“Once again, the world could see how wrong statements from Moscow are on every level,” Zelenskyj said in his video message Saturday night.
The 44-year-old stressed: “Once again it has been confirmed: only the expulsion of the Russian occupiers from Ukrainian land and the elimination of all possibilities for Russia to put pressure on Ukraine and all of Europe will mean the restoration of a ceasefire .” , security and peace.” According to Ukrainian sources, two civilians have died as a result of Russian shelling during the Christmas season in Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region.
On Thursday, Putin unilaterally ordered a 36-hour ceasefire, citing Christmas, which many Orthodox Christians celebrate on January 7. Kiev rejected the Russian advance as hypocritical from the start and many international observers also spoke of a pure propaganda gesture.
Shortly after the official end of the period set by Putin, authorities in the region around the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv immediately reported several explosions. «Attention to the residents of Kharkiv and the region: stay in the shelters. The occupiers are striking again,” Governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on Telegram on Saturday night. According to initial information, there was one death, Synehubov said. Almost immediately after 10:00 PM CET, an air-raid siren was also declared in the regions of Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which had been annexed by Russia.
In the afternoon, while the ceasefire was officially in effect, Moscow admitted that it would continue to retaliate against Ukrainian attacks. “All positions of the Ukrainian army from which the shelling came were crushed by Russian troops who returned fire,” said Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov. There were combat operations in the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. Despite this, Konashenkov claimed that Russia was sticking to the self-imposed 36-hour ceasefire.
According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal, Russia’s offensive war in Ukraine has created a minefield of 250,000 square kilometers in his country. “It is currently the largest minefield in the world,” Schmyhal said in an interview with South Korea’s Yonhap news agency on Saturday. According to Schmyhal, the reclaimed area corresponds to more than 40 percent of Ukraine’s total land area. “Not only does this make it difficult for people to travel, but it also causes major disruption to agriculture, one of our most important industries,” the prime minister said.
Current developments also in the live ticker:
According to a survey, the German government’s decision to supply Marder armored personnel carriers to Ukraine has met with mixed reactions among the people of Germany. In a survey by the opinion research institute Insa for the “Bild am Sonntag”, 49 percent think the decision is rather wrong and 40 percent quite right. 50 percent reject the delivery of main battle tanks, 38 percent are in favour.
The federal government on Thursday announced its decision to deliver about 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. The Union and parts of the governing parties FDP and the Greens are also calling for battle tanks to be sent to the country attacked by Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has put dozens of Russian artists and other public figures on a sanctions list. One of the internationally best known names in the decree published by the Kiev presidential office is Vienna-based opera singer Anna Netrebko, who has been criticized for being close to the Kremlin. You and 118 other people – including three Ukrainian nationals – will have their funds in Ukraine blocked, if they exist. The sanctions list also includes well-known Russian musician Filip Kirkorov and actor and director Nikita Mikhalkov.
Ukrainian media also reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyi had 13 clerics of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church revoked their citizenship at the end of December.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has historically been closely associated with Russia and only fully separated from Moscow after the Russian invasion last February. For example, the usage contracts for two main churches of the Kiev Cave Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were recently not renewed. For the first time, the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church celebrated a Christmas service there over the weekend. (sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
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