Ukraine will demand Monday, December 26 the exclusion of Russia from the UN Security Council, the day after new statements by Vladimir Putin against the West, accused of "
divide and conquer
".
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Ukraine also plans to call for Russia's exclusion from the UN Security Council on Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Sunday.
“
We will officially express our position.
We have a very simple question: does Russia have the right to remain a permanent member of the UN Security Council and to be in the UN?
he said, speaking late on Christmas Eve during a national TV marathon.
We have a persuasive and reasoned answer: no, it doesn't.
»
"Historical Russia"
On Monday morning, Russian air defense shot down a Ukrainian drone as it approached an air base in southern Russia, with debris from the aircraft killing three people on the ground, Russian news agencies reported.
The day before, the Russian president sought to justify the Kremlin's military offensive against Ukraine, which has lasted for more than 10 months, but which has still not enabled Russia to achieve its objectives.
Read alsoThe day Emmanuel Macron met Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin
"
Everything is based on the policy of our geopolitical adversaries, who aim to divide Russia, historic Russia
", denounced Vladimir Putin in an interview, a short extract of which was made public on Sunday by public television.
The Russian president regularly uses the concept of "
historical Russia
" to justify military intervention in Ukraine by the need to bring together Ukrainians and Russians, who would form one and the same people.
“This quite old system”
"'
Divide and conquer
'
: they have always tried to do it, they are trying to do it now, but our goal is quite different: to unite the Russian people
," he said.
According to Vladimir Putin, the Russian army is "
moving in the right direction
" in Ukraine.
And he promised that Russian troops would take out the Patriot air defense system, which kyiv got this week from the Americans.
“
Of course, we will destroy it, 100%!
“Launched Vladimir Putin, three days after asserting that his army would find”
an antidote
“to counter”
this fairly old system
“.
In addition to the Patriot system, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky left his visit to the United States with a promise of $45 billion in aid provided for in the next American federal budget.
Read alsoPutin opens wide the financial floodgates to support the Russian army
If the Russian general staff has confirmed that it aims to conquer the entire industrial region of Donetsk, Volodymyr Zelensky has sworn to him that he wants to take back the four Ukrainian regions annexed at the end of September by Russia - Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporijjia, Kherson -, as well as the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.
End of the "dark" year
He castigated the Russian "
terrorists
" who carried out bombings on Saturday against the city center of Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine taken over on November 11 after eight months of occupation by troops from Moscow.
The central market and adjacent streets were bombed, killing at least 10 and injuring 55, an act of "
terror
" according to Mr. Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president thanked "
all those who came to Kherson to help
" to "
save the wounded
".
He also called on Ukrainians to prepare for new attacks by the end of the year.
"
We must be aware that our enemy will try to make this moment dark and difficult
."
Vladimir Saldo, head of the pro-Russian administration in Kherson, blamed the attack on the Ukrainian army, castigating "
a sickening provocation aimed of course at accusing the armed forces of the Russian Federation
".
Rejection of "Russian influence"
Sunday in kyiv, Orthodox celebrated Christmas, alongside Catholics, a strong sign of defiance towards the Russian religious authorities, who will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in two weeks.
“
The war has brought us so much grief
,” faithful Olga Stanko told AFP in a downtown church.
“
We cannot remain under Russian influence
,” she added, as the military conflict has shifted to religious terrain in recent weeks.
Ukraine, a country whose population is predominantly Orthodox, is indeed divided between a Church dependent on the Patriarchate of Moscow - which announced that it was severing its ties with Russia at the end of May due to the Russian offensive - and an independent Church of Russian supervision.
Created at the end of 2018, the latter has pledged allegiance to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which has its headquarters in Istanbul.
During his traditional Christmas message in St. Peter's Square in Rome, Pope Francis called on him to "
silence the guns
" on Ukrainian soil.