with Russia’s opposition to Ukraine’s Nato bid
President-elect Donald Trump said he sympathised with the Russian position that Ukraine should not be part of Nato, and he lamented that he will not meet Russian president Vladimir Putin before his inauguration.
“A big part of the problem is, Russia - for many, many years, long before Putin - said, ‘You could never have Nato involved with Ukraine.’ Now, they’ve said that. That’s been, like, written in stone,” Mr Trump said, speaking at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
He also blamed outgoing Democratic president Joe Biden for allegedly changing the US position on Nato membership for Ukraine.
“And somewhere along the line Biden said, ‘No. They should be able to join Nato’ Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that.”
Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation have officially expressed support for Ukraine‘s eventual membership since the Bucharest Summit of 2008, and the Biden administration continues to support Ukraine‘s eventual Nato accession, though Ukraine has never been extended an invitation.
Why is Ukraine fighting to keep a piece of Kursk?
Over the weekend, Ukraine began a new offensive inside Russia to extend its incursion within Kursk oblast, an attack Kyiv has not yet acknowledged.
In a brief remark alluding to the events in Kursk, a senior Ukrainian official said Russia was “getting what it deserves” there.
Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had established a buffer zone and inflicted heavy losses in Kursk, preventing Moscow from deploying its troops in key areas of the eastern front.
Ukraine’s main achievement in the past five months of fighting has been its capture of territory inside Russia’s Kursk region, something it hopes could prove a bargaining chip in possible peace talks.
Independent military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady said Ukraine was trying to hold its pocket of Kursk for as long as possible, even as Russia continued to push deeper into eastern Ukraine.
“There’s a likelihood that we haven’t seen the main thrust of this Ukrainian offensive operation just yet,” he told Reuters. “We are essentially talking about platoon-sized, company-sized assaults with fairly limited gains thus far.” It remained to be seen if Kyiv’s forces could open up another axis of advance, Mr Gady added.
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