Russia on Thursday vowed to retaliate in kind if the European Union moved ahead with plans to hand profits generated from Russia’s frozen assets to Ukraine.
The EU is considering reallocating income generated from around $300 billion of frozen funds from Russian central bank reserves, amid mounting pressure to help support Ukraine’s war-torn economy.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force said Thursday that it shot down 34 out of 35 Russian drones launched in an overnight assault on 12 Ukrainian regions.
Officials also reported three killed in Russian strikes on mines in the Donetsk region.
Majority of Kherson without electricity due to shelling
Shelling by Russian forces on Tuesday has “badly damaged” the infrastructure of the city of Kherson, says its governor. In a Telegram post, cited by both the Kyiv Independent and BBC Russian service, the Kherson oblast governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, wrote that “70% of subscribers” had been left without electricity.
“Due to yesterday’s Russian shelling, the energy infrastructure of Kherson was severely damaged. 70% of subscribers remain without power supply,” he wrote.
“The power engineers are already working. Now they are determining the extent of the damage, and then they will immediately begin emergency restoration work. It’s difficult to say when they will be completed.”
A railway station was one of the buildings struck in the attacks. Ukrainian officials claim it came as a train was set to evacuate residents, killing a police officer and injuring four other people.
Ukraine’s armed forces commander has said his troops remain in an area of the eastern town of Marinka despite Russia’s assertions that Moscow is in control of the settlement. Capturing Marinka would amount to Moscow’s most significant battlefield gain since May.
Russians likely waiting for the ground to freeze before intensifying attacks on Avdiivka
The White House believes Russian troops are waiting for the ground to freeze over in order to intensify offensive operations around the war hotspot of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.
“We have seen that the Russians are … and continue to intend to want to conduct offensive operations, particularly in the east around this place called Avdiivka,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.
“We have every reason to believe that as the ground freezes towards the end of January and into February, that will make it easier for Russian forces to move,” he added.
Russian and Ukrainian sources continue to report on the impacts of challenging weather conditions on offensive and reconnaissance operations throughout the front, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War note, “even as reported freezing and snowy winter conditions in eastern Ukraine offer the prospect of better conditions for maneuver.”
Russian forces are conducting offensive operations around Avdiivka in a bid to wrestle control of the strategically-placed town in Donetsk from Ukraine.
“Ukrainian defenders continue to restrain the enemy, who does not abandon attempts to surround Avdiivka,” Ukraine’s military said in a Facebook update Thursday.
Other important updates:
A Russian politician calling for peace in Ukraine has been denied the chance to run for president. Russia’s central election commission refused to accept the former regional legislator, Yekaterina Duntsova’s initial nomination by a group of supporters, citing errors in the paperwork, including spelling. After losing Wednesday’s appeal against the commission’s decision, Duntsova said she would start working on the creation of her own political party that would stand for “peace, freedom and democracy”.
EU aid will not change the war’s outcome, the Kremlin has said. It added that such spending would only hurt Europe’s economy.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has warned that a move by Japan to hand over Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine would have “grave consequences” for Russia-Japan ties.
Poland is getting closer to ending the trucker blockades of several border crossings with Ukraine, says the country’s prime minister, Donald Tusk. Polish drivers have been blocking several crossings with Ukraine since 6 November, demanding the EU reinstate a system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers to enter Ukraine.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has held talks in Moscow with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and said progress had been made on plans for Russia and India to jointly produce military equipment. Jaishankar added that he expected the Russian president, Vladimir Putin and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi to meet next year.
Russia’s newest howitzers will be deployed “soon” against Ukrainian forces. The head of the state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, told the RIA news agency that testing of the new self-propelled artillery units, named Coalition-SV, had been completed and mass production had already started, with the first pilot batch to be delivered by the end of this year.
Two people were killed in Russia’s overnight drone attacks on Odesa, according to updated figures posted on Telegram by the Odesa oblast governor, Oleh Kiper. A 17-year-old was among the wounded and remains in hospital.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has thanked “all Ukrainian warriors” in a post on X. He also re-emphasized the priority for Ukraine “to strengthen our country, defend our people, and bolster our positions in all areas”.
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
