OTHER COUNTRIES

Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow accuses US of fighting proxy war as new military aid announced for Kyiv

US fighting proxy war ‘to the last Ukrainian’, Kremlin says

The Kremlin on Thursday said US supplies of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, announced during the visit of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to Washington on Wednesday, would not contribute to settling the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, and would not prevent Russia from achieving its goals.

In a call with reporters, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said there had been no signs of readiness for peace talks during Zelenskiy’s visit, and this was evidence the US was fighting a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian”.

Updated at 05.24 EST

Key events

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday that recent military manoeuvres were not aimed at Ukraine and dismissed “conspiracy theories” about deployments of Belarusian armed forces at the border.

Speaking at a conference of military leaders marking the end of snap military inspections held this month, Lukashenko also said that he could not rule out “aggression” against Belarus on the part of unspecified “neighbours”.

“If you want peace, prepare for war,” Lukashenko added, saying that military moves were limited to Belarusian territory and did not threaten anyone else.

Belarus has in recent weeks announced a flurry of military activity, including readiness checks and a fresh deployment of Russian troops to the country, Reuters reported.

The manoeuvres prompted suggestions from Ukrainian officials that Russia may be planning a fresh attack on Ukraine via Belarusian territory, as it did unsuccessfully in the early days of its war in Ukraine.

Russia’s Rosatom state nuclear energy company said on Thursday that talks with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi about a safe zone around Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant would continue.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Rosatom said “approaches to the creation of a nuclear and physical safety protection zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were discussed” and that there was “significant closeness” between the two sides’ positions.

It said that talks would continue based on “understanding of the need to reach a mutually acceptable text as soon as possible”, Reuters reported.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, gave a defiant address to a joint session of the US Congress in which he vowed that his country would never abandon its resistance to Russian aggression, but said Washington’s continued support is key to ultimate victory.

Here is the full text:

US fighting proxy war ‘to the last Ukrainian’, Kremlin says

The Kremlin on Thursday said US supplies of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, announced during the visit of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to Washington on Wednesday, would not contribute to settling the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, and would not prevent Russia from achieving its goals.

In a call with reporters, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said there had been no signs of readiness for peace talks during Zelenskiy’s visit, and this was evidence the US was fighting a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian”.

Updated at 05.24 EST

Andrew Roth

The Christmas village in Moscow’s Gorky Park is decked out as in any other year – quaint wooden huts with icicles and snow-lined fir trees festooned with baubles and white lights.

But this year, there are new ornaments. Glowing in fluorescent lights are three letters: Z, V, and O, all symbols of the war Russia is waging against Ukraine and which looms heavily as the end of the year approaches.

As Russia has launched missiles to plunge Ukraine into darkness as winter takes hold, leaving many struggling to survive, the Kremlin is still seeking symbols and a cause to unite Russians around the conflict. Yet few have stuck.

“The city brought them and placed them here,” said a cashier in a nearby gift shop, which trades in the hipster T-shirts and canvas bags that Gorky Park markets as a symbol of urban style. Asked what she thought, she said: “I wish they hadn’t.”

There’s more. By the park entrance, a Z is decorated in the colours of the ribbon of Saint George, another symbol commonly used to support the war, and also a bright sign in the Russian tricolour that reads: “We are together.”

Updated at 04.44 EST

A Christmas tree at Sofia Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 21 December.

A Christmas tree at Sofia Square in Kyiv, Ukraine on 21 December 2022.
A Christmas tree at Sofia Square in Kyiv, Ukraine on 21 December 2022. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty

Updated at 03.59 EST

In homes and schools around Bosnia, young people this December have been preparing gift boxes they hope will put a smile on the faces of their peers living through war in Ukraineas such presents did for many of their parents a generation ago.

The Associated Press reported:

Responding to an appeal launched by a small Sarajevo museum, hundreds of Bosnian children have been filling small boxes with warm clothes, toys, candies and other simple gifts to be delivered to the children of Ukraine in time for the New Year.

For parents and educators who are helping them select what to send, the experience has awakened rare happy memories from the time when they were on the receiving end of the kindness of strangers while growing up in constant fear of death.

“When I told my dad that we will prepare gifts for children in Ukraine, he told me how happy such gifts had made him (and his friends) feel when they received them,” during the Bosnian war, said Sara Nur Spahic, while helping label the gift boxes for Ukraine that have been steadily piling up in recent weeks in her primary school in Sarajevo.

“I hope the children in Ukraine will be equally happy,” the 11-year-old added.

Updated at 03.02 EST

Macron says Europe should limit dependence on US for security

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called for Europe to reduce its reliance on the US and develop its own defence capabilities while taking a more assertive role within Nato.

Speaking to reporters on his return to Paris from a summit in Amman, Jordan, Macron stressed that he doesn’t see his push to develop European defence as an alternative to Nato.

A stronger Europe, Macron said, will allow the continent to become more autonomous within the alliance, acting “inside Nato, with Nato but also not depending on Nato,” the Wall Street Journal cited the president as saying.

An alliance isn’t something I should depend on. It’s something that I should choose, something I work with … We must rethink our strategic autonomy.”

Updated at 02.05 EST

In case you missed Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s address to US Congress earlier, the Ukrainian president said his country is still “alive and kicking” despite Russian “tyranny”.

Zelenskiy made a bid to persuade Republican lawmakers to continue to fund Ukraine’s defence against Russia.

“It is a great honour for me to be at the US Congress and speak to you and all Americans. Against all doom-and-gloom scenarios, Ukraine did not fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking,” he said. “We defeated Russia in the battle for the minds of the world.”

Watch video of the highlights below.

Zelenskiy tells US Congress Ukraine is ‘alive and kicking’ despite Russian ‘tyranny’ – video

Updated at 02.06 EST

Russian officials injured in Donetsk – reports

A former Russian deputy prime minister and a pro-Moscow official were injured when Ukrainian forces shelled the eastern city of Donetsk on Wednesday, Russian news agencies said.

Donetsk, controlled by pro-Moscow troops, is in the industrial Donbas region, the centre of recent bitter fighting between Russia and Ukraine.

One of the injured men was Dmitry Rogozin, a former Russian deputy prime minister, who is giving military advice to two occupied regions of Ukraine that Moscow claims as its own, an aide told Tass news agency, his life was not in danger.

Russian President Vladimir Putin seen with Dmitry Rogozin outside Moscow in April 2019.
Russian President Vladimir Putin seen with Dmitry Rogozin outside Moscow in April 2019. Photograph: Alexei Nikolsky/AP

Also hurt was Vitaly Khotsenko, the head of government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, his press secretary told Russian news agencies.

The Guardian has not been able to verify these reports independently.

Updated at 02.07 EST

Summary: What Zelenskiy told congress

In an address to US congress made 12 days before Republicans take the House, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy – who was in the US on his first foreign visit since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 300 days ago – emphasised that US aid will help Ukraine to secure a victory that will make the world safer.

He started by saying that the US, Europe and Ukraine had together “defeated Russian in the battle for minds of the world”.

Zelenskiy was also blunt about wanting more aid, saying that while he was grateful for commitments so far, it was not enough. He also called on the US to place further sanctions on Russia, and bring the people behind the war to justice. He used the words bipartisan repeatedly, and bicameral, at least once, and sought to assure Republican and Democrat lawmakers that aid for Ukraine was worthwhile, and that the country was a responsible steward of assistance.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives to speak during a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives to speak during a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

“Your money is not charity. It’s an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way,” he said.

Zelenskiy repeatedly referred to battles in world war two, which was likely strategic – a reminder that what is at stake is global politics, not just Ukraine’s freedom.

He quoted Franklin D Roosevelt’s during the second world war: “The American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory,” adding, “I tell you: The Ukrainian people will win, too: absolutely.”

As he ended his speech, the thanked American families – the taxpayers funding US aid to Ukraine – saying, “Now, at this special Christmas time, I want to thank you, all of you. I thank every American family which cherishes the warmth of its home and wishes the same warmth to our people.”

Updated at 01.53 EST

Zelenskiy joked about the Patriot system during his press conference with Biden:

Zelensky’s joke at the press conference:
“After we get the Patriot, we’re going to signal that we want another Patriot.” 😜 pic.twitter.com/bjx1hLStgW

— Вікторія Сірко 🇺🇦 (@VikaSirko) December 21, 2022

What is the Patriot surface-to-air missile defence system?

Among the defence aid announced by Biden on Wednesday is the formidable Patriot surface-to-air missile defence system.

Zelenskiy said the US promise to provide the system was an important step in creating an effective air shield.

“This is the only way that we can deprive the terrorist state of its main instrument of terror – the possibility to hit our cities, our energy,” Zelenskiy told a White House news conference, standing next to Biden.

The Patriot system is “a defensive system, it’s not escalatory, it’s defensive” Biden told reporters.

“We’d love not to have them used, just stop the attacks.”

The Patriot is considered to be one of the most advanced US air defense systems and offers protection against aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles. It typically includes launchers along with radar and other support vehicle.

Writing yesterday in the Guardian, Jack Watling, senior research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, looked at the transformational benefits as well as the risks involved in the decision to send the weapons to Ukraine:

Some fear that giving certain military support to Ukraine risks wider escalation, but this was not the basis for US reluctance to send Patriot systems. The US has significantly fewer of them than its own operational analysis suggests are necessary to defend its forces in the Indo-Pacific.

Moreover, there is continuing demand for missiles from existing users, from Sweden to Saudi Arabia: the latter expends a significant number of missiles each month in defence of its critical national infrastructure. Missile manufacturing levels, meanwhile, are low.”

‘Your money is not charity’, Zelenskiy tells US Congress

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the US Congress that aid to Ukraine was an investment in democracy and “not charity” as he invoked American battles against the Nazis in World War Two to press for more assistance for his country’s war effort.

Zelenskiy’s comments on Wednesday come as Republicans – some of whom have voiced increasing scepticism about sending so much aid to Ukraine – are set to take control of the US House of Representatives from Democrats on 3 January.

Some hardline Republicans have even urged an end to aid and an audit to trace how allocated money has been spent.

“Your money is not charity. It is an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way,” Zelenskiy told a joint session of the US Senate and House of Representatives, speaking in English.

Summary and welcome

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. It is currently 7.30am in Kyiv. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be with you for the next hour.

On Wednesday evening in Washington DC, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, addressed members of the US Congress in person, on his first foreign visit since the outbreak of the war.

We’ll bring you the key developments from Zelenskiy’s visit as well as news from the ground in Ukraine.

In the meantime, here is recent news:

  • A former Russian deputy prime minister and a pro-Moscow official were injured when Ukrainian forces shelled the eastern city of Donetsk on Wednesday, Russian news agencies said. Donetsk, controlled by pro-Moscow troops, is in the industrial Donbas region, the centre of recent bitter fighting between Russia and Ukraine.

  • The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has pledged to give his army anything it asks for, promising no financial limits on what the government would provide in terms of equipment and hardware. Speaking in Moscow after meeting with Russia’s top military officials, Putin said there were no “funding restrictions” for the military.

  • Putin also acknowledged that the call-up of 300,000 reservists he ordered in September had not gone smoothly, the latest in a series of recent comments in which he has admitted the challenges his army is facing. “The partial mobilisation that was carried out revealed certain problems, as everyone well knows, which should be promptly addressed,” he said.

  • The UN will allocate an additional $20m from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund to support more than 300 civil society organisations and volunteer groups. “These groups have always been the backbone of the humanitarian response in Ukraine and even more since the war started in late February,” said Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine.

  • In an overwhelming vote of 93-2, the US Senate confirmed the appointment of Lynne M Tracy as the new US ambassador to Russia on Wednesday. Tracy, a career diplomat of the US foreign service, “will be tasked with standing up to [Vladimir] Putin”, the Associated Press quoted the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, as saying.

Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button

Adblock Detected

Please turn off the ad blocker & refresh this page again to access the content.