Here is the situation as it stands on Sunday, December 25.
Fighting
- Ukrainian authorities said a Russian attack on the recently recaptured city of Kherson killed at least 10 people, wounded 58 and left bloodied corpses on the road.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the hit on Kherson, accusing Russia of “killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure”.
- The Russian-installed governor in the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, accused Kyiv of being behind the shelling in the city. “This is a disgusting provocation with the obvious aim of blaming the Russian armed forces,” he said.
- Three Ukrainian emergency services workers were killed when a mine exploded while they were de-mining parts of the Kherson region, the Zhytomyr emergency service said.
- Russia might be preparing to renew its offensive on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv by launching a potential new invasion from the north, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.
Diplomacy
- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi defended his country’s position on the war in Ukraine and signalled that China would deepen ties with Russia in the coming year.
- Pope Francis in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts said that the level of greed and hunger for power was such that some wanted to “consume even their neighbours”.
- Spain’s King Felipe VI, in his Christmas speech to the nation, denounced the Russian war against Ukraine and its consequences.
- Turkey’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said that Russia’s war on Ukraine “will not end easily”, despite repeated attempts to arrange peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
Economy
- The economy of Belarus is expected to shrink by 4 percent in 2022 after the European Union, the United States and others imposed sanctions over the war in Ukraine, much less than some had forecast, Interfax cited Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko as saying.
- Three Japanese insurance companies will stop underwriting ships for damage in all Russian waters due to the war, potentially affecting Japan’s energy imports, including liquefied natural gas.
