Live – Ukraine: Four million people affected by power cuts, according to Zelensky

Russian media

Natalia Sindieva, the general director of Dozht Channel, one of Russia’s few independent media outlets in exile for months, was declared a “foreign agent” on Friday, along with two other journalists from the group. Example of pressure exerted by authorities on civil society.

The names of Natalia Sindieva, Vladimir Romansky and Ekaterina Kotrikatze all appear on an updated list of personalities classified as “foreign agents” published by the Russian Ministry of Justice. Their inclusion in the list is officially justified as “through political action”.

A critic of the Kremlin, Dozht (“The Rain” in Russian) was banned in early March in the wake of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, widely condemned by its journalists.

Obstacles

Canada announced new sanctions on Friday targeting 35 Russian energy sector figures and six companies, as well as issuing bonds in favor of Ukraine.

Sanctions have been imposed on senior officials of oil and gas giant Lukoil, Gazprom and its subsidiaries, as well as Russia’s energy and industry ministers, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and former Prime Minister Viktor Subkov.

Power outages

Nearly four million people have been affected by power cuts in Ukraine after recent Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.

“In many cities and districts of our country, cuts have been introduced to stabilize the situation,” he said in his daily address. “Almost four million Ukrainians are currently facing these restrictions,” he added.

Coordinating aid to Ukraine as winter approaches

France plans to organize a “Conference in Support of Ukrainian Civil Resistance” in Paris on December 13, bringing together donors and various actors to identify solutions to meet Ukraine’s needs in the face of the crisis.

“Particular emphasis will be placed on providing basic needs, as well as critical infrastructure, especially energy reconstruction,” the French foreign ministry announced in a press release.

Electricity restrictions in the Kiev region

“Unprecedented” electricity restrictions are planned in the Kyiv region “in the coming days” as recent Russian strikes have caused significant damage to the country’s energy system, Ukrainian operator DTEK announced.

“Unfortunately, more drastic and long cuts will be put in place in the coming days,” said the regional department of this private group on Facebook.

An illegal Russian agent in Norway

Norwegian counterintelligence services have revealed the true identity of an illegal Russian agent suspected of spying for Russia posing as a Brazilian researcher, according to their sources.

The man, who was admitted as a lecturer at Norway’s University of Tromsø in the strategic Arctic region in autumn 2021, was arrested on Monday and initially placed in deportation detention for violating immigration laws.

The investigation has since expanded to include suspicions of “illegal espionage directed against state secrets that could harm the fundamental interests of the nation,” facts that carry a three-year prison sentence in Norway.

300,000 reservists were mobilized

Russia has completed the mobilization of 300,000 reservists, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced during a televised exchange with President Vladimir Putin.

41,000 of them are already stationed in military units in Ukraine. The Russian president praised the “patriotism” of the mobilized soldiers.

“No additional missions are planned,” he said, indicating that Russia does not plan to mobilize additional reservists and civilians in the immediate future. However, he said Russia continues to recruit volunteers and contract soldiers.

V. ZELENSKY backed up after a journalist’s question

Interview with a journalist from Corriere della Sera On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enthusiastically answered the latter’s question. The author of this interview asked what can be said to those in Italy who believe that with the explosion in gas prices, people are paying the price for Ukraine’s security.

Iranians demonstrate in Kiev in support of Ukrainians

A few dozen Iranians gathered in Kyiv on Friday to show solidarity with Ukrainians and protest the Russians’ use of Iranian-made drones to attack Ukraine. At the invitation of the Iranian community in Kew, demonstrators gathered in Maidan Square in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, displaying Ukrainian and Iranian flags and banners with the slogan “Iranian people in solidarity with Ukraine”.

A divided people after liberation

Troops from Q continue their advance in southern Ukraine and are liberating villages every day. After several months of Russian occupation, the population was divided. Some are accused of collaboration. The atmosphere is heavy.

Auditors

Russia has filed a complaint with the United Nations over biological laboratories in Ukraine. Allegations without evidence have been stamped out by Moscow for years. It finds some popularity in America.

R. Kadyrov’s army suffers losses

In a sign of the intensity of the fighting near Kherson, the evacuation of these civilians, which kyiv described as a “deportation”, Ramzan Kadyrov, president of the Russian republic of Chechnya, which is fighting in Ukraine, announced the death of 23 of his soldiers. Ukrainian bomber injures 58

Promoted to the rank of colonel general by Vladimir Putin, the dictator is a partisan of a “tough” stance against Kiev, calling for nuclear strikes and ensuring his troops there wage a holy war against “Satanists”.

A battle of influence in Africa

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ann-Claire Legendre was the guest of LCI on Friday. He talked about Russia’s logic of threatening some countries on the African continent.

Towards a Star Wars?

Russia threatens to shoot down commercial satellites used by Western countries in support of Ukraine. Moscow, Maxar Technologies, Planet Labs, BlackSky and especially Starlink, in view of the SpaceX network of terminals. In case of an attack, the US warns of an “appropriate response”.

Missile corpses as far as the eye could see

The Ukrainian military says it has recovered “more than 5,000 pieces” of missiles in the Kharkiv region, which has come under heavy attack by Russian forces. The LCI team was authorized to film at this site, which was kept secret by Kyiv troops. At the site, missiles and other explosive devices lie on the ground.

Russia says it has ended civilian evacuations from Kherson

A pro-Russian official has announced that the evacuation of civilians from the Kherson region, occupied by Russia and facing a Ukrainian offensive, has been completed. “Arrangements for the departure of residents of the right bank of Russia’s (river) Dnipro to safer areas in Russia have been completed,” announced Thursday evening, Sergei Aksyonov, the president of Crimea, the neighboring peninsula of Kherson annexed by Moscow in 2014. Ukraine describes these population transfers as “deportation”.

A review of the last 24 hours

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech at the Valdai Arena in Moscow on Thursday. He attacked the West while addressing the “dirty bomb” and the atomic bomb. Highlights from the last 24 hours.

Russia’s use of Iranian drones ‘terrible’

Moscow’s use of Iranian drones to “kill Ukrainian citizens and destroy the infrastructure they depend on” is “appalling,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a visit to Canada on Thursday. The U.S. and its allies will work to “expose, deter, and prevent Iran from supplying these weapons.”

Ukraine has said that about 400 Iranian drones have already been used against Ukrainian citizens, and Moscow has ordered about 2,000. Tehran has denied the allegations. “If it becomes clear to us that Russia has used Iranian drones against Ukraine, we will certainly not be indifferent to this matter,” Hossein Amir-Abdullahian, head of Iranian diplomacy, said this week. The United States, Britain and the European Union have already imposed sanctions on Iran over the drone issue.

IAEA to conduct ‘independent verification’ on dirty bomb

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit two Ukrainian sites “this week” at Kyiv’s request, according to a report, after Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of destroying evidence to build a “dirty bomb.”

“Inspectors will carry out an independent verification (…) to detect any diversion of nuclear material”, explained the UN on Thursday. The general director of the organization is Raffaele Croci. UN in New York Speaking behind closed doors at the Security Council, he told reporters that the results of the tests would be “very fast”, citing a few “days”.

welcome

Hello and welcome to this dedicated directly to current events in Ukraine. Find all the information of the day related to this conflict, which was started by Russia eight months ago.