Russian soldiers take part in exercises in Belarus

Created: 12/08/2022 11:29 am

By: Sandra Kathe, Moritz Serif, Stefan Krieger, Jan-Frederik Wendt, Lucas Maier

Peace currently seems a long way off in Ukraine.

Zelenskyj comments on heavy fighting in the east.

The situation in the Ukraine war in the news ticker.

• Front visit:

  Selenskyj thanks Ukrainian armed forces

• Battle for Bachmut:

  “Very tough confrontation.

  Every meter counts"

• Editor's note:

  Read the latest developments in the Ukraine conflict in our news ticker.

  The information on the Ukraine war processed here comes partly from the warring parties in Russia and Ukraine.

  They can therefore not be independently checked in part.

+++ 11.28 a.m .:

Russian soldiers take part in military exercises in Belarus.

"Soldiers of the Western Military District continue intensive combat training at the firing ranges of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus," the Russian Defense Ministry reports.

Combat training takes place both during the day and at night.

Videos released by the ministry show Russian soldiers training near tanks in a winter landscape, firing weapons including artillery.

In the past, Belarus had declared that it did not want to intervene in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

However, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had ordered the movement of troops to the Ukrainian border.

Russian soldiers take part in artillery and combat training at a Belarusian firing range (archive photo).

© dpa

+++ 10.40 a.m .:

The British Ministry of Defense has published its daily update on the situation in Ukraine, citing secret service sources.

It states that Russia has an "almost continuous rift system" 60 kilometers long between Svatove in Luhansk Oblast and the Russian border.

However, the Department of Defense adds that the "depth of defense remains unclear."

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

According to the Ministry of Defense, the Russian 1st Tank Army is partially based near Svatovo, but the "supposedly elite unit" has suffered heavy casualties earlier in the war, including the retreat from Kharkiv in September 2022. "It has now been partially mobilized Reinforced reservists, but remains well below their planned strength of over 25,000 men.

Ukraine war: Moscow increasingly recruits locals

+++ 10.10 a.m .:

The Russian armed forces are obviously trying to let locals in Zaporizhia fight for their army.

They are intended to replace Russian soldiers killed in the troops.

also read

Dispute over Ukraine ammunition: Scholz's government is now threatening to starve the Swiss armaments industry

After Iran protests: First execution linked to the uprisings

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced that the authorities in the Russian-occupied region issued summonses to men of draft age in Melitopol.

"The Russian occupiers plan to mobilize the residents of the region to compensate for the current losses," the statement said.

Ukraine war: Scholz sees no acute nuclear threat

+++ 8.00 a.m .:

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has again commented on the nuclear threat from Russia.

"Russia has stopped threatening to use nuclear weapons," Scholz said, according to

.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday (December 7) that nuclear weapons would only be used in response to an attack.

"We consider weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, as a means of defense," said the Kremlin chief.

“A very tough confrontation.

Every meter counts" - Heavy fighting in the east

Update

Heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine.

Most recently, ten people died in Russian attacks in the Donetsk region, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video speech.

The city of Bachmut continues to be hard-fought.

This is also in the Donetsk region.

“There is a very tough confrontation there.

Every meter counts,” Selenksyj describes the situation.

+++ 10:17 p.m .:

Russia shot down more than 1,000 missiles on Ukraine’s power grid during the war.

This was reported by the Ukrainian news agency Interfax.

Despite the attacks, the network was still working.

Ukraine War: Patriot anti-aircraft systems deployed in Poland

+++ 9.46 p.m .:

The federal government agrees to Poland’s proposal to station Patriot anti-aircraft systems.

These are to be stationed on Polish territory and are subordinate to the Polish command system.

Ukraine war: Russia arrests criminals

+++ 8.25 p.m .:

Russian security forces have arrested a convicted criminal.

This was officially announced by Russia on Wednesday (December 7).

The arrested man shot police officers with a machine gun in a region bordering Ukraine.

According to a Russian media report, the criminal is a deserter from the Wagner mercenary group fighting in Ukraine.

The search for the 38-year-old lasted 24 hours until he was caught in the village of Kiseljowo.

He was convicted of "theft and robbery".

The man was serving his sentence in a Russian penal colony when he was recruited by the Wagner squad to fight in Ukraine.

However, he later changed his mind and left the group.

This information comes from the Telegram channel Basa.

He is known for his good contacts with the Russian security forces.

Ukraine war: sanctions against Russia's army

+++ 19:18:

Because of the Ukraine war, the European Union wants to impose sanctions on the Russian army and three other Russian banks.

This was suggested by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the member states on Wednesday in Brussels.

In total, according to her words, almost 200 other institutions and those responsible should be subject to asset and entry bans in Europe.

Ukraine war: Russia wants to defend itself

+++ 5.30 p.m .:

The Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has again publicly emphasized that his country will “defend” itself against the West with all available means.

This is reported by the British newspaper

.

Accordingly, in the television broadcast of a meeting of his Human Rights Council, Putin said that Russia had to fight for its “national interests” and that the West perceived Russia as a “second-class country with no right to exist”.

At the same time, Putin emphasized, the intention was to initially limit oneself to “peaceful” means.

Regarding rumors that a new wave of mobilizations was imminent in Russia, Putin said that while he expected the "special operation" to be protracted, he saw no need to recruit more soldiers at the moment.

Putin stated that around half of the 300,000 drafted reservists are already deployed in Ukraine, around half of them are fighting directly on the war front.

Critical reports and whistleblowers from the ranks of the Russian army repeatedly say that many of the soldiers drafted in the fall have already been killed.

NATO boss Stoltenberg: Russia is planning a major offensive in the Ukraine war

+++ 4.10 p.m .:

Since the beginning of the war of aggression in Ukraine, Russian troops are said to have destroyed more than 1000 cultural institutions.

According to the

news agency, Ukraine's Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko said this at a meeting with representatives of the country's creative industries.

According to this, among the 1,000 destroyed places of public life, in addition to theaters and a number of cultural heritage objects, there were also numerous libraries and cultural centers.

+++ 2:06 p.m .:

NATO expects a new Russian offensive in Ukraine in the spring.

"Russia is trying to freeze this war, at least for a short time (...) in order to then launch a major offensive in the spring," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday at a

event in Brussels.

The Kremlin wants to use the winter to regroup its troops and repair weapons, the British daily reports.

Ukraine demands more help from the West - Russia desperate?

First report from Wednesday, December 7, 1:30 p.m.:

Kiev/Moscow – Poland now wants to accept the Patriot air defense systems offered by Germany to defend its airspace.

Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter on Tuesday (December 6) that they are working on stationing the Patriots on Polish territory and placing them under the Polish command system.

However, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) had insisted that the German air defense systems should be treated as part of the integrated NATO air defense system.

There was initially no question of placing them under a Polish command.

News about the Ukraine war: Zelenskyj thanks Ukrainian armed forces

During a visit near the front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked his soldiers for defending their country under the most difficult conditions.

During his stay in Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in a video that he published on Telegram after his return to Kyiv that he gave awards to those soldiers who had been deployed to the "most dangerous and most responsible" locations.

He was also in the Kharkiv region and met doctors there treating wounded fighters.

News about the Ukraine war: Number of entries and exits at borders with Ukraine constant

After the heavy Russian rocket attacks on Ukraine's energy supply, the EU border protection agency Frontex has so far not registered any significant change in border traffic.

Last week, 229,542 people entered an EU country from Ukraine, Frontex announced on Tuesday via Twitter.

In the same period, 208,988 people crossed the border of an EU country towards Ukraine.

Comparative figures from the previous weeks were initially not immediately available.

(Talk to agencies)