Zelenskyj expects Russia attacks over holidays - "Azovtal heroes" celebrate Christmas Eve in Turkey
Created: 2022-12-24 09:26
By: Florian Naumann, Kathrin Reikowski, Andreas Schmid
The commanders of the Azovstal unit, who were released as part of a prisoner exchange, are still unable to celebrate Christmas in Ukraine.
All information in the news ticker.
Foreign trips
of
Zelenskyy
?
The Ukrainian President names conditions.
Putin's push
for
peace
?
Spokesman denies - and even postulates progress in the Ukraine war.
Selenskyj
with
Biden
: US President wants to put Kiev in a good position for peace negotiations.
This
news ticker
on the military situation in the
Ukraine war
is constantly updated.
Update from December 24, 9 a.m.:
Even on Christmas Eve, the Ukraine war will probably not take a break.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyj also expects Russian attacks on December 24.
Five commanders of the Ukrainian army will also have to celebrate a special Christmas.
Serhii Volynskyi, Svyatoslav Palamar, Denys Prokopenko, Oleg Khomenko and Denys Shlega commanded the Azovstal unit, which occupied the steelworks in the city of Mariupol for weeks and defended itself against the Russian attackers.
Ukraine-News: Zelenskyj expects Russia attacks over holidays - "Azovtal heroes" celebrate Christmas Eve in Turkey
After the bitter fighting, the commanders, along with other surviving soldiers, were taken prisoner by the Russians before they were allowed to leave them again in September as part of a prisoner exchange.
However, the five commanders did not return home.
The terms of the exchange stipulate that they will not be allowed to return to Ukraine until the end of the war.
Instead, they are currently in Turkey.
They will also spend this year's Christmas party there.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar told Radio Svoboda that the "Heroes of Azovstal" are doing well and will have family visits over the holiday.
At the urging of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the commanders have been under the personal protection of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since September.
Ukraine-News: US government approves new budget – another 45 million for Ukraine
Update from December 23, 9:49 p.m .:
More billions in aid for Ukraine: The US Congress has passed the government’s new budget, which among other things provides for billions in aid for Ukraine.
The US House of Representatives approved the budget with a volume of 1.7 trillion US dollars (around 1.6 trillion euros) on Friday.
The Senate had previously approved the law.
US President Joe Biden still has to sign it into force - which, according to the White House, he wants to do promptly.
Defense spending accounts for about half of the budget.
Almost 858 billion US dollars are planned for this.
Around 45 billion US dollars have been earmarked for supporting Ukraine.
Ukraine talks: President Zelenskyy ready to travel abroad on certain conditions
Update from December 23, 8:14 p.m .:
After his surprise visit to the USA, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is apparently ready for further trips abroad despite the ongoing Ukraine war.
On Friday evening in Kyiv he stated conditions for this: "If a visit may have the same strategic importance as my visit to the USA, if our armed forces and all our defense forces depend on it, if one partner or another takes a leading role in the Ukrainian peacekeeping role, if there can be decisive steps to accelerate our victory, then my negotiations on a personal level could be an exception to the general wartime practice,” Zelenskyy said at a meeting with Ukrainian ambassadors from various states.
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"I urge you to take this visit as a point of reference, as a yardstick," said Zelenskyy, according to a report in Ukrayinska Pravda.
Ukraine negotiations: Melnyk calls on Scholz to lead a European tank alliance
Update from December 23, 4:12 p.m
.: The Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk calls on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) “that he finally reconsiders the restraint, for example, with the Leopard battle tank and the Marder infantry fighting vehicle”.
Melnyk told the newspapers of the
editorial network Germany
on Friday.
In it, he speaks out in favor of a “European tank alliance” led by the federal government to deliver heavy weapons to his country.
Germany should also supply the Patriot air defense system.
The Federal Government continues to reject this.
"In our view, the arguments why the tanks will not be delivered to Ukraine are not at all convincing," said Melnyk.
"If the federal government does not want to go it alone with the delivery, then Germany could pursue a leading role on the continent, forge a European tank alliance."
The former Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin received support from the traffic light coalition: together with its European partners, Germany could provide Ukraine with "a sufficient number" of Leopard 2 tanks, wrote the chairwoman of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), and the chairman of the European Committee of the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter (Greens), in a guest article for
RTL
and
ntv
.
They called for training Ukrainian soldiers on the Leopard 2 and also on the Marder infantry fighting vehicle to begin in Germany now.
Putin's US ambassador accuses the US of making an "international outlaw" out of Russia
Update from December 23, 2:00 p.m .:
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Vladimir Putin’s US Ambassador to the United States has now been accused.
The US is "obsessed with the idea of turning us into an international outlaw, with the US-Russian dialogue now being in an ice age," Anatoly Antonov told the state agency TASS.
There are no signs of a willingness for peace on the part of the USA or Ukraine.
“There is only sporadic communication with government officials.
Mainly by phone or email,” reported Antonov.
"There are no signs that Washington is willing to pursue diplomatic solutions to normalize relations," he said.
Rarely is there an opportunity to voice one's own point of view.
However, the ambassador conceded that the US did not want a “complete break”.
The United States sought talks about the hunger crisis or prisoner exchanges.
This is important not least because it is “about the two largest nuclear powers”.
Antonov also accused the US of wanting to influence the mood in Russia.
The goal of "the Americans" is "to turn the situation, to turn public opinion against the military special operation".
Several reports of fires in relevant buildings came from Russia on Friday.
In the case of a district military replacement office, the media openly speculated about an "attack".
Russia's US Ambassador Anatoly Antonov in a press statement.
(Archive image) © Denis Akishev via www.imago-images.de
Putin's push for peace?
Spokesman denies - and even postulates progress in the Ukraine war
Update from December 23, 1:05 p.m .:
Vladimir Putin’s government says it sees progress in the “demilitarization” of Ukraine.
"One can see that there is significant progress here on the road to demilitarization," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
At the beginning of the war on February 24, Putin named the destruction of weapons in Ukraine as a key goal.
Putin said on Thursday that Ukraine's military potential and the supplies of Soviet-era weapons made by European states were almost exhausted.
A transfer of the Patriot air defense system from the USA to Ukraine will prolong the war.
At the same time, Putin described the weapons as old.
He opined that Russia could overcome anti-aircraft defenses.
"There's always an antidote," he said.
At a press conference, Peskov also commented on an alleged offer to negotiate by Putin.
The fact that the Russian president wants to "end the war" does not mean that Russia is ready to negotiate with Ukraine.
Rather, Putin wanted to express that they wanted to "successfully end the military special operation".
Unlike Putin, Peskov avoided the term "war."
Ukraine-News: Russia ponders reaction to western oil price cap
Update from December 23,
10:45 a.m .: Russia is considering a reaction to the West’s oil price cap: that could slightly reduce its production from 2023.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who is also responsible for energy, said so.
At the beginning of December, the EU, the G7 countries and Australia agreed on a price cap of 60 dollars (56.52 euros) for Russian crude oil transported by sea.
So Russia can continue to supply oil at this price or less.
The West wants to use this to reduce Moscow's lavish income from oil sales.
A few days after it was introduced, Vladimir Putin called the price cap a "stupid decision" and threatened to reduce production.
He had previously warned of the consequences for the world market.
Ukraine-News: Zelenskyj is back in Kyiv
Update from December 23, 10:35 a.m .:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has returned to his official residence in the capital Kiev after his trip to the USA.
On Friday morning, the 44-year-old, wearing an olive-green jacket and T-shirt, reported via video from his desk with a smile and a clenched fist: “We are working for victory.
Have a good day everyone!”
Ukraine war: Lavrov diplomat directs threat towards USA – “One can only hope”
Update from December 23, 10 a.m.:
Vladimir Putin personally tried on Thursday (December 22) to portray Russia as willing to negotiate in the Ukraine war.
A top Kremlin diplomat has now followed up with a view to relations with the USA – and once again portrayed Washington as the main problem.
"Russia is open to dialogue and ready to discuss strategic stability and international security issues," Director of the North America Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Darchiyev told the state agency TASS.
"The problem is, Washington is not mature enough for such serious talks that demand respect and looking after each other's interests," he claimed.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's aide also directed a threat to the United States.
"One can only hope that Washington will follow common sense and not allow the situation to escalate to the point of a direct confrontation between Russia and the United States.
Otherwise, a severance of diplomatic relations will become reality, with all the consequences.”
Ukraine war: USA probably thinks of patriot training for Kiev's soldiers
Update from December 23, 8:15 a.m .:
Ukrainian soldiers could probably be trained on the Patriot defense system at a military base in the USA.
The US Department of Defense is considering this, according to
Politico
, citing two Pentagon officials.
So far, after the Russian invasion at the end of February, Ukrainian soldiers have only been trained on various weapon systems within Europe, including in Germany.
Carrying out the Patriot training in Europe is possible, but there are more logistical difficulties, said one of the employees.
A Pentagon spokesman declined
to comment ,
Politico said.
Update from December 22, 10:08 p.m .:
Estonia will continue to provide military aid to Ukraine in the fight against Russia.
The government of the Baltic EU and NATO state decided on Thursday to deliver drones, personal protective equipment and winter uniforms to the attacked country.
"Ukraine continues to need our help and support to confront Russian aggression," said Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur.
Estonia, which borders Russia, also wants to support Ukraine in restoring its war-damaged transport infrastructure.
For example, the city administration of the capital Tallinn will deliver 20 public transport buses to the Ukrainian city of Schytomyr west of Kyiv.
Ukraine war: negotiation push from Moscow?
“Russia has never shied away”
First report:
Moscow/Ekaterinburg - In the negotiations in the Ukraine war, it seemed to falter recently.
This week, however, war diplomacy shifted to the world stage.
Volodymyr Zelenskyj traveled to the USA, Russia's ex-president Dmitry Medvedev to Beijing.
And Putin?
Shortly after his political alliance with Belarus ruler Alexander Lukashenko, he suddenly spoke of negotiations himself.
During a visit to Yekaterinburg, the Kremlin chief indicated a willingness to negotiate.
"All armed conflicts end in negotiations, and Russia has never backed down, unlike Ukraine," he said Thursday.
In addition, the Ukrainian leadership has excluded itself from talks.
"The sooner Kyiv realizes that talks are necessary, the better."
Kyiv recently rejected negotiations.
In contrast to Ukraine, Russia wants to negotiate the current status on the fronts and regards the conquered areas - which it has already annexed in violation of international law - as Russian territory.
However, Kyiv does not want to start negotiations until all Russian soldiers have withdrawn from Ukraine, including Crimea, which Russia had already annexed in 2014.
Selenskyj with Biden: US President wants to put Kyiv in a good position for peace negotiations
Western representatives argued that Kyiv should not allow a peace treaty to be dictated to it.
US President Biden wants to give Selenskyj a free hand when deciding when to hold peace talks.
"Now is the time when we need to empower this president to make decisions about how to end the war," Biden said Wednesday at a joint news conference with the Ukrainian president.
Therefore, the unconditional military support for Kyiv is inevitable.
Washington is supporting Ukraine by supplying the Patriot anti-aircraft system.
Ukraine "can succeed on the battlefield with our help and with the help of our European allies and others," Biden said.
If Zelenskyy is ready to talk to the Russians, he will be able to succeed in the negotiations because he won on the battlefield, the US President said.
Moscow's ambassador in Washington then accused the United States of continuing a "proxy war" against Russia.
Despite these cautious statements about negotiations, an end to the Ukraine war does not seem in sight, and the fighting is continuing this week.
The Kremlin rejected a possible ceasefire for Christmas last week.
"The issue is not on the agenda," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
(as)