Latest news on Russia and the Ukraine war

The brother of Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine detained in Russia, mentioned the Biden administration made the “right decision” in securing the launch of WNBA star Brittney Griner.

The U.S. earlier this 12 months provided a prisoner change of Griner and Whelan in return for Russian arms supplier Viktor Bout, who was serving a jail sentence in the U.S. Moscow rejected the supply.

The Biden administration finally exchanged solely Griner for Bout.

“The Biden Administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen,” Whelan’s brother David Whelan mentioned in an announcement, according to Fox 2 Detroit.

David Whelan famous that Griner’s and his brother’s circumstances “were never really intertwined.”

— Jacob Pramuk

In an announcement hailing American Brittney Griner’s launch from Russian detention, Secretary of State Antony Blinken sounded a notice of regret over the Biden administration’s failure to this point to safe the launch of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

“While we celebrate Brittney’s release, Paul Whelan and his family continue to suffer needlessly,” Blinken mentioned in an announcement.

“I wholeheartedly wish we could have brought Paul home today on the same plane with Brittney. Nevertheless, we will not relent in our efforts to bring Paul and all other U.S. nationals held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad home to their loved ones where they belong,” mentioned Blinken

Whelan was arrested in 2018 on expenses of appearing as a spy for the United States and sentenced to 25 years in jail.

In July of this 12 months, the Biden administration provided to swap convicted arms supplier Viktor Bout in change for each Griner and Whelan. Moscow refused.

Ultimately, Bout was launched in change for simply Griner.

— Christina Wilkie

Here’s what Russia’s Foreign Ministry has put out as an announcement on the launch of Brittney Griner, and the deal that noticed Russian arms supplier Viktor Bout exchanged for the U.S. basketball star.

— Holly Ellyatt

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner has been launched from Russian custody in a high-profile prisoner swap.

Griner, who was given a nine-year sentence for drug possession in August, has spent the final month spent in one in all Russia’s notoriously harsh penal colonies. She was traded for Russian arms supplier Viktor Bout who was 11 years right into a 25-year sentence.

President Joe Biden signed off on the change, which reportedly passed off in the UAE. However, the swap didn’t embrace businessman Paul Whelan, the different American wrongfully detained in Russia. Whelan is serving a 16-year sentence on spying expenses that he and the U.S. deny.

Biden tweeted Thursday that Griner was already on a airplane residence to the States, saying, “moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner. She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Construction of Ukraine’s largest modular city for refugees in Lviv on December 7, 2022. More than a thousand individuals who fled Russian assaults on Ukraine will be capable of reside in the two-story metropolis. It could have all the communication services needed for a snug winter keep.

– Pavlo Palamarchuk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Ukraine’s state nuclear company, Energoatom, claimed Thursday that Russia is planning “another provocation” close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant its forces occupy in southern Ukraine.

Energoatom said on Telegram that Russian forces “stationed several Grad multiple rocket launchers on the territory of the captured Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” or ZNPP, on Wednesday.

 “The invaders placed this weapon near power unit No. 6, right next to the territory of the station’s dry storage of spent nuclear fuel, where they had previously built some ‘defensive structures’, in violation of all the requirements of nuclear and radiation safety,” the company mentioned.

Energoatom added that “most likely, the provocation is being prepared,” noting that Russia could possibly be planning to shell the reverse financial institution of the Dnieper River, particularly the Nikopol and Marhanets bridges, “using these Grad launchers directly from the ZNPP site.”

The Zaporizhzhia NPP has been the supply of fixed stress between Russia and Ukraine throughout the war, and a supply of fear for worldwide nuclear vitality specialists who’ve referred to as on either side to desist from shelling close to the plant, fearing a nuclear disaster. Power to the plant has repeatedly been knocked out, which means it has to resort to utilizing diesel turbines to energy important cooling features.

Ukraine and Russia accuse one another of shelling the web site. Energoatom and worldwide specialists have referred to as for the creation of a safety zone inside and round the station “for its complete demilitarization and deoccupation.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova refused to remark earlier Thursday when requested about the doable organising of a security zone at the energy plant however claimed the “Russian side continues to work” on the thought, news agency Tass reported.

— Holly Ellyatt

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has detained a married couple suspected of spying for Russia in the Black Sea metropolis of Odesa, one in all Ukraine’s largest ports.

An SBU assertion issued on Thursday didn’t title the couple however accused them of amassing intelligence for Russia on areas for doable army deployments and the motion of air defence items.

It mentioned the couple have been believed to be Russian army intelligence officers who had deliberate to create a community of brokers in southern Ukraine.

SBU officers discovered cellphones and laptop gear with proof of “hidden correspondence with the aggressor”, it mentioned.

“The SBU detained both spies when they attempted to transfer classified information to Russia,” the SBU mentioned.

The couple couldn’t be reached for remark.

Odesa has regularly come below fireplace since Russia invaded Ukraine in February but it surely stays below Ukrainian management.

The SBU mentioned each the man and lady detained had arrived in Ukraine in 2018 and acquired residence permits, and that the man had served in the Russian military.

It mentioned the detainees had despatched the data they collected to a former Russian particular forces officer in Crimea who cooperated with army intelligence. The Crimea peninsula was seized by Russia in 2014.

The SBU additionally revealed a sequence of pictures of the couple’s arrest, the army paperwork of the detained man displaying his army rank as colonel, in addition to Russian passports of the detainees.

— Reuters

Emergency energy shutdowns have been carried out in Ukraine on Thursday as the nationwide energy operator struggles following repeated Russian bombardment on the nation’s vitality community.

“As of 11:00 a.m. on December 8, because of damage caused by missile strikes to power plants and the high-voltage network, the system has a significant shortage of electricity,” grid operator Ukrenergo said on Telegram.

Consumption limits had already been exceeded in a number of areas and emergency shutdowns have been utilized this morning, Ukrenergo mentioned. Earlier this week, Russia launched a brand new wave of missile assaults as soon as once more focused at its vitality infrastructure, a transfer designed so as to add inflict extra hardship and discomfort on Ukrainian folks as freezing temperatures set in.

“The situation is complicated by weather conditions: in many regions in the west of the country, frost, rain with snow and strong gusts of wind cause icing of wires and their damage,” the firm mentioned.

Eastern Ukraine, the place combating is at its most intense, is going through the most troublesome state of affairs after Russian forces “subjected several districts to massive artillery shelling.” 

“Where the situation allows, an examination of the state of the power grid is carried out. After receiving permission from the military, repair work will begin,” Ukrenego mentioned. Emergency restore work continued round the clock in the areas of Kyiv and Odesa, it mentioned.

— Holly Ellyatt

The Kremlin claimed the war in Ukraine might finish instantly if Kyiv has the political will to take action.

“Zelensky knows when all this can end, it can all end tomorrow if [Kyiv] wishes,” Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov instructed reporters Thursday.

Ukraine has mentioned it is going to no conduct cease-fire operations with Russian whereas Russian troops stay on its territory and whereas President Vladimir Putin is in energy.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia’s fleet shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Black Sea, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, the largest metropolis in the annexed Crimean peninsular, mentioned on Thursday.

“This morning, a ship of the Black Sea Fleet shot down a UAV over the sea,” Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev mentioned on Telegram.

Reuters was unable to right away confirm battlefield reviews from both facet.

— Reuters

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Wednesday night time that intense combating continues in the space round Bakhmut in Donetsk. 

“First of all, regarding the Donetsk region, Bakhmut districts and other hottest spots. A very fierce confrontation is ongoing there, every meter counts. I thank all our guys who destroy the enemy right there – every day, every night, every hour,” Zelenskyy posted on Telegram Wednesday after assembly with the army’s management. On Tuesday, Zelenskyy visited troops on the entrance line in Donetsk.

He mentioned combating in the neighboring Luhansk area, in addition to the northeastern Kharkiv area, was mentioned, in addition to the acute disaster Ukraine’s vitality system faces.

“We are constantly increasing the generation and supply of electricity – we are adding more volume almost every day,” Zelenskyy mentioned, though the nation’s armed forces warned Thursday that “the threat of Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy system and critical infrastructure remains.”

The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces famous on Facebook that whereas different areas in Ukraine are coming below assault, Russian forces proceed to pay attention their assaults on Donetsk and Luhansk in japanese Ukraine.

“Over the past 24 hours, units of the defense forces have repelled attacks by Russian invaders outside the settlements of Ternova, Kharkiv Region; Stelmakhivka, Ploshchanka, Chervonopopivka and Bilohorivka, Luhansk region, and Bilohorivka, Berestove, Yakovlivka, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut, Opytne, Kurdiumivka, Maiorsk, Marinka, and Novomykhailivka, Donetsk region,” the report mentioned.

Russia launched seven missile strikes and 16 airstrikes, in addition to greater than 40 assaults utilizing a number of launch rocket techniques, the army replace famous. CNBC was unable to right away confirm the data.

— Holly Ellyatt

Kyiv’s mayor on Wednesday warned of an “apocalypse” situation for the Ukrainian capital this winter if Russian air strikes on infrastructure proceed and mentioned though there was no want for folks to evacuate now, they need to be prepared to take action.

“Kyiv might lose power, water, and heat supply. The apocalypse might happen, like in Hollywood films, when it’s not possible to live in homes considering the low temperature,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko instructed Reuters in an interview.

“But we are fighting and doing everything we can to make sure that this does not happen,” the former world heavyweight boxing champion mentioned, elevating his booming voice to drive the level residence.

According to Klitschko, 152 civilian residents of Kyiv have been killed and 678 buildings destroyed since the starting of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, however the metropolis faces recent tribulations this winter as Russia commonly kilos Ukraine’s energy grid with missiles.

— Reuters

The European Union proposed journey bans and asset freezes on virtually 200 extra Russian officers and army officers as a part of a brand new spherical of sanctions aimed toward ramping up stress on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

The proposals have been made by the EU’s govt department, the European Commission. They should nonetheless be debated and endorsed by the 27 member international locations, a course of that routinely ends in the fee’s strategies getting watered down.

The targets of the newest really helpful sanctions embrace authorities ministers, lawmakers, regional governors and political events.

“This list covers key figures in Russia’s brutal and deliberate missile strikes against civilians, in the kidnapping of Ukrainian children to Russia, and in the theft of Ukrainian agricultural products,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned in an announcement.

With a recent raft of sanctions, the fee additionally intends to focus on the Russian protection business and extra Russian banks, and to impose export controls and restrictions on merchandise like chemical compounds, nerve brokers, electronics and IT elements that could possibly be utilized by the armed forces.

— Associated Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned his invasion of Ukraine could possibly be “lengthy,” as the brutal battle drags into its tenth month.

As Russia struggles to carry floor it gained this 12 months in Ukraine, Putin downplayed the have to mobilize extra troops. Considering one other spherical of conscription “simply does not make sense,” Putin mentioned, based on an NBC News translation of his remarks at a gathering of his human rights council.

Of the 300,000 reservists referred to as up throughout Putin’s partial mobilization earlier this 12 months, 150,000 are actually in Ukraine, the Russian president mentioned.

He added that “there is no mass withdrawal” from Russian positions in Ukraine.

— Jacob Pramuk

Kyiv residents brace for a chilly, darkish winter as Russia continues its missile strikes which have triggered widespread energy outages throughout the nation.