Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Vladimir Putin has travelled to Belarus to meet the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, as fears grow in Kyiv that Moscow is pushing its closest ally to join a new ground offensive against Ukraine. Putin described the talks as “very productive” and insisted that Russia has no interest in “absorbing” anyone, adding that unspecified “enemies” wanted to stop Russia’s integration with Belarus. Lukashenko said high level Belarusian-Russian negotiations covered “the entire range of matters concerning Belarusian-Russian relations”.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, held talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Sergei Aleinik, in Minsk earlier today ahead of Putin’s visit to Minsk. The foreign ministers discussed “specific topical issues, the efforts to counter the illegal sanctions of the West, as well as interaction on international platforms”, Belarusian state media cited Belarus’s foreign ministry as saying, as well as having “touched upon trade and economic cooperation matters and the implementation of joint projects”.
Belarus’s defence ministry said it had completed a series of inspections of its armed forces’ military preparedness, hours ahead of Putin’s visit to Minsk. Weeks of military manoeuvres and inspections have raised fears in Kyiv that Belarus, which acted as a staging post for Russia to launch its invasion of Ukraine in February, could be preparing to take a more active role in the conflict once again.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready for “all possible defence scenarios” against Moscow and its ally. “Protecting our border, both with Russia and Belarus, is our constant priority,” Zelenskiy said on Sunday after a meeting with Ukraine’s top military command. “We are preparing for all possible defence scenarios.”
The exiled Belarus opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has warned that the chances of Minsk sending soldiers into Ukraine “may increase in coming weeks”. Kyiv was “right to prepare” for Minsk to join Moscow’s new offensive because the probability “might increase in coming weeks”, Tsikhanouskaya said in an interview with Kyiv Post.
The head of Moldova’s security service, Alexandru Musteata, has warned of a “very high” risk of a new Russian offensive towards his country’s east. Russia still aims to secure a land corridor through Ukraine to the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, Musteata said, adding that his agency believed Moscow was looking at several scenarios to reach Moldova and that it was possible an offensive would be launched in January-February or later in March-April.
A Russian drone attack caused “fairly serious” damage in Kyiv region on Monday and three areas in the region have been left without power supply, governor Oleksiy Kuleba said. Russia unleashed 35 “kamikaze” drones on Ukraine in the early hours of Monday as many people slept, hitting critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv in Moscow’s third air attack on the Ukrainian capital in six days.
Ukraine’s atomic energy agency accused Russia of flouting nuclear safety by sending a “kamikaze” drone over part of a nuclear power plant in Mykolaiv region just after Sunday midnight. Energoatom said the Iranian-made Shahed drone had been detected over the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, and called on the international nuclear community to protect atomic sites from the risks of war.
Air raid alerts were issued across Kyiv and most of Ukraine on Monday early afternoon, officials said. There were no immediate reports of attacks and the alarm was ended about 20 minutes after the alert.
Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down 30 out of 35 Russian-launched Shahed drones overnight. The Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones were reportedly launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov, the force added.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down four US-made HARM anti-radiation missiles over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, in the space of 24 hours, the state-run TASS news agency reported. One person died and several were injured by Ukrainian shelling in the region on Sunday morning, the region’s governor said.
Ukraine’s forces are holding on to the heavily contested eastern city of Bakhmut in the country’s eastern Donetsk region, according to Zelenskiy. “The Bakhmut direction is key,” he said in his latest national address. “We keep the city, although the occupiers are doing everything so that not a single undamaged wall remains there.”
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, said he believes Russia’s war in Ukraine “will go on” and does not see a prospect for “serious” peace talks in the immediate future. Speaking to reporters during his annual end-of-year conference in New York, Guterres said he “strongly hoped that peace could be reached in 2023, citing the “consequences” for Ukraine’s people, Russian society and the global economy if a deal is not found
Rishi Sunak said that the west should reject unilateral calls by the Kremlin for a ceasefire in Ukraine and focus on “degrading Russia’s capability to regroup and to resupply” at a meeting of European leaders in Latvia. The UK prime minister was speaking at a summit of the 10-country Joint Expeditionary Force in the Latvian capital at a time of heightened concern as to whether Britain will continue the robust support for Ukraine that began under Boris Johnson.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, asked western leaders meeting in Latvia to ramp up the supply of a wide range of weapons systems to his country. He called on leaders “to do everything to accelerate the defeat” of Russia, and said supplying air defence systems to Kyiv would be “one of the most successful steps against Russian aggression and this step is required right now”.
EU ministers have agreed a plan to cap the price of gas, ending months of argument over how to handle the cost of soaring energy prices after Russia cut gas supplies to Europe. A gas price cap will kick in if prices on the main European gas exchange, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), exceed €180 (£157) a megawatt-hour for three consecutive working days, far lower than the European Commission’s original proposal of €275 a MWh, which had been derided by cap-supporting countries as a joke.
The Canadian government has announced plans to seize $26m in sanctioned assets from the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, with the proceeds from the forfeiture to go towards reconstruction in Ukraine and compensation of victims of the Russian invasion. The move marked the first case of the Canadian government using new powers to pursue the seizure of assets belonging to sanctioned individuals, it said in a statement.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thank you for reading.
Vladimir Putin has described Russian-Belarusian talks in Minsk as “very productive” after his one-on-one meeting with Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian state media reported.
Speaking to reporters at a joint press conference with his Belarusian counterpart, Putin insisted that Russia has no interest in “absorbing” anyone, and that unspecified “enemies” wanted to stop Russia’s integration with Belarus.
The future of Belarusian and Russian peoples “is being determined now”, Belarusian state-owned news agency Belta cited President Lukashenko as saying. He added:
Today we can unequivocally state: together we were able not only to survive, but also to find opportunities for the development of our economies.
He said negotiations of the two leaders with larger government delegations in Minsk had been productive, and said they discussed “the entire range of matters concerning Belarusian-Russian relations”, according to Belta.
UN chief believes war in Ukraine ‘will go on’
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, said he believes Russia’s war in Ukraine “will go on” and does not see a prospect for “serious” peace talks in the immediate future.
Speaking to reporters during his annual end-of-year conference in New York, Guterres said he “will not relent in the pursuit of peace in Ukraine in line with international law and the United Nations Charter”, referring to the UN charter’s key principle of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He said he was “not optimistic” about the possibility of effective Ukraine and Russia peace talks in the immediate future, adding:
I do believe that the military confrontation will go on.
Nevertheless, he said he “strongly hoped that peace could be reached in 2023, citing the “consequences” for Ukraine’s people, Russian society and the global economy if a deal is not found. He added:
All these are reasons for us to do everything possible to make a peace solution happen before the end of 2023.
In the meantime, he said he would focus on increasing the efficiency of a UN-brokered deal that resumed Ukraine’s Black Sea food and fertiliser shipments, continue to try to restart the export of Russian ammonia via Ukraine and seek to accelerate the exchange of prisoners of war.
Here are some of the latest images we have received from Minsk, where Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has been holding talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko.
Updated
Moldova’s spy chief warns ‘very high’ risk of Russian offensive towards breakaway region
The head of Moldova’s security service, Alexandru Musteata, has warned of a “very high” risk of a new Russian offensive towards his country’s east, echoing recent messages from several Ukrainian military commanders that Moscow is preparing for a major new offensive early next year.
Russia still aims to secure a land corridor through Ukraine to the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, Musteata told the TVR-Moldova television channel, as reported by Reuters.
Musteata said:
The question is not whether the Russian Federation will undertake a new advance towards Moldova’s territory, but when it will do so.
He said his agency believed Moscow was looking at several scenarios to reach Moldova and that it was possible an offensive would be launched in January-February or later in March-April.
Transnistria, which is controlled by pro-Russian separatists and permanently hosts 1,500 Russian troops as well as a large arms depot, borders western Ukraine.
Musteata said Russia wanted its forces to link up with those forces in Transnistria.
Updated
Boris Johnson’s Ukraine policy may not have always been sophisticated – “Dobryi den, everybody!” – but his enthusiasm was welcomed in Kyiv. Six months of Conservative party chaos later, his successor but one, Rishi Sunak, is yet to demonstrate he is as supportive at a time when Ukraine needs the west to dig in.
A leak at the start of the weekend said that Sunak had ordered an internal assessment of the significance of British military aid to Ukraine. Revelation of the Whitehall exercise was accompanied by a pointed briefing to the BBC, accusing the prime minister of resorting to a “Goldman Sachs dashboard” approach.
“Wars aren’t won [by dashboards]. Wars are won on instinct,” the critic continued – a demonstration that cracks are appearing in Britain’s policy towards Ukraine.
Downing Street may have rejected that characterisation on Monday, but a Ukraine review is on. “The PM is staying closely across the detail of developments in Ukraine and the impact of UK and international support,” a spokesperson said. “To ensure we are delivering the best possible assistance.”
It is also no secret in Westminster that Sunak and his defence secretary, Ben Wallace, are not close. Wallace has been the ever present in Britain’s Ukraine policy, but also a long-term supporter of Johnson who then backed the ill-fated Liz Truss and flirted with backing Johnson in an unlikely comeback against Sunak.
EU ministers have reached an agreement to cap gas prices, after weeks of talks and despite concerns that such an intervention could cause greater volatility in the market.
Ministers agreed to trigger a cap if prices on the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) gas hub’s front-month contract exceed €180 (£157) per megawatt hour for three days.
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said the deal “means the end of market manipulation” by Russia and its energy giant Gazprom.
Mamy porozumienie w sprawie maksymalnej ceny gazu-wyniesie ona 180€ za megawatogodzinę.
— Mateusz Morawiecki (@MorawieckiM) December 19, 2022
Na ostatnich spotkaniach w Brukseli naszej większościowej koalicji udało się przełamać opór-głównie ze strony 🇩🇪
To oznacza koniec możliwości manipulacji rynkiem przez🇷🇺 i jej spółkę Gazprom.
The European Commission stands ready to suspend the agreed price cap if an analysis by regulators shows the risks of the measure outweigh the benefits, the bloc’s energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, told reporters.
Updated
Chances of Belarus sending troops into Ukraine ‘may increase in coming weeks’, says opposition leader
The exiled Belarus opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has warned that the chances of Minsk sending soldiers into Ukraine “may increase in coming weeks” as fears grow in Kyiv that Moscow is pushing for its closest ally to join a new ground offensive against Ukraine.
Tsikhanouskaya’s remarks came as Vladimir Putin travelled to Belarus for talks with Alexander Lukashenko, a meeting that the Belarusian president said would cover the “military-political situation” in the region as well as economic cooperation.
Ukraine will be closely monitoring the talks. Last week, several Ukrainian military commanders said Russia might try another attempt at invading the country from the north. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukraine was ready for “all possible defence scenarios” against Moscow and its ally.
Kyiv was “right to prepare” for Minsk to join Moscow’s new offensive because the probability “might increase in coming weeks”, Tsikhanouskaya said in an interview with Kyiv Post.
She said:
Belarusian armed forces are part of the society and share the same view on the war – 86% of Belarusians are against participation in the war. This has stopped the order to send Belarusian troops to the battlefield in Ukraine. It was not a good will of dictators or Lukashenko’s standing up to Putin – he is fully on the Kremlin’s side.
However, the probability of such an order remains and might increase in coming weeks. I think the Ukrainian leadership is right to prepare for this scenario even though it means distracting significant forces from active war zones in the south-east.
Lukashenko “sees Ukraine as a threat”, she said, adding that “a democratic, free, European Ukraine is a bad example to the dictatorships of Lukashenko and Putin, therefore this war is a logical decision for them.”
Asked what Russia and Belarus’ join aim might be, she replied:
To destroy Ukraine, its European aspirations and national identity, and bring it under their control.
Updated
The Canadian government has announced plans to seize $26m in sanctioned assets from the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, with the proceeds from the forfeiture to go towards reconstruction in Ukraine and compensation of victims of the Russian invasion.
The move marked the first case of the Canadian government using new powers to pursue the seizure of assets belonging to sanctioned individuals, it said in a statement.
Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said the government would “continue to pressure the Russian regime and those who have benefited from Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine”.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6.15pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Vladimir Putin has travelled to Belarus to meet the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, as fears grow in Kyiv that Moscow is pushing its closest ally to join a new ground offensive against Ukraine. In the run-up to the meeting, which will be Putin’s first visit to Belarus since 2019, Lukashenko said the two leaders would discuss the “military-political situation” in the region as well as economic cooperation.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, held talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Sergei Aleinik, in Minsk earlier today ahead of Putin’s visit to Minsk. The foreign ministers discussed “specific topical issues, the efforts to counter the illegal sanctions of the West, as well as interaction on international platforms”, Belarusian state media cited Belarus’s foreign ministry as saying, as well as having “touched upon trade and economic cooperation matters and the implementation of joint projects”.
Belarus’s defence ministry said it had completed a series of inspections of its armed forces’ military preparedness, hours ahead of Putin’s visit to Minsk. Weeks of military manoeuvres and inspections have raised fears in Kyiv that Belarus, which acted as a staging post for Russia to launch its invasion of Ukraine in February, could be preparing to take a more active role in the conflict once again.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready for “all possible defence scenarios” against Moscow and its ally. “Protecting our border, both with Russia and Belarus, is our constant priority,” Zelenskiy said on Sunday after a meeting with Ukraine’s top military command. “We are preparing for all possible defence scenarios.”
Berlin had “concerns” about Putin’s visit to Belarus and whether talks between the Russian and Belarusian presidents will impact Minsk’s role in the war in Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said. Steffen Hebestreit said there was a possibility that Belarus could ramp up aid to the Russian army, but warned to wait for the results of the talks and not to draw any conclusions in advance.
A Russian drone attack caused “fairly serious” damage in Kyiv region on Monday and three areas in the region have been left without power supply, governor Oleksiy Kuleba said. Russia unleashed 35 “kamikaze” drones on Ukraine in the early hours of Monday as many people slept, hitting critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv in Moscow’s third air attack on the Ukrainian capital in six days.
Ukraine’s atomic energy agency accused Russia of flouting nuclear safety by sending a “kamikaze” drone over part of a nuclear power plant in Mykolaiv region just after Sunday midnight. Energoatom said the Iranian-made Shahed drone had been detected over the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, and called on the international nuclear community to protect atomic sites from the risks of war.
Air raid alerts were issued across Kyiv and most of Ukraine on Monday early afternoon, officials said. There were no immediate reports of attacks and the alarm was ended about 20 minutes after the alert.
Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down 30 out of 35 Russian-launched Shahed drones overnight. The Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones were reportedly launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov, the force added.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down four US-made HARM anti-radiation missiles over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, in the space of 24 hours, the state-run TASS news agency reported. One person died and several were injured by Ukrainian shelling in the region on Sunday morning, the region’s governor said.
Ukraine’s forces are holding on to the heavily contested eastern city of Bakhmut in the country’s eastern Donetsk region, according to Zelenskiy. “The Bakhmut direction is key,” he said in his latest national address. “We keep the city, although the occupiers are doing everything so that not a single undamaged wall remains there.”
Russian military proxy group Wagner continues to take a major role in attritional combat around Bakhmut, the UK Ministry of Defence said. In recent months, the group had developed offensive tactics to make use of the large number of poorly trained convicts it has recruited, the ministry noted in its latest intelligence report.
Rishi Sunak said that the west should reject unilateral calls by the Kremlin for a ceasefire in Ukraine and focus on “degrading Russia’s capability to regroup and to resupply” at a meeting of European leaders in Latvia. The UK prime minister was speaking at a summit of the 10-country Joint Expeditionary Force in the Latvian capital at a time of heightened concern as to whether Britain will continue the robust support for Ukraine that began under Boris Johnson.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, asked western leaders meeting in Latvia to ramp up the supply of a wide range of weapons systems to his country. He called on leaders “to do everything to accelerate the defeat” of Russia, and said supplying air defence systems to Kyiv would be “one of the most successful steps against Russian aggression and this step is required right now”.
Updated
Germany has “concerns” about Vladimir Putin’s visit to Belarus and whether talks between the Russian leader and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, will affect Minsk’s role in the war in Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said.
Speaking at a briefing this afternoon, Steffen Hebestreit told reporters that Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was fully aware of Putin’s visit to Belarus today, Ukraine’s state-run news agency Ukrinform reported.
Hebestreit said:
Of course, there are concerns about what this visit might entail: whether the role of Belarus in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine will once again change or be modified.
He said there was a possibility that Belarus could ramp up aid to the Russian army, but warned to wait for the results of the talks and not to draw any conclusions in advance.
Updated
EU ministers agree on gas price cap, says Czech presidency
EU energy ministers have agreed to a gas price cap, a spokesperson for the Czech presidency of the EU, Dmitrij Černikov, has said.
DEAL.
— Dmitrij Černikov (@CZernikovD) December 19, 2022
Updated
Vladimir Putin said Belarus was Russia’s closest ally in brief remarks during visit to Minsk to hold talks with Alexander Lukashenko.
The Belarusian media outlet Nexta has a clip of the Russian and Belarusian presidents as they began the open part of their negotiations.
Putin and Lukashenka began the open part of negotiations
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) December 19, 2022
The two tyrants praise each other and discuss the future of "friendship". So far, there is no talk of going to war, but Putin promises Lukashenka to increase trade turnover, develop nuclear energy and cooperation in space. pic.twitter.com/FqhI2FNRZk
In comments published by Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass, Putin said Moscow was ready to continue helping Minsk to develop its nuclear industry.
Putin was quoted as saying at talks with Lukashenko:
We are intensively working in almost all areas. In the energy sector – as we noted with [Belarusian president] Alexander Grigorievich [Lukashenko], Russia, to its own detriment, nevertheless continues the nuclear project – we are building a nuclear power plant.
Updated
A resident walks past a damaged house following a barrage of drone strikes from Russia in Stari Bezradychi village, Kyiv region.
Rishi Sunak praised the 10-country Joint Expeditionary Force’s support of Ukraine as “heartening” in a meeting with Latvia’s prime minister.
Speaking at the start of their bilateral at the close of the alliance’s summit in Riga, the UK prime minister told Krišjānis Kariņš:
To have a group of partners and allies who think so alike on these incredibly important questions of our connected security, and then are backing up those sentiments with action when it comes to supporting Ukraine, I think is very heartening.
Kariņš replied:
I think you nailed it when you made that comment to all of us around the table: ‘it’s not just talk, it’s also the walk’.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images we have received from Ukraine’s Kyiv region, in the aftermath of a Russian drone attack in the early hours of Monday.
Ukraine’s atomic energy agency has accused Russia of flouting nuclear safety by sending a “kamikaze” drone over part of a nuclear power plant in Mykolaiv region just after midnight.
Writing on Telegram, Energoatom said the Iranian-made Shahed drone had been detected early Monday over the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant.
Energoatom said:
This is an absolutely unacceptable violation of nuclear and radiation safety.
The agency called on the international nuclear community to protect atomic sites from the risks of war.
It has been possible to independently verify these claims.
Updated
Putin arrives in Belarus for talks with Lukashenko
Vladimir Putin has landed in Minsk for talks with the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, Russian state media reported, amid growing fears that Moscow is pushing its closest ally to join a new ground offensive against Ukraine.
The Russian leader’s trip will be his first to Minsk since 2019, and comes as he has been taking a more public role in his war in Ukraine.
Lukashenko personally meets Putin at the airport in Minsk.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) December 19, 2022
Putin visited Belarus for the first time since June 2019.
Presumably, he arrived to persuade Lukashenko about direct involvement in the war pic.twitter.com/jSW6EN8vIz
Lukashenko has previously allowed the Kremlin to use his country as a platform to send tens of thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine, while Russian war jets have taken off from Belarusian bases. But Lukashenko has not joined the war directly or sent his own troops into the fight, at times even subtly criticising the invasion, saying he felt the conflict was “dragging on”.
Speaking to Russian news agencies, the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Belarus was Russia’s “number one ally”, but that suggestions that Moscow wanted to pressure Minsk into joining what it calls its “special military operation” were “stupid and unfounded fabrications”.
Updated
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, held talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Sergei Aleinik, in Minsk earlier today ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Belarus.
The foreign ministers discussed “specific topical issues, the efforts to counter the illegal sanctions of the West, as well as interaction on international platforms”, Belarusian state media cited Belarus’ foreign ministry as saying.
The pair also “touched upon trade and economic cooperation matters and the implementation of joint projects”, the ministry said.
#Russian Foreign Minister #Lavrov arrived in #Minsk.#Putin's visit is expected to follow. pic.twitter.com/ElhEwal4vJ
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) December 19, 2022
Any unilateral call for ceasefire by Russia 'completely meaningless', says Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak said that the west should reject unilateral calls by the Kremlin for a ceasefire in Ukraine and focus on “degrading Russia’s capability to regroup and to resupply” at a meeting of European leaders in Latvia.
The UK prime minister was speaking at a summit of the 10-country Joint Expeditionary Force in the Latvian capital at a time of heightened concern as to whether Britain will continue the robust support for Ukraine that began under Boris Johnson.
Rejecting Russian-promoted ceasefires has been the west’s position for some time – but reiterations of the position are welcome in Kyiv, given its anxiety that the west could eventually lose interest in the war in Ukraine and slow the supply of weapons the country so badly needs.
A call to prevent Russia from regrouping indicates Britain endorses Ukraine’s ongoing counter offensive, and comes the morning after the UK said it would ship hundreds of thousands more of artillery shells to Kyiv, under a £250m contract.
Updated
EU energy ministers are meeting in Brussels today to attempt to agree to a cap on gas prices, following months of debate without agreement despite two emergency meetings.
Ministers are considering a new compromise proposed by the Czech Republic, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, according to Reuters.
In the draft proposal, a cap would be triggered if prices on the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) gas hub’s front-month contract exceed €180 (£157) per megawatt hour for three days.
The figure in the draft proposal, seen by the news agency, is far lower than the €275/MWh originally proposed by the European Commission last month, which about a dozen countries including Belgium, Poland and Greece had dismissed as too high. Pro-cap countries say the cap must be below €200/MWh to tackle the high gas prices that have inflated citizens’ energy bills and stoked record-high inflation.
But Germany, the Netherlands and Austria oppose the cap, which they say could disrupt Europe’s energy markets and divert much-needed gas cargoes away from the EU and to other regions.
Updated
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, travels to Belarus on Monday to meet the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, as fears grow in Kyiv that Moscow is pushing its closest ally to join a new ground offensive against Ukraine.
In the run-up to the meeting, which will be Putin’s first visit to Belarus since 2019, Lukashenko said that the two leaders would discuss the “military-political situation” in the region as well as economic cooperation.
The longtime Belarusian strongman, who oversaw a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters in 2020, stressed that his country’s “sovereignty and independence” was not up for debate, as observers believe that Putin’s visit serves to pull Belarus into the war in Ukraine.
“I would like to emphasise this feature once again: no one, except us, governs Belarus,” Lukashenko said in a statement published by the presidential press service.
We must always proceed from the fact that we are a sovereign state and independent.
Ukraine will be closely monitoring the talks. Last week, several Ukrainian military commanders warned Russia may try another attempt at invading the country from the north.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday said that Ukraine was ready for “all possible defence scenarios” against Moscow and its ally.
“Protecting our border, both with Russia and Belarus, is our constant priority,” Zelenskiy said after a meeting on Sunday with Ukraine’s top military command.
We are preparing for all possible defence scenarios.
Kyiv’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has said Ukraine will “neither surrender nor fulfil” Russia’s ultimatums.
The end to the conflict “can only be accelerated by increasing artillery/tanks supply”, he wrote in a post on Twitter directed at western leaders.
To European partners:
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) December 19, 2022
1. Ukraine will neither surrender nor fulfill RF's ultimatums.
2. Decide what is more profitable – to allow the destruction of transformers or to provide AD.
3. War ending can only be accelerated by increasing artillery/tanks supply. Even unilaterally…
Updated
Air raid alerts across Kyiv and most of Ukraine
An air raid alert has been issued across Kyiv and most of Ukraine, according to officials.
A statement by the Kyiv regional military administration reads:
Air alarm in the Kyiv region. Stay tuned for further posts.
Deutsche Welle’s Emmanuelle Chaze shares a map of where air sirens have sounded in Ukraine:
🚨🇺🇦 Air raid alert over Kyiv and North/Eastern Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/7IhrjRIc2m
— Emmanuelle Chaze (@EmmanuelleChaze) December 19, 2022
Zelenskiy urges western leaders to ramp up supply of air defence systems to Ukraine
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, asked western leaders meeting in Latvia to ramp up the supply of a wide range of weapons systems to his country.
Addressing a meeting in Riga of leaders of countries in the Joint Expeditionary Force, which includes Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, Zelenskiy said:
Russian aggression can and must fail. The task now is to make sure it happens faster. I call upon you to do everything to accelerate the defeat of the occupiers.
Millions had been left without heat and water after Russia launched further attacks using Iranian drones last night, he said.
He continued:
May I ask you to increase the possibility of supplying air defence systems to our country ... 100% air shield for Ukraine, that would be one of the most successful steps against Russian aggression and this step is required right now.
Updated
Summary
The time in Kyiv is nearly 1pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s stories so far:
A Russian drone attack caused “fairly serious” damage in Kyiv region on Monday and three areas in the region have been left without power supply, governor Oleksiy Kuleba has said. Russia unleashed 35 “kamikaze” drones on Ukraine in the early hours of Monday as many people slept, hitting critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv in Moscow’s third air attack on the Ukrainian capital in six days.
Ukraine’s air force says it shot down 30 out of 35 Russian-launched Shahed drones overnight. The Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones were reportedly launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov, the force added.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down four US-made HARM anti-radiation missiles over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, in the space of 24 hours, the state-run TASS news agency has reported. One person died and several were injured by Ukrainian shelling in the region on Sunday morning, the region’s governor told Reuters.
Belarus’ defence ministry said on Monday it had completed a series of inspections of its armed forces’ military preparedness, hours ahead of a visit to Minsk by Belarus’ most important ally, the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Weeks of military manoeuvres and inspections have raised fears in Kyiv that Belarus, which acted as a staging post for Russia to launch its invasion of Ukraine in February, could be preparing to take a more active role in the conflict once again, Reuters reported.
Russian troops that were moved to Belarus in October to become part of a regional formation will conduct battalion tactical exercises, the Russian Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing the Russian defence ministry.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is due to fly to Belarus on Monday amid fears he intends to pressure the former Soviet ally to join a new ground offensive against Ukraine and open a new front. His visit for talks with the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, will be his first to Minsk since 2019.
Russian military proxy group Wagner continues to take a major role in attritional combat around Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. In recent months, the group has developed offensive tactics to make use of the large number of poorly trained convicts it has recruited, the ministry notes in its latest intelligence report.
Rishi Sunak has touched down in the Latvian capital, where he is meeting northern European allies to discuss countering Russian aggression. He will urge fellow leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force to stand firm in their support for Ukraine, after announcing a major new artillery package for the war-torn nation.
EU countries will need to reach a compromise on a gas price cap on Monday, and the latest proposal on the table offers a good basis to do so, Malta’s energy minister, Miriam Dalli, has said. “What the presidency is proposing is a very good step in the right direction,” Dalli said before entering a meeting of the EU’s energy ministers.
Four people in the southern Russian border region of Belgorod were reportedly wounded by shelling on Sunday, the governor said. Witnesses reported loud blasts in the regional capital.
Ukraine’s forces are holding on to the heavily contested eastern city of Bakhmut, according to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “The Bakhmut direction is key,” he said in his latest national address. “We keep the city, although the occupiers are doing everything so that not a single undamaged wall remains there.”
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for now. My colleague Léonie Chao-Fong will be along shortly to continue bringing you the latest from Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down four US-made HARM anti-radiation missiles over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, in the space of 24 hours, the state-run TASS news agency has reported.
One person died and several were injured by Ukrainian shelling in the region on Sunday morning, the region’s governor told Reuters.
Updated
Belarus’ defence ministry said on Monday it had completed a series of inspections of its armed forces’ military preparedness, hours ahead of a visit to Minsk by Belarus’ most important ally, the Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Weeks of military manoeuvres and inspections have raised fears in Kyiv that Belarus, which acted as a staging post for Russia to launch its invasion of Ukraine in February, could be preparing to take a more active role in the conflict once again, Reuters reported.
Updated
Rishi Sunak has touched down in the Latvian capital, where he is meeting northern European allies to discuss countering Russian aggression.
The UK prime minister landed in snowy Riga at 11.20am local time, stepping out of the plane into a gusty -4C, PA Media reported.
He will urge fellow leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force to stand firm in their support for Ukraine, after announcing a major new artillery package for the war-torn nation.
He will continue his whistlestop tour by flying to Estonia later on Monday, where he will meet British troops and sign a new technology partnership.
Drone attack causes 'fairly serious' damage in Kyiv region, says governor
Russia’s drone attack caused “fairly serious” damage in Kyiv region on Monday and three areas in the region have been left without power supply, governor Oleksiy Kuleba has said.
Russia unleashed 35 “kamikaze” drones on Ukraine in the early hours of Monday as many people slept, hitting critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv in Moscow’s third air attack on the Ukrainian capital in six days.
Updated
EU countries will need to reach a compromise on a gas price cap on Monday, and the latest proposal on the table offers a good basis to do so, Malta’s energy minister, Miriam Dalli, has said.
“What the presidency is proposing is a very good step in the right direction,” Dalli said before entering a meeting of the EU’s energy ministers.
“It shows also the willingness to arrive at a compromise today. I’m convinced that today we will mange to compromise, I believe that the willingness is there. Today is crunch time.”
Updated
Critical power infrastructure burns after a drone attack in Kyiv this morning
Updated
Ukraine’s air force says it shot down 30 out of 35 Russian-launched Shahed drones overnight.
The Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones were reportedly launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov, the force added.
ЗНИЩЕНО ТРИДЦЯТЬ "ШАХЕДІВ"
— Генеральний штаб ЗСУ (@GeneralStaffUA) December 19, 2022
У ніч з 18 на 19 грудня 2022 російські окупанти атакували Україну дронами-камікадзе іранського виробництва «Shahed-136/131».
Загалом виявлено близько тридцяти п’яти баражуючих боєприпасів. pic.twitter.com/ykAUgc4yya
Updated
Russian troops that were moved to Belarus in October to become part of a regional formation will conduct battalion tactical exercises, the Russian Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing the Russian defence ministry.
Interfax cited the ministry’s statement as saying:
The final assessment of the combat capability and combat readiness of the units will be given by the command at the final stage of coordination – after the battalion tactical exercises have been conducted.”
It was not immediately clear when and where in Belarus the exercises will be conducted.
Belarus defence ministry said in October that 9,000 Russian troops were moving to the country as part of a “regional grouping” of forces to protect its borders.
Updated
Putin set to fly to Belarus
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is set to fly to Belarus on Monday amid fears he intends to pressure the former Soviet ally to join a new ground offensive against Ukraine and open a new front.
His visit for talks with the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, will be his first to Minsk since 2019. Ukrainian joint forces commander Serhiy Nayev said:
During (these talks) questions will be worked out for further aggression against Ukraine and the broader involvement of the Belarusian armed forces in the operation against Ukraine, in particular, in our opinion, also on the ground.”
Ukraine’s top general, Valery Zaluzhniy, told the Economist last week that Russia was preparing 200,000 fresh troops for a major offensive that could come from the east, south or even from Belarus as early as January, but more likely in spring.
There has been constant Russian and Belarusian military activity for months in Belarus. Russia also used its ally as a launch pad for an abortive attack on Kyiv in February.
Moscow and Minsk have since set up a joint regional unit of forces in Belarus and held numerous military exercises. Three Russian warplanes and an airborne early warning and control aircraft were deployed to Belarus last week.
Foreign diplomats say Lukashenko, a pariah in the west who relies heavily on Russian support, understands it would be a deeply unpopular step at home for him to commit troops to Ukraine. But he has already supported Russia’s war extensively.
Some military analysts see the manoeuvring as a ploy to make Ukraine commit forces to its north so it is more exposed to Russian assaults elsewhere.
Updated
UK to announce major new artillery package for Ukraine
The UK is set to announce a major new artillery package for Ukraine as British prime minister Rishi Sunak prepares to meet with his Nordic, Baltic and Dutch counterparts in Riga, Latvia, on Monday.
According to a statement issued by the prime minister’s office and as cited by Agence France-Presse, he will announce Britain’s intention to supply “hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition next year under a £250m ($304m) contract that will ensure a constant flow of critical artillery ammunition to Ukraine throughout 2023”.
The prime minister will travel to Latvia for the leaders’ gathering of Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) countries, including Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands, which will be addressed by Ukraine’s president, Volodomyr Zelenksiy.
From the Arctic Circle to the Isle of Wight, the UK and our European allies have been in lockstep in our response to the invasion of Ukraine, and we remain steadfast in our ambition for peace in Europe once again,” Sunak said ahead of the visit.
But to achieve peace, we must deter aggression and our deployments across the region together are vital in ensuring we are able to respond to the gravest of threats. I know this Joint Expeditionary Force summit will only underline our close friendships and unwavering support for Ukraine.”
No 10 said the meeting would also discuss intelligence sharing between JEF countries, threats to infrastructure and hybrid threats posed by Russian aggression and bolstering support to Finland and Sweden ahead of their accession to Nato. Further announcements on joint military exercises are also expected.
Sunak is then expected to fly on to Estonia, where he will meet UK and Nato troops serving on the military alliance’s eastern flank on the Russian border.
Two injured in Kyiv drone attack - reports
New information published by Ukrainian authorities suggests that Russia’s earlier drone attack on Kyiv damaged critical infrastructure and injured two people.
Kyiv’s regional governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, wrote on Telegram this morning:
Infrastructure objects and private houses were damaged as a result of a night drone attack in the Kyiv region … two victims. People are given help – they are under the supervision of doctors.”
Updated
Russia's Wagner recruits likely threatened with execution if they deviate from assault plan, UK says
Russian military proxy group Wagner continues to take a major role in attritional combat around Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
In recent months, the group has developed offensive tactics to make use of the large number of poorly trained convicts it has recruited, the ministry notes in its latest intelligence report.
Individual fighters are likely issued a smart phone or tablet which shows the individual’s designated axis of advance and assault objective superimposed on commercial satellite imagery.
At platoon level and above, commanders likely remain in cover and give orders over radios, informed by video feeds from small un-crewed aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Individuals and sections are ordered to proceed on the preplanned route, often with fire-support, but less often alongside armoured vehicles. Wagner operatives who deviate from their assault routes without authorisation are likely being threatened with summary execution.
These brutal tactics aim to conserve Wagner’s rare assets of experienced commanders and armoured vehicles, at the expense of the more readily available convict-recruits, which the organisation assesses as expendable.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 19 December 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) December 19, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/E7U3CGkr8J
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/RkWjJWTZgF
Updated
Kyiv hit by drone strike, officials say
At least two powerful explosions rocked Ukraine’s capital in the early hours of Monday morning, as officials claim the city was hit by a series of Russian drones.
Multiple local news sources reported the blasts in central Kyiv. Several loud blasts were also heard in the city’s surrounding regions, Reuters witnesses reported. A fire was also reported in Kyiv’s central Shevchenkivskyi district.
Ukraine’s armed forces first sounded the alarm in a Telegram alert about 2am local time, saying the military had sent air defences to protect the capital from drone attacks.
The Kyiv city state administration also sent an alert urging residents to seek shelter.
It later added that more than 20 Iranian-made drones were detected over Kyiv’s air space and at least 15 of them were shot down.
⚡️ The moment of the explosion in the Kyiv region. Video from subscribers.
— FLASH (@Flash_news_ua) December 19, 2022
👉@Flash_news_ua pic.twitter.com/xjRtmqu3HO
Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said air defence works were operating in the region and claimed the city was under a drone attack.
The drone attack continues,” he said.
Kyiv’s military administration later said that nine Iranian-made Shahed drones were shot down in Kyiv’s airspace. In a Telegram update, the administration said:
Air alert continues in Kyiv. The enemy is attacking the capital with ‘Shahed’ barrage ammunition. Air defence is being at work.”
It was not immediately clear whether the blasts were air defence systems destroying the drones or hitting targets.
⚡️Governor: Air defense at work in Kyiv Oblast amid drone attack.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) December 19, 2022
Kyiv Oblast Governor Oleksiy Kuleba wrote on Telegram that the air defenses in Kyiv Oblast were operating "due to a Russian attack."
Kuleba asked residents to stay in shelters as the "drone attack continues."
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next few hours.
A series of explosions have rocked Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in the early hours of this morning, according to regional officials.
Meanwhile, the UK is set to announce a major new artillery package for Ukraine as British prime minister Rishi Sunak prepares to meet with his Nordic, Baltic and Dutch counterparts in Riga, Latvia, on Monday.
For any updates or feedback you wish to share, please feel free to get in touch via email or Twitter.
If you have just joined us, here are all the latest developments:
The UK is set to announce a major new artillery package for Ukraine as British prime minister Rishi Sunak prepares to meet with his Nordic, Baltic and Dutch counterparts in Riga, Latvia, on Monday. According to a statement issued by the prime minister’s office and as cited by Agence France-Presse, he will announce Britain’s intention to supply “hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition next year under a £250m ($304m) contract that will ensure a constant flow of critical artillery ammunition to Ukraine throughout 2023”.
Ukraine said Russian shelling targeted the southern city of Kherson on Sunday, which has faced repeated attacks since Kyiv’s forces recaptured it last month. “Another blow was delivered to the city centre. Three people were injured. They received shrapnel wounds, one wounded is in a serious condition,” deputy head of the president’s office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said. Regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevich said on Sunday that Moscow’s troops had carried out 54 attacks on Kherson region with artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, tanks and mortars over the previous day, leaving three dead and wounding six others.
Four people in the southern Russian border region of Belgorod were reportedly wounded by shelling on Sunday, the governor said. Witnesses reported loud blasts in the regional capital.
Ukraine’s forces are holding on to the heavily contested eastern city of Bakhmut, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “The Bakhmut direction is key,” he said in his latest national address. “We keep the city, although the occupiers are doing everything so that not a single undamaged wall remains there.”
Power has been restored to three million more Ukrainians after the latest Russian attacks on infrastructure, bringing the total to nine million after two days, Ukraine’s president has said. “Electricity supplies have been restored to a further three million Ukrainians,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his Sunday evening video address. “That means after the terrorist strikes on Friday, we have results already for nine million of our people.” Heating has also been fully restored to Kyiv, the city’s mayor said.
Protecting Ukraine’s borders is a “constant priority” as the country readies for all possible scenarios with Russia and its ally Belarus, Zelenskiy added. “Protecting our border, both with Russia and Belarus – is our constant priority,” he said in his nightly video address. “We are preparing for all possible defence scenarios.” Zelenskiy also issued a new appeal to western nations to provide Ukraine with effective air defences.
Russia will reportedly deploy musicians to Ukraine’s frontlines in a bid to boost morale, according to its defence ministry. The “frontline creative brigade” will be tasked with maintaining “a high moral, political and psychological state [among] the participants of the special military operation,” Russian outlet RBC news cited the ministry as saying. UK defence officials said the new unit is in keeping with the historic use of “military music and organised entertainment” to boost morale as low morale continues to be a “significant vulnerability across much of the Russian force”.
Iran’s foreign ministry has said it will not “seek permission from anyone” to expand relations with Russia, dismissing US concerns over a growing military partnership between Tehran and Moscow. Iran has been accused of supplying drones to Russia, allegedly used to attack Ukraine. CIA chief William Burns said the military cooperation between Iran and Russia “poses real threats” to US allies in the Middle East. Nasser Kanani, spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, called the comments “baseless” adding that Tehran “acts independently in regulating its foreign relations and does not seek permission from anyone”.
Veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger believes the time is approaching for a negotiated peace in Ukraine. “The time is approaching to build on the strategic changes which have already been accomplished and to integrate them into a new structure towards achieving peace through negotiation,” Kissinger wrote in The Spectator magazine. “A peace process should link Ukraine to Nato, h owever expressed. The alternative of neutrality is no longer meaningful,” he added. Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak dismissed the comments as amounting to “appeasing the aggressor” and said there could be no deal involving ceding territory. “Any agreement with the devil – a bad peace at the expense of Ukrainian territories – will be a victory for Putin and a recipe for success for autocrats around the world,” he said in a statement on Telegram.
