Putin announces "violent countermeasures" - electricity problems in Kyiv

Created: 12/20/2022, 8:44 am

By: Helena Gries, Caspar Felix Hoffmann, Teresa Toth, Moritz Serif, Nadja Austel, Kilian Bäuml, Jan-Frederik Wendt, Andreas Apetz

War has been raging in Ukraine for 300 days.

The supply situation in Kyiv is becoming increasingly difficult after the latest Russian rocket attacks.

The news ticker.

• Atomic Energy Agency warns:

  Russian drone sighted over nuclear power plant

• Offensive:

  Russia should prepare new offensive from Belarus on Ukraine

• 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.

+++ 8.45 a.m .:

Russian President Vladimir Putin called for more action in all areas on the occasion of the so-called Day of the Security Forces in Russia.

According to consistent media reports, Putin is said to have called on his country's security forces to take more energetic and decisive action against the activities of foreign secret services.

According to Russian news agencies, Putin has announced "strong countermeasures".

"The actions of foreign secret services must be suppressed immediately," said the Kremlin chief.

, actions by foreign special services must be thwarted and traitors, spies and saboteurs must be identified quickly .

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, is calling on his country's security forces to do more in all areas.

(Archive photo) © Sergey Karpuhin/dpa

One of the most important tasks of the security forces in Russia is to protect the citizens of the "new regions" of Russia.

This meant the parts of Ukraine annexed by Moscow in violation of international law.

In fact, the situation in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions is difficult, Putin stressed.

"But the people living there, all Russian citizens, hope for their protection." Russia has occupied large parts of these areas and is now trying to defend them against Ukrainian counterattacks.

According to Putin, he wants to equip new units with the latest technology and weapons and with experienced personnel.

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

News on the Ukraine war: electricity deficit in Kyiv increases after Russian attacks

Update from Tuesday, December 20, 7:00 a.m.:

The 300th day of the war begins in Ukraine.

The authorities in Kyiv are still struggling to supply people with heat and electricity after the latest Russian rocket attacks.

As Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Monday evening in Kyiv, the electricity deficit has now increased to 50 percent.

The repair work on the damaged lines and electrical stations continued.

In addition to electricity, the residents of Kyiv and the surrounding area are increasingly having to do without the Internet.

In this area, too, access has fallen to almost 50 percent as a result of the latest Russian attack, network observer Netblocks said in the evening.

Fighting also continues in southern Ukraine.

A man was killed in a Russian artillery raid on the city of Cherson in southern Ukraine, which was liberated a few weeks ago, according to the state agency

reports.

Several administrative buildings were hit in the attack.

News on the Ukraine war: Putin will “force” Belarus to participate in the war

+++ 10:20 p.m .:

During his visit to Minsk today, Russian President Vladimir Putin

put pressure on the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, to deploy Belarusian troops in Ukraine , according to a report by

However, Lukashenko is not ready to take this step.

also read

Debate about wage increases for 1.7 million civil servants: do we really need that many civil servants?

READ

10,171 euros back payment for civil servants: "I'm a bit ashamed"

READ

Putin sees "new threats" and announces "modern weapons" in annexed areas

READ

65 trips, but hardly any income: Austria exposes alleged Putin spy

READ

Serbian military convoy is apparently rolling towards Kosovo – there is a risk of escalation in the middle of Europe

READ

Fancy a voyage of discovery?

My space

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine's Defense Council, commented on Putin's visit on state television: “Putin demands direct intervention by Belarus in the war with our country.

As far as we know, (…) neither Lukashenko nor his citizens are willing.” Russia would now “do everything possible and impossible to force Lukashenko” to take part in the war.

News in the Ukraine war: Lavrov sees “the West’s geopolitical games” destroyed

+++ 9.30 p.m .:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accuses Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of “lack of understanding of the seriousness of the situation and lack of concern for his people”.

"He's just brimming with ideas," Lavrov told the Belarus 1 TV channel in Minsk.

These ideas, which Lavrov did not specify, would reveal the "racist character" of the leadership in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian head of state had recently pushed the idea of ​​an international criminal court before which all responsible politicians and military officers from Moscow should answer for the war crimes in Ukraine.

At the same time, Lavrov sharply criticized the West.

The "hysterical reaction" to the "military special operation", as Ukraine's invasion of Russia is called, confirmed that the war was "absolutely necessary".

In doing so, Moscow destroyed the “geopolitical games of the West”.

quoted the Russian foreign minister

as saying that the West wanted to turn Ukraine into a permanent threat to Russia .

News about the Ukraine war: Putin announces military cooperation with Belarus

+++ 8:25 p.m .:

Putin and Lukashenko spoke at their meeting in Minsk about future joint military planning.

According to

, the Russian President announced this at a subsequent press conference.

Joint military troop coordination will be introduced, according to Putin.

A "uniform air defense system has also been created and is in combat use," emphasized the Russian President.

"We have agreed to continue to jointly take all necessary measures to reliably ensure the security of our two countries," Putin said.

Priority attention is given to the training of the troops in order to increase their combat capability.

The pilot training of fighter aircraft of the Belarusian army is also possible.

This type of cooperation was not reinvented - the USA has been cultivating something similar with NATO allies for decades.

After Russia recently moved military equipment to Belarus, there is speculation about a renewed offensive against Ukraine from the neighboring country (see update at 4:30 p.m.).

News in the Ukraine war: Republic of Moldova fears Russian invasion

+++ 7.35 p.m

.: The secret service of the Republic of Moldova, which borders Ukraine, fears a Russian invasion in the coming year.

"The question is not whether the Russian Federation will carry out a new offensive against the territory of the Republic of Moldova, but when," intelligence chief Alexandru Musteata said on state television on Monday.

A period between January and April is possible. 

With the "new" offensive, Musteata was referring to the stationing of Russian soldiers in Transnistria, which has been a breakaway since the early 1990s, and who act there as so-called peacekeeping troops.

News in the Ukraine war: Russia is said to have received 250 more Iranian drones

+++ 6.35 p.m .:

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj, Russia received a new batch of Iranian-made drones.

A total of 250 Shahed drones have been delivered, he said in an address to UK Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) leaders.

“Ukraine was again attacked by Iranian-made drones tonight.

34 shaheds,” says Zelenskyj.

Russia is using Iranian-made missiles and drones, primarily to attack Ukraine's energy sector.

According to the Ukrainian defense intelligence service, the Russian armed forces attacked on Monday night with Iranian Shahed-136 and -131, kamikaze drones.

30 of these drones were destroyed by the Ukrainian defense forces.

News in the Ukraine war: Lukashenko receives Putin in Minsk

+++ 4.30 p.m .:

The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko received Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin at the airport in Minsk on a red carpet with bread and salt for a state visit.

This is shown by images from the pro-government Belarusian Telegram channel Pool Pervogo on Monday (December 19).

The two former Soviet republics are close allies, with Lukashenko's government totally dependent on Moscow politically, economically and militarily after sanctions imposed by the West.

While the two leaders' contacts are regular and frequent, it is Putin's first visit to Belarus in three years.

Before the visit, Lukashenko had announced that the primary focus would be on deepening economic cooperation.

On the Moscow side, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov countered speculation that Russia would urge its western neighbor to enter the war against Ukraine.

News about the Ukraine war: "Kamikaze" drone over nuclear power plants

+++ 3.40 p.m .:

Ukraine’s atomic energy agency Energoatom has accused Russia of disregarding nuclear safety by sending a “kamikaze” drone over part of a nuclear power plant in the Mykolaiv region shortly after midnight.

Energoatom said on Telegram that the Iranian-sourced Shahed drone was spotted over the southern Ukrainian nuclear power plant early Monday (December 19).

News about the Ukraine war: Selenskyj wants more weapons

+++ 2.03 p.m

.: Volodymyr Zelenskyj, Ukrainian President, calls for more weapons for Ukraine in the war against Russia.

"I ask you to increase the possibility of supplying our country with air defense systems and to help speed up the relevant decisions of our partners," he said at a meeting with several countries.

Among them were Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

News about the Ukraine war: Wagner group burns recruits

+++ 12.43 p.m .:

According to British secret services, the Russian mercenary group Wagner uses recruits as cannon fodder in Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defense in London announced on Monday that some recruited soldiers were given a smartphone or tablet that used satellite images to show them their intended attack route and their target.

For this advance they received fire cover, but rarely armored vehicles.

"Wagner members who deviate from their attack routes without authorization are likely to face summary execution," according to British intelligence.

Ukraine War News: Is Russia Running Out of Missiles?

+++ 11.44 a.m .:

The Ukrainian leadership assumes that the Russian stocks of missiles are only sufficient for a few massive attacks.

"If you count large-scale attacks, they have two or three at most, maybe they can scrape together [missiles for] four," National Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said in an

interview published by the online newspaper

But then Russia would have no more reserves.

News about the Ukraine war: explosions in Kyiv and surroundings

+++ 7.20 a.m .:

In Kiev and the surrounding area several loud explosions were heard early Monday morning, as witnesses from the

news agency reported.

According to Ukraine, nine Iranian Shahed drones were shot down in Kiev airspace.

"Air alert continues in Kyiv," the military said on Telegram.

“The enemy is attacking the capital with 'Shahed' barrage.

The air defense is deployed.”

News in the Ukraine war: Russian troops start exercises in Belarus

+++ 6.45 a.m .:

Russian armed forces will start tactical military exercises in Belarus, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

"The final assessment of the combat capability and combat readiness of the units will be made by the command at the final stage of coordination - after conducting battalion tactical exercises," reports

, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense.

It is unclear when and where the exercises will be held in Belarus.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said in October that 9,000 Russian soldiers would be deployed to the country as part of a "regional pooling" of forces to protect the borders.

News in the Ukraine war: Great Britain agrees to further arms deliveries in the Ukraine war

Update from Monday, December 19, 6:15 a.m .:

Great Britain wants to continue to deliver armaments to Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia, in the coming year.

The British government announced that several hundred thousand rounds of artillery ammunition worth around 250 million pounds (around 286 million euros) would be delivered over the course of the year.

This should ensure a continuous supply of Ukraine.

So far, Britain says it has supplied Ukraine with more than 100,000 rounds of artillery ammunition since the start of the war, as well as several missile systems and recently 125 anti-aircraft guns.

The British see themselves as leaders in Europe.

News in the Ukraine war: water supply restored in Kyiv

First report from Friday, December 16, 6:20 p.m.:

Kiev – Even on the 296th day of the war, the Russian army is relentlessly continuing its attacks in the Cherson Oblast.

As the news

reported, southern parts of the capital of the same name were under artillery and rocket fire.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office said the attack early on Friday morning (December 16) set fire to several apartments in a multi-storey building.

The shelling comes at the end of a week of sustained Russian attacks on the city and surrounding areas.

According to Yaroslav Yanushevich, head of the military administration of the Kherson region, "critical infrastructure, residential buildings, public transport, medical facilities and distribution points for humanitarian aid" were hit.

A total of four people were killed.

Cherson was liberated in November by a counteroffensive by Ukraine.

Since then, the region has been struggling to restore basic services.

News about the Ukraine war: Russia fires on energy supplies

Not only in Cherson does Ukraine fear for its supply system.

As Ukraine's largest private energy company DTEK announced in a press release on Friday, nine generation plants were damaged after a rocket attack on the morning of December 16.

Large parts of the north, south and center of the country are affected.

The destruction of the energy supply is a strategic goal of Russia in the Ukraine war.

“From September to December, 20 Russian terrorist attacks were carried out on DTEK power plants.

Twenty-four power technicians were injured and three killed.

There were also victims among the rescue workers and employees of subcontractors,” the company summarized in its press release.

(Talk to agencies)