Following the large-scale bombing, Russia dispatched 16 more suicide drones to Ukraine: all have been wiped out
In the early hours of December 30, air raid sirens sounded throughout Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and residents were notified to go to air raid shelters.
Reuters reported that just after 2 a.m. on December 30, the Kyiv city government issued a warning about the air raid alert on the communication software Telegram, calling on citizens to go to shelters.
Air strike sirens rang through the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, with Kyiv region governor Oleksiy Kuleba writing on Telegram that Kyiv was under “drone attack”.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia dispatched 16 “suicide” drones overnight from the southeast and north of Ukraine, all of which were annihilated.
A Reuters reporter, 20 kilometers south of Kyiv, heard several explosions and anti-aircraft fire.
Officials in Kyiv said they had destroyed five Iranian-made Shahed drones after they were spotted in the sky.
Ukraine accuses Iran of supplying drones to Russia for use in air strikes, but the Iranian government says the last delivery of drones to Russia was before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv region’s military administration, said an administrative building was partially damaged, but there were no reports of casualties.
The Ukrainian Army Staff said in its morning report on the 30th that Russia had launched 85 missile attacks, 35 air strikes, and 63 multiple rocket launcher system attacks in the past 24 hours.
On the 29th, Russia launched its largest air attack since it invaded Ukraine at the end of February this year, leaving most parts of Ukraine without electricity in the low temperature.
The Ukrainian Army Staff also said Russian forces had bombed 20 settlements around the ruined Udonist town of Bakhmut and more than 25 in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Settlement.
Reuters was unable to confirm the above-mentioned battlefield news for the time being.
Meanwhile, Belarus shot down a Ukrainian S-300 missile over the city of Brest, bordering Poland in the west, and broadcast footage of the debris falling, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said. A Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman said the Minsk authorities summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to protest the incident.
The incident happened between 10:00 am and 11:00 am on the 29th, about the same time when the Russian army launched a large number of missiles to attack Ukraine.
The Kyiv government pointed out later on the 29th that the incident may be a Russian strategy to drag Belarus into the conflict. “The Ukrainian side does not rule out that Russia deliberately provoked and arranged such a path for its cruise missiles in order to trigger interception over Belarusian territory,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
Just last month, an S-300 missile believed to have been fired by Ukrainian air defenses fell into Poland.
The Russian army frequently bombards Minsheng Hydropower, Ukraine is facing the worst winter since World War II, and countries have raised more than 1 billion euros for emergency relief
The Russia-Ukraine war continues, and Russia frequently targets basic energy facilities such as the Minsheng Hydropower Plant in Ukraine, trying to force Ukraine to surrender. Snow fell in Ukraine a few days ago at the beginning of this year. It is reported that more than 6 million people do not have heating and electricity.
The Guardian reported that the harsh winter has forced Ukraine to face an even more severe situation. To get Ukraine to surrender, Russia has turned to destroying energy infrastructure, which the World Health Organization says could become a matter of life and death in the long run.
In this regard, Western countries have joined hands with many charitable organizations to provide a lot of equipment and military support, and the current financial assistance has exceeded 1 billion euros, of which nearly 400 million will be used to restructure Ukraine’s energy sector. Heads of state have successively announced the resources that the country can provide, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Germany, Japan, Poland and other countries.
In addition to providing weapons, fuel, and medical supplies, NATO also provided winter military uniforms; while the EU provided temporary shelters and generators to help the Ukrainian people survive the cold winter.
Last month, Eurocities, formed by 38 countries in the EU meeting, launched a campaign to donate power supply equipment to maintain electricity for hospitals, schools, water plants and other livelihoods. The average winter temperature in Ukraine falls between -4°C and 2°C, and may even reach -21°C in certain areas. In this regard, the UK is expected to deliver 12,000 sets of kits, including thermal sleeping bags that can withstand minus 30 degrees to ensure the sleep of soldiers.
In addition, Britain said on the 30th that it has provided Ukraine with thousands of metal detectors and 100 sets of bomb disposal and mine clearance tools.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said: “Russia’s use of landmines and attacks on civilian facilities underscores the staggering ferocity of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression. The latest UK support package will help Ukraine recover Safely clear land and buildings while maintaining legal territory.”
Russia has repeatedly denied attacking civilians, but Ukraine says its daily bombing is destroying towns, power systems and medical facilities, among other things.
Under the impact of the war epidemic, the video conference talks Putin and Xi Jinping nod into the pit?
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a video conference on December 30, which was another meeting after the meeting in September. At a time when the Russia-Ukraine war is in a stalemate and the epidemic situation in China is severe, there is also a plan to keep each other warm.
According to comprehensive foreign media reports, Putin called Xi Jinping “dear friend, dear Mr. President” in the opening remarks of the talks, and said that “our goal is to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China”, expressing his expectation that Xi Jinping will come to Moscow next spring A state visit, which will “show the world the close relations between Russia and China”.
Putin strongly praised the efforts of the Russian and Chinese authorities to counter “unprecedented pressure and provocations from the West,” and emphasized the growing importance of the Russia-China alliance as a stabilizing force amid increasingly tense geopolitical relations. “The best in history”, looking forward to strengthening Russia-China military cooperation.
He also said: “We share the same view on the reasons, process and logic of the current change in the global geopolitical landscape.” He said: “Russia has become one of the leading countries in terms of exporting oil to China.”
Xi Jinping thanked Putin for sending congratulations to Putin for his second re-election as General Secretary after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (20th National Congress), and emphasized that when the world is in a “difficult” situation, China is ready to expand China-Russia ” strategic partnership”.
Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi Jinping said that China is willing to work with Russia and “all progressive forces opposing hegemonism and power politics” in the world to oppose any unilateralism, protectionism and bullying.
The report also said that when Xi Jinping and Putin exchanged views on the Ukrainian crisis, China noticed that Russia had never refused to resolve the conflict through diplomatic negotiations, and appreciated it, and would continue to uphold a just position and play a constructive role in peacefully resolving the issue. effect. However, the report only mentioned Xi Jinping’s views, but did not mention Putin’s views on the Ukraine issue.
Bloomberg analyzed that this is the second meeting between Putin and Xi Jinping after their meeting in Uzbekistan in September, highlighting Moscow’s growing dependence on Beijing.
Sun Yun, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington, said that geopolitical changes are a dominant factor in the CCP’s assessment of Russia. Differences matter more.”
Craig Singleton, a senior China researcher at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, another Washington-based think tank, said that Xi cannot ignore Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. First, as long as Russia wins, the CCP will benefit a lot. He was defeated and the CCP was also seriously injured. “In other words, despite the setbacks of the Russian army on the battlefield, the alliance of convenience between Xi Jinping and Putin will only continue.”
After the Ukrainian counteroffensive began at the end of August, Russia encountered a series of major setbacks. Since October, it has continued to bombard Ukrainian energy infrastructure, causing power outages, water shortages and heating in the country, in an attempt to force Ukraine to surrender during the severe winter. Ukrainian intelligence also pointed out that the Russian army is taking advantage of this time to gear up and prepare to launch a larger-scale attack next spring and resume the operation to capture Kyiv.
In addition, CGN News reported on the 29th that the “Moscow Komsomolets” revealed that the Russian Ministry of Defense recently announced a military expansion plan, increasing the armed forces from 1 million to 1.5 million. Russian military expert Gondarov believes that this is not a task that must be solved urgently for Ukraine, but a plan for at least the next 2 to 4 years, because the situation in Ukraine is likely to turn into a direct conflict with NATO, and Russia is preparing to fight with NATO. massive military confrontation.
Against this backdrop, during the talks between Putin and Xi, Putin expressed his desire to strengthen military cooperation between Russia and China, highlighting his calculations behind it.
Reuters reported that the Russian Ministry of Finance said on the 30th that the maximum allowable ratio of RMB in the Russian National Wealth Fund (National Wealth Fund) has doubled to 60%; the maximum allowed ratio of gold has also doubled to 40%. %; the British pound and the Japanese yen have fallen to zero.
Russia has continued to tap its state wealth fund to fund a widening budget deficit this year. As of December 1, the size of the Russian National Wealth Fund was $186.5 billion.
According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Finance, “the Russian Ministry of Finance is continuously reducing the proportion of ‘unfriendly’ national currencies in the asset structure of the National Wealth Fund”.
Russia considers any country that imposes sanctions on it for its military actions in Ukraine an “unfriendly country” and has responded accordingly.
After the West blocked the Russian central bank’s transactions in dollars, euros and sterling and froze about half of the central bank’s $300 billion foreign-exchange reserve assets, Moscow hastened efforts to convert large reserves into more accessible currencies.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the trend of action would continue next year, when Russia can resume deals under budget rules. The mechanism behind the rule is to allow Russia to store part of the profits from oil and gas sales in foreign currency.
“We have been keeping foreign currency (replenishment of the National Wealth Fund) for exchange rate hedging,” Shiruanov said earlier this week.
He also said: “Among the currencies of ‘friendly’ countries, the renminbi has the characteristics of a reserve currency to the greatest extent, and at the same time has sufficient liquidity in our domestic foreign exchange market.”
Russia’s largest Moscow Exchange (Moscow Exchange) pointed out that as the financial links between Moscow and Beijing continue to strengthen, the exchange volume of yuan and rubles will surpass that of dollars and rubles next year.
Vows to strengthen the Navy Putin’s video-guided new ships and nuclear submarines into the army
Agence France-Presse reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin inspected several new warships and nuclear submarines into service via video on the 29th, vowing to further strengthen the Russian navy.
Putin, who has mostly avoided contact with the public since the outbreak of the COVID-19 outbreak, also guided the new ship to fly the Russian flag this time via a video link.
“We will accelerate the speed and number of construction of all kinds of ships and equip them with the most modern weapons,” Putin said in a televised talk. national interest.”
During Putin’s 20 years in power, strengthening the armed forces has been his top priority, equipping the navy with new warships, and putting hypersonic missiles, which he calls “invincible”, into the Russian military’s arsenal.
The new ships include a patrol ship, a minesweeper and the Borei-class nuclear-powered submarine Generalissimus Suvorov capable of firing ballistic missiles; A nuclear submarine of the same class, the Emperor Alexander III, just went to sea that day and will enter service after sea trials.
The Associated Press reported that the nuclear submarine Marshal Suvorov, which was commissioned this time, is equipped with 16 “Bulava” intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Borei-class submarine.
“It will ensure the security of Russia for decades to come,” Putin said.
Fox News reported that Putin said at the inauguration ceremony that according to the current army building plan, four more Borei-class nuclear submarines will be built in the future.
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