Newsletter 20/12/2024
A daily news digest covering important war, political, economic, and cultural topics in Ukraine
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Russian forces attacked Kyiv in the morning of December 20, likely using Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles from MiG-31K aircraft and Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles.
One person was killed, and nine others were injured as a result of a Russian missile strike on Kyiv in the morning of December 20. Also, 630 residential buildings, 16 medical facilities, 17 schools, and 13 kindergartens have been left without heat in Holosiivskyi district.
Also, Russian missile attack caused significant damage to the embassies of Albania, Argentina, Palestine, North Macedonia, Portugal, and Montenegro.
No foreign diplomats were injured in the attack.
Kyiv recovers from another Russian strike. The number of casualties from the attack on Friday morning has risen to 12.
Saint Nicholas Church sustained damage to its facade stained glass windows and towers. This church, a national architectural landmark, was affected by the blast wave.
"The main towers have been damaged, awaiting the return of the crosses. The glass was shattered, and some of the front stained glass windows were also damaged. However, other buildings around the church have suffered much more. Thank God, no one was injured. There was a Mass in the church this morning; I was also there. We are waiting for a commission from the Ministry of Culture. There are many firefighters around," said Father Pavlo Vyshkovskyi, the Rector of the Saint Nicholas Roman Catholic Parish in Kyiv.
GRU hackers behind cyberattack on Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice registries
Hackers associated with the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) are responsible for the cyberattack on the registries of Ukraine's Ministry of Justice.
On Thursday, December 19, Ukraine experienced one of the largest cyberattacks on its state registries in recent history. Russian operatives attempted to disrupt the operation of critical state infrastructure.
As a result of the targeted attack, the operations of several Unified and State Registries under the jurisdiction of Ukraine's Ministry of Justice were temporarily suspended.
Germany hands over another IRIS-T system to Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked Germany for providing Ukraine with an additional IRIS-T system.
“I want to thank all the partners of our state who respond to Russian shelling with their readiness to provide more air defense systems, more weapons that can protect against terrorists. Now we have returned from Brussels with new agreements on air defense. Germany has also handed over an additional IRIS-T system - thank you,” Zelensky said.
The Kremlin patient: condition worsening, both politically and mentally
Vladimir Putin's annual "Direct Line" event, combined with a big press conference, this time seems to have set a record for the degree of inadequacy -- or even madness -- of its main character. At other times, it would be easy to just make fun of the guy over some of his embarrassments. It is not for nothing that the annual event had once gained a colloquial title, "Putin's stand-up".
But now, amid a brutal war, we see it from a different perspective because sometimes the sinister outlines of the Kremlin's plans emerge through all the nonsense the Kremlin boss is uttering. Also, the mental condition of the Moscow dictator, his personality type, becomes more understandable. It’s important to note that in the case of a personalist dictatorship, final decisions are made by a single person.
Journalist: “Ministry of Security of DPR” building was attacked in Donetsk/Video
In the temporarily occupied Donetsk, a hit was recorded - the building of the so-called “Ministry of State Security of the DPR” was attacked.
French SCALP missile hits plant in Rostov region for first time - military expert
The successful hit on the petroleum products plant in the Rostov region of the Russian Federation the day before was carried out by a French SCALP missile with a range of up to 300 km, fired from a Ukrainian SU-24 aircraft.
Massive explosions near Northern Fleet base, airfields in Murmansk region - media
Two powerful explosions occurred on Wednesday evening in the cities of Murmansk and Severomorsk, according to local residents. According to them, the blast waves were felt at a distance of several tens of kilometers.
One of the explosions was captured on video and, judging by the footage, the explosions could have occurred at one of a number of military facilities in the area of the main naval base of the Russian Northern Fleet, located in Severomorsk, and two military airfields, the report said.
The Norwegian publication The Barents Observer geolocated the location of the explosion video, confirming that there are many military facilities in the area, including the Severomorsk-1 naval airbase, warehouses and weapons bunkers.
War
Ukraine returns bodies of 503 fallen defenders from Russia
Of the fallen, 403 were recovered from the Donetsk sector, 12 from the Luhansk sector, and 57 from the Zaporizhzhia sector. Additionally, 31 bodies were repatriated from Russian morgues.
NASAMS, F-35 deployed in Rzeszow, Poland, to protect aid hub for Ukraine
Russia heavily inflates alleged statistics about territorial gains in 2024 - ISW
Lithuania willing to expand military training cooperation with Ukraine
Russians shelled two districts of Dnipropetrovsk region during day
Defense
Norway allocates USD 232M in military support to Ukraine
The package includes:
£92 million for equipment to bolster Ukraine’s navy, including small boats, reconnaissance drones, uncrewed surface vessels, loitering munitions, and mine countermeasure drones. This support is part of the maritime coalition co-led by the UK and Norway.
£68 million for air defense equipment, including radars, decoy land equipment, and counter-drone electronic warfare systems.
£26 million to provide support and spare parts for critical systems previously delivered to Ukraine.
Date of Kellogg's visit to Ukraine confirmed – MFA
Lithuania ready to invest in Ukraine's Palianytsia missile-drone production
Ukraine, Netherlands strengthen defense industry cooperation for 2025
Politics
Zelensky approves appointment of new Ukrainian ambassadors
“Today, our diplomatic team approved a list of new Ukrainian ambassadors. I have approved more than 30 decisions. Among them are Nariman Celal to Turkey, Alyona Getmanchuk as Ukraine's representative to NATO, and Andrii Melnyk as Ukraine's representative to the United Nations. These and other decrees will be issued soon, in accordance with diplomatic procedures,” Zelensky said.
Putin attempts to conceal Russia's economic problems by manipulating facts – ISW
Analysts note that Putin described Russia’s economy as "stable and reliable" but acknowledged that inflation had reached 9.2–9.3% and blamed the Central Bank for this.
"Putin insinuated that the Russian Central Bank and its head, Elvira Nabiullina, mishandled rising Russian interest rates and noted that the Russian government's economic policies had ‘some shortcomings,’ likely in an attempt to deflect blame for rising interest rates and inflation on another Russian official," the report says.
Zelensky on so-called “Istanbul agreements”: These are Putin's senile fantasies
“In general, I am surprised by his statement that he [Putin] is ready for something, he constantly says that I am illegitimate... The ultimatum contained, and they always talk about it, 'demilitarization' and 'denazification'... The main Nazi on the planet today, Putin, is talking about denazification of Ukrainians... Demilitarization, so that there would be no army in Ukraine, or something like that, I don't remember... they talked about 40-50,000…. He simply offered Ukraine to surrender, freeze the conflict, change the direction of development-neither Europe nor NATO, but the direction to the Russian Federation, so that they could rule our state, deprive us of our independence. And this person says that these are some kind of agreements... He is just an old fantasist. He lives in another world, in his own aquarium,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine, Lithuania sign joint statement following intergovernmental consultations
Germany spends up to EUR 8B supporting Ukrainian refugees – Scholz
MFA announced appointment of new ambassadors - some are already waiting for agreement
U.S. to announce $1.2B aid package for Ukraine in coming days – Reuters
Zelensky calls Putin scumbag for idea of “duel” over Kyiv with Oreshnik
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that only a scumbag could propose a “technological duel” over Kyiv between Russia's Oreshnik and Western air defense systems, as Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin did.