News update on the war in Ukraine this Wednesday.
Ukraine: A swarm of kamikaze drones destroyed in Kiev. Ukraine said on Wednesday it had destroyed an entire swarm of drones launched early in the morning by Russia against Kiev, the latest attack by Moscow seeking to systematically destroy energy infrastructure. “The terrorists started the morning with 13 Shahed”, said Volodymyr Zelensky referring to Iranian-made suicide drones. “According to preliminary information, all 13 were shot down by our air defense system”, he added, urging residents to be vigilant when alarm sirens sounded. Explosions were heard in central Kiev on Wednesday morning, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitali Klitschko, announced earlier.
Searches in Ukraine of churches suspected of links with Moscow. The Security Services of Ukraine (SBU) announced on Wednesday that they were taking “counterintelligence measures” in Orthodox religious buildings belonging to the Russian Church. Nineteen monasteries, cathedrals and churches belonging to the Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate are affected by these measures which aim to “to counter the subversive activities of the Russian secret services in our country”, wrote the SBU in a statement. The SBU explained that it was trying to do this “to protect the population from provocations and terrorist attacks” as well as “to prevent the use of religious communities as centers of the ‘Russian world'”. A concept created by Moscow in particular to try to justify the invasion of Ukraine with the need to link this country to Russia to form a Russian-speaking and Orthodox whole. It is not the first operation of this kind, the oldest religious domain in the country, in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, was raided in late November by the secret services.
64 Ukrainians and one American freed in an exchange with Russia. “64 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who fought in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, especially […] return to their place” welcomed the head of the cabinet of the presidency, Andriï Iermak, on Telegram, specifying that an American, Suedi Murekezi, “was also released” in the exchange. According to Russian news agency Tass, Suedi Murekezi was arrested in June in eastern Ukraine before being charged in early August with “participated in pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian rallies” et “incited racial hatred” in Kherson (south) at the beginning of the conflict. According to his lawyer, cited by Tass at the time of his indictment, he had found himself in these gatherings “by chance”. Client child “never took part in military operations” in the Donetsk region, he said, adding it “worked in a nightclub in Kherson”. During the exchange, four bodies “they were also returned”.
There will be no peace for pastry chefs. The Christmas spirit has not reached the Kremlin. “No proposal has been made by anyone, this topic is not on the agenda”Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the possibility of a lull in fighting in Ukraine. The Kremlin spokesman also declined to bring forward a date for Vladimir Putin’s annual speech to both houses of the Russian parliament, which is not due in 2022. The Russian president has already pulled out of his big annual press conference without explanation. against against the background of the humiliating setbacks of his military campaign in Ukraine in recent months. Russia has ruled out withdrawing its armed forces from Ukraine and vowed to keep fighting.
Seven million Ukrainian children threatened by the consequences of the destruction in the energy sector. Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure pose growing risks for “almost all children in Ukraine – almost seven million children –” at a time when winter temperatures continue to drop in the country, UNICEF was alarmed on Wednesday. Without stable access to electricity, heat or water, “Children not only face extreme cold – winter temperatures can drop below -20C – they are also unable to take advantage of online learning opportunities which are the only way for many children to access education, while so many schools are damaged or destroyed”, details in a press release from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). And “In addition to the immediate threat posed by the cold, children are also deprived of opportunities to learn or stay in touch with friends and family, putting their physical and mental health at serious risk.”Unicef Chief Executive Catherine Russell is also concerned, quoted in the statement. For now, UNICEF says it needs US$1.1 billion to meet the immediate and long-term needs of 9.4 million people, including 4 million children, to provide, maintain and expand essential services in health, nutrition, child protection, violence, water, sanitation and social protection.
GDP revised down by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, Russia in recession. Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the final estimate released Wednesday by national statistics agency Rosstat, a slight revision from the first figure released in mid-November (-4%). . After a contraction of 4.1% in the second quarter, Russian GDP then followed a broadly identical trajectory in the third quarter, pushing Russia into a technical recession. According to Rosstat, GDP contracted by 3.7% between July and September. A figure that remains lower than the estimates anticipated by analysts, who in mid-November had declared that they expected a more marked decline in the economy in the third quarter, around -4.5%.
