Russia said its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had captured the town of Kurakhove, 32 km (20 miles) south of Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian logistics hub toward which Russian forces have been advancing for months. The ministry said the capture would allow Russian forces to seize the rest of the Donetsk region “at an accelerated pace”. Though the local military command defending Kurakhove conceded that Russian forces were attacking urban areas, it said “measures to identify and destroy enemy assault groups” were under way.US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy has postponed a fact-finding trip to Kyiv and other European capitals until after Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, according to four sources with knowledge of the trip’s planning, Reuters reported. The trip, which would have marked the first time incoming Trump administration officials headed to Kyiv since the November election. It was not immediately clear why the trip was delayed. Trump repeatedly said during the campaign that he could solve the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, but has made little progress to that end.
French president, Emmanuel Macron, said on Monday that Ukraine needed to have “realistic discussions on territorial issues”, and urged Ukraine to consider territorial concessions. He called on the United States to convince Russia to enter negotiations, adding the “new American president himself knows the United States has no chance of winning anything if Ukraine loses”.
The United States believes Russia is expanding space cooperation with North Korea in return for military support, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said during a visit to Seoul on Monday. “The DPRK is already receiving Russian military equipment and training. Now we have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technology with Pyongyang,” Blinken told a news conference. According to US, Ukrainian and South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops and conventional weapons systems to support Moscow’s war campaign.
A Scottish man has been killed while serving on the frontline with the Ukrainian army, his family said. Jordan Maclachlan, 26, from Ardnamurchan in the Scottish Highlands, died on Friday while serving as a medic with the Ukrainian army, his family said in a statement to the BBC. “Jordan always believed that he was making a difference and we are all so proud of him helping others,” the statement said. A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson told the broadcaster: “We are supporting the family of a British man who died in Ukraine and are in contact with the local authorities.”
Ukraine’s land force commander has admitted “problems” with an army unit trained partly in France, after many of its soldiers reportedly deserted. Commander Mykhailo Drapaty said that officials were aware of problems of staffing, training and command staff. Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation was investigating desertion in the unit and “abuse of power” by a military official. Drapaty said he “will not refute” reports made in December that 1,700 soldiers had fled the brigade without going into combat, and 50 had escaped while training in France.
Thousands in Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist region have been left without heat or gas since New Year’s Day. Transdniestria, which lies near the Ukraine border, had received Russian gas via Ukraine for decades, but the supply was cut off after Ukraine refused to extend a transit deal. The Modolvan government said Russian gas export Gazprom refused to supply contracted gas to Tansdniestra, as Russia deflected blame to Ukraine.
The patriarch of Russia’s Orthodox
Church, celebrating Christmas alongside Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin,
said the western world despised Russia and its “alternative path of
civilised development”. Orthodox Christians in Russia celebrate Christmas on 7 January, according to the Julian calendar.
Patriarch Kirill, an enthusiastic backer of Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine, blessed icons and crosses that were to be engraved with the
president’s initials and sent to servicemen in the 34-month-old war,
Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as
saying.
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