Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky on Monday proposed a special summit, which he called the Global Peace Formula Summit, “to determine how and when we can implement the points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula”, which would secure Ukraine’s security and territorial integrity. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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10:49pm: Bakhmut 'destroyed' as war grinds on in eastern Ukraine
More than 90 percent of the population has left the city of Bakhmut, FRANCE 24's James André reports from eastern Ukraine. “You’ve got to imagine that you are in the dark, in the cold, with very little food and drink, no running water, and under constant shelling – this why people are making that decision to leave," André says. Click on the video below to watch his report in full.
10:13pm: Power blackouts are Russia's last hope
Russia has not abandoned its plan of hitting Ukraine with air strikes and sees power blackouts as its last hope, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday.
"We have to be aware that Russia has not abandoned this tactic of terror. Any absence of mass missile strikes simply means that the enemy is readying new attacks. And there could be strikes at any time," Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
"Russia is still counting on blackouts. This is the terrorists' last hope. As long as they have missiles – and they still do – please take seriously the warnings from our military command."
9:48pm: Ukraine president again presses West for advanced weapons
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pressed Western leaders on Monday to provide more advanced weapons to help his country in its war with Russia, and he repeated his calls for Russian forces to withdraw from occupied areas of Ukraine, suggesting Christmas as a retreat date.
During a video conference, Zelensky told host Germany and other leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers: “It would be right to begin the withdrawal of Russian troops from the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine this Christmas. If Russia withdraws its troops from Ukraine, then a reliable cessation of hostilities will be ensured.”
He added: “The answer from Moscow will show what they really want there: either a further confrontation with the world, or finally an end to aggression.”
9:11pm: Russia likely using unreliable ammo as stocks dwindle
Russia is likely turning to older, less reliable artillery and rocket ammunition as its newer stocks run low for its war in Ukraine, a senior US military official said Monday.
Moscow's supply of new ammunition is "rapidly dwindling" and would likely only last until early 2023 if its forces continue to fire at current rates, the official told journalists.
This "is probably forcing them to increasingly use ammunition in what we would consider degraded conditions", the official said.
"In other words, you load the ammunition and you cross your fingers and hope it's going to fire, or when it lands that it's going to explode."
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin highlighted Russian artillery ammunition issues late last month, attributing them to both Moscow's logistical challenges and Ukrainian strikes on supply depots.
9:08pm: Ukraine needs $1 billion quickly to restore infrastructure
Ukraine needs rapid assistance totalling $1 billion to return its electricity grid and centralised heating system to normal operation, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday.
Shmyhal, in an address to a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, said Russian air attacks in recent weeks had damaged half the country's key infrastructure facilities.
Restoration work, he said, required a three-stage process.
"But the main priority now is the stage of survival – quickly restоring critical infrastructure and the energy sector to get through the winter," Shmyhal told the meeting, according to media reports and his own Telegram channel.
"The approximate cost of urgent help for the power sector stands at $500 million," Shmyhal said.
"The approximate cost of urgent help for the centralised heating sector stands at a further $500 million."
9:03pm: Russia could resume business with Germany if it ends Ukraine war
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday that economic cooperation between Germany and Russia could be possible again if the Kremlin ended its war in Ukraine.
Scholz has said in previous speeches that the West would not lift sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine until Moscow withdrew its troops from Ukraine and reached a peace agreement with Kyiv.
"At the moment the relations we have are being reduced, reduced, reduced," he told the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, referring to western sanctions on Russia that have quashed bilateral trade and investment.
"But a Russia that ends the war," Scholz said, should be given a chance for renewed economic cooperation. "But that is not now."
7:48pm: Ukraine needs extra gas and weapons, says Zelensky to G7
Ukraine needs "about two billion cubic meters" of additional gas to get through the winter, President Volodymyr Zelensky told G7 nations on Monday.
During a video conference he also urged the G7 to send more weapons to Ukraine, including "modern tanks" as well as "rocket artillery and more long-range missiles".
7:44pm: Zelensky proposes 'world peace summit' for Ukraine to G7 nations
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky on Monday proposed a special summit, which he called the Global Peace Formula Summit, “to determine how and when we can implement the points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula”, which would secure Ukraine’s security and territorial integrity.
6:39pm: Official wounded in car explosion in Russian-occupied Kherson region
An official from the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson region was wounded in a car explosion, Russian news agencies reported Monday, citing Moscow-installed authorities.
Medics from the Russian-backed authorities said the deputy head of the region, Vitaliy Bulyuk, survived the apparent attack.
"He is wounded, his condition is stable, of moderate severity," the Interfax news agency quoted Moscow-backed health official Vadim Ilmiyev as saying.
"The driver of the car was killed on the spot. According to my information, a mine went off, the car burned down," he added.
6:08pm: Berlin, Warsaw discussing deployment of German air defence on Polish soil
The German and Polish defence ministries are in discussions over how German Patriot anti-aircraft defence systems can be deployed in Polish territory, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday.
"We are now exploring how this will be carried out. Both defence ministries are cooperating closely," he told reporters after a video conference of the G7 group of leaders of rich democracies.
6:07pm: G7 agrees on 'platform' to coordinate financial aid for Ukraine
G7 leaders agreed Monday on key elements of a platform to coordinate financial support for Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, before a summit in Paris on post-war reconstruction.
"The goal is now to build this platform quickly with the participation of Ukraine, international financial institutions and other partners," Scholz said after the leaders of the club of wealthy nations held online talks.
The meeting, which was also joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was held on the eve of the Paris summit which will look at what immediate assistance allies can give Ukraine over the winter.
Scholz said the reconstruction of Ukraine was "comparable perhaps with the Marshall Plan" – which was put in place by the United States to help Europe rebuild after the devastation of World War II.
4:42pm: Putin will not hold annual year-end press conference, says Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not hold his annual end-of-year press conference this year, which has been dominated by Moscow's Ukraine offensive, the Kremlin said on Monday.
"There will not be (a press conference) before the New Year," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
He added that Putin "regularly speaks to the press, including on foreign visits".
Peskov gave no reason for the break with tradition.
4:27pm: Ukraine PM urges more military aid to counter Russia attacks
Ukraine’s prime minister is appealing for Patriot missile batteries and other high-tech air defence systems to counter Russian attacks, as more Russian shelling was reported on Monday in the eastern regions of Ukraine where Moscow is trying to make battlefield gains.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told French broadcaster LCI that Russia wants to swamp Europe with a new wave of Ukrainian refugees by its targeting of infrastructure in Ukraine that has caused electricity and water outages for millions during freezing winter weather.
4:27pm: Electricians work to restore electricity supply to villages in Mykolaiv and Kherson
Electricity has become one of the defining battlegrounds of the war in Ukraine. FRANCE 24 correspondents Robert Parsons, Pauline Godart and Raid Abu Zaideh report from the newly liberated parts of Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, where Ukrainian electricians are battling to restore power to homes which have already been without electricity for months.
4:17pm: French national wounded in combat awaiting repatriation
A French national who went to fight alongside Ukrainian soldiers against Russia stepped on a mine at the end of November in the Donbas (eastern Ukraine) and is now awaiting his repatriation, organised by the Quai d'Orsay, AFP reported.
3:49pm: NATO will not treat Russia like Moscow treats its neigbours, says Polish president
NATO countries can guarantee to Russia that they will not treat it in the same way Moscow is treating Ukraine, Poland's president said in response to a question about French President Emmanuel Macron's idea of security guarantees for Russia.
"What we, as honest people, politicians, NATO members, are able to guarantee to Russia is that no one is going to do to Russia what she is doing to her neighbours," Andrzej Duda told a news conference in Berlin on Monday.
2:30pm: Two killed in 'massive' Russian shelling of Ukraine's Kherson, says governor
Russian shelling on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Monday killed at least two people and wounded five more, the regional governor said.
Kherson was recaptured by Ukrainian troops last month, marking a major victory for Kyiv.
"Two people died and five were wounded," governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said on Telegram, in what he described as "massive shelling" on the city.
Emergency teams were heading to the scene, Yanushevych said.
2:06pm: EU agrees to top up fund used for Ukraine arms purchases by €2 billion
European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to replenish a fund that has been used to pay for military support for Ukraine with another €2 billion.
There is a possibility of a further boost at a later stage, with the total increase until 2027 amounting to up to 5.5 billion euros, said the European Council which is grouping the bloc’s member states.
“Today’s decision will ensure that we have the funding to continue delivering concrete military support to our partners’ armed forces,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
12:08pm : Ukraine could provide workers for Czech arms industry
Highly-trained Ukrainian workers could fill thousands of job vacancies in the Czech arms industry to help meet demand triggered by the war in Ukraine, a Czech defence official said on Monday.
The Czech Republic has been one of the top weapons providers to Kyiv among NATO allies since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Deliveries, though, have badly depleted inventories and officials have warned it could take years to restock. Some Czech arms producers have already signalled that they need to boost their workforce.
“(There) will be thousands of jobs,” Deputy Defence Minister Tomas Kopecny was quoted as saying by Czech Radio, suggesting that workers could come from Ukraine, whose own arms industry has been targeted by Russian attacks.
Kopecny said Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala had agreed to take in Ukrainian weapons experts when he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv in October.
12:04pm: UN aid chief to visit Kherson on Ukraine trip amid power outages
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths arrived in Ukraine on a four-day trip on Monday as officials raced to repair energy facilities hit by Russian air strikes that have caused winter power outages.
The under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator will visit the southern city of Mykolaiv as well as the frontline city of Kherson, which was liberated last month, the United Nations said.
It said in a statement that nearly 18 million people –around 40 percent of Ukraine’s population – need humanitarian aid.
Waves of Russian attacks on infrastructure are leaving “millions of people without means to heat their homes, have clean water or electricity, at the same time as a freezing winter sets in”, it said.
8:52am: Ukraine’s Odesa port resumes operations after blackout
Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa has resumed operations after a Russian attack on the region’s energy system lead to a temporary power cut, a spokesperson for the infrastructure ministry said Monday.
Russia has since October been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with waves of missile and drone strikes.
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said on Sunday that two other ports - Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi - that are authorised to export grains from Ukraine under a deal between Russia and Ukraine were partially operating.
8:45am: Alleged strike on Wagner group HQ in Luhansk: ‘If true, a very successful strike for Ukrainians’
FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Ukraine Gulliver Cragg on Monday said that if the alleged Ukraine strike on the Wagner group’s headquarters in Kadiivka turns out to be true, it would be “a very forceful, successful strike for the Ukrainians”.
On Sunday, Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, said Ukrainian forces had hit a hotel where many members of the Russian mercenary group were staying, killing a “huge number” of them. So far, however, the claimed attack has not been independently confirmed.
Watch Cragg’s report below, where he goes through what it would mean for Ukraine if the alleged strike on the Wagner Group turns out to be true.
7:25am: EU leaders to meet on more Russia sanctions
European Union foreign ministers are set to meet to try to agree on further sanctions on Russia and Iran and an additional €2 billion for arms deliveries to Ukraine. They will discuss a ninth package of sanctions that would add almost 200 individuals and entities to the already very long EU sanctions list.
However, it remained unclear whether Hungary will block some decisions, resorting to what diplomats have denounced as “blackmail diplomacy” due to a dispute over locked EU funds for Budapest.
“There is agreement, in principle, but there’s also the big elephant in the room,” a senior EU diplomat told reporters, referring to Budapest’s use of its veto power. “It’s a type of blackmail diplomacy that we would rather not see but it is what it is.”
4:01am: Zelensky's talks with world leaders signal diplomatic flurry around Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with US President Joe Biden and with the leaders of Turkey and France on Sunday, stepping up diplomatic activity around a war started by Russia nearly 10 months ago.
"We are constantly working with partners," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, adding that he expects some "important results" next week from a series of international events that will tackle the situation in Ukraine.
While Zelensky has held numerous talks with Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan since Russian forces invaded in late February, the accumulation of discussions in just one day is not a regular event.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
