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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 12-18-2024 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
Migrants, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, began arriving in large numbers across the Belarus border with Poland in 2021 as the EU looked to punish Minsk for its crackdown on opposition.
Poland’s government on Wednesday adopted a bill that would allow it to temporarily limit asylum rights, as it seeks to halt irregular migrant arrivals from neighboring Belarus.
EU states along the bloc’s eastern edge have accused Russia and its ally Belarus of pushing thousands of migrants over their borders in recent years as part of a campaign to destabilize Europe.
This evening’s gathering was expected to involve leaders from Germany, Poland, Italy, Denmark, and the European Union’s main institutions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with NATO chief Mark Rutte and key European leaders in Brussels Wednesday to strategize over Russia’s war ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Addressing reporters alongside Rutte, Zelensky called it a “very good opportunity to speak about security guarantees for Ukraine, for today and for tomorrow.”
The embassy had been closed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Australia is resuming full operations at its embassy in Ukraine, with Ambassador Paul Lehmann to be based in Kyiv starting in January.
“We have always said we would do so when it is safe. We have been working to re-establish the security arrangements to enable this to happen,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said at a joint briefing with Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in Kyiv, Ukrinform reported.
New open-source satellite imagery seems to show large numbers of Russian vehicles, air defense systems and other materiel seemingly being readied to leave Russia’s last two bases in Syria.
Moscow says it is still seeking to negotiate a deal to keep its hands on the Khmeimim Air Base and Tartus naval base with the new powers in Syria. However, new satellite images produced by Maxar Technologies over last weekend seem to show large numbers of Russian vehicles and other materiel lined up at the bases, which are both located south of Latakia on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, as if preparing for embarkation.
Also seen on and around the Khmeimim apron is an Ilyushin Il-76 (NATO: Candid) multi-purpose, four-engine strategic airlifter, an Antonov An-124 (NATO: Condor) four-engine heavy transport aircraft, along with two Antonov An-26 (NATO: Curl) twin-turboprop transport aircraft and an Antonov An-72 (NATO: Coaler) jet-powered Soviet-era transport aircraft.
Le Monde daily reported earlier that thousands of influencers, including in France, had been approached by individuals close to the Kremlin to spread pro-Russian propaganda.
France on Wednesday accused Russia of seeking to manipulate French and other European social media influencers, saying Moscow was employing varied and fast-evolving digital interference tactics.
Concern over the alleged spread of misinformation by Russia has grown since the 2016 US election campaign that saw Donald Trump win the White House for the first time and has only intensified after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
A senior US Defense Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the high levels of casualties among DPRK soldiers who were described as lacking combat experience.
Ukrainian troops have inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean soldiers sent to support Russia in its war against Ukraine. According to a senior US Defense Department official “several hundred” North Korean troops have been killed or wounded, according to a New York Times (NYT) report.
The official was authorized to speak to reporters only on the condition of anonymity.
When asked if he was open to peace talks with Putin, Zelensky said the focus should not be on “the one on the opposite side of the table” but on the position “you find yourself in.’
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Ukrainian army lacks the strength to retake Donbas and Crimea from Russian control by military means, but that Kyiv cannot abandon claim to its territories.
“The Constitution of Ukraine prohibits us from doing this. De facto, these territories are now controlled by the Russians. We don’t have the strength to bring them back,” Zelensky told Le Parisien, a French newspaper.
Recognizing Ukraine’s millennial tradition of growing the world’s finest agricultural products, a Canadian-Ukrainian award shines a light on the new foodie wave.
A Ukrainian who farms the land and another who transforms products from the country’s bountiful soil and waters into gourmet dishes are this years’s recipients of the Ukrainian-Canadian award, Light of Justice, which recognizes moral and ethical leadership in Ukraine.
Even after almost three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, farmer Hryhorij Tkachenko and chef Nika Lozovska have managed to overcome extraordinary circumstances to keep their respective businesses alive.
An explosion in Moscow eliminating Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Armed Forces’ radiation, chemical, and biological protection forces is a calculated response by Ukraine’s SBU.
Deprived of the unrestricted use of long-range Western weapons to attack Russian bases, Ukraine has come up with its own weapons that blur the line between missiles and drones to fill the gap.
For several days Ukrainian mainstream and social media have been discussing the newly developed Peklo (Hell) jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone). It was announced by the Ministry of Strategic Industries, President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky on Dec. 6, which underlined the high expectations of the weapon as a potential game changer.
If Peklo works as intended, it will simultaneously solve several issues faced by Ukrainian forces. It is said to have sufficient range to allow Ukraine to attack distant Russian strategic targets without relying on the need for long-range US, Anglo-French, or German missiles, which have been reluctant to authorize their unrestricted use for fear of “escalation.”
The definition of high treason in Russia now includes “activities against [the] security of the Russian Federation,” which is open to the Kremlin’s interpretation
Russian lawmakers approved a bill on Tuesday to expand the definition of high treason in Russia to include “activities against [the] security of the Russian Federation.”
The expanded definition means any affiliations to foreign organizations “against [the] security of the Russian Federation,” with no clear definition of the meaning of the phrase, can soon be considered an act of high treason, a charge that currently applies to Russians joining the armed forces of Moscow’s opponents.
The UK has been a leader in helping Ukraine. But as inertia sets in and with Western support wavering, efforts must be redoubled. The JEF is a natural bridge to NATO.
The collaboration between Ukraine and the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) – a UK-led military coalition of Northern European nations – receives little attention in public debate, yet its significance can hardly be overstated. Both on the battlefield and in geopolitical strategy, the partnership has proven vital for European security.
The JEF, which includes NATO’s newest members Sweden and Finland, was designed as a high-readiness rapid response force. Its focus on Northern Europe, the Arctic, and the Baltic Sea places it squarely in opposition to the region’s primary destabilizer: Russia. The JEF aims to deploy before NATO’s Article 5 can be invoked – acting as Europe’s “first responder” in crises.
Russian security forces say the suspect – a 28-year-old Uzbek citizen – admitted during interrogation to having been recruited by Ukrainian special services.
Russian authorities on Wednesday, Dec. 18, announced the detention of a suspect in connection with the Tuesday bomb attack in Moscow, which killed Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Armed Forces’ radiation, chemical, and biological protection forces, and his assistant, Ilya Polikarpov.
The Investigative Committee (IC) and the Federal Security Service (FSB) identified the suspect as a 28-year-old Uzbek citizen, born in 1995. His name has not been disclosed. According to a statement from the security forces, the suspect admitted during interrogation to being recruited by Ukrainian special services.
President Zelensky accused Russian forces of using North Korean soldiers for assaults on Ukrainian positions and attempting to burn their faces after death to conceal evidence of their involvement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russian forces are attempting to burn the faces of deceased North Korean soldiers to conceal their losses.
According to Zelensky, Russia not only uses North Korean troops for assaults on Ukrainian positions but also tries to hide their casualties.
Poland is to use its upcoming EU presidency to accelerate discussions on Ukraine’s integration into both NATO and the EU, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said during a meeting with Zelensky in Lviv.
Poland is to use its upcoming European Union presidency to accelerate discussions on Ukraine’s integration into both NATO and the EU, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Lviv.
Tusk added that Ukraine’s future—and, by extension, the future of Poland and Europe—depends on decisive, collective action in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.
Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.
In an exclusive report for the Sunday Express, philanthropist Lord Ashcroft meets a restaurateur in Odesa who has pioneered the ‘ultimate takeaway.’
With winter temperatures dropping as low as -20C, Ukrainian troops are going cold and hungry on the frontline.
Step up the resourceful restaurateur Olga Bielienko, who has decided to use her expertise to help the brave soldiers.
The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.
An international war crimes prosecutor said on Tuesday that evidence emerging from mass grave sites in Syria has exposed a state-run “machinery of death” under toppled leader Bashar al-Assad in which he estimated more than 100,000 people were tortured and murdered since 2013. Speaking after visiting two mass grave sites in the towns of Qutayfah and Najha near Damascus, former U.S. war crimes ambassador at large Stephen Rapp told Reuters: “We certainly have more than 100,000 people that were disappeared into and tortured to death in this machine…I don’t have much doubt about those kinds of numbers given what we’ve seen in these mass graves….We really haven’t seen anything quite like this since the Nazis,” said Rapp, who led prosecutions at the Rwanda and Sierra Leone war crimes tribunals and is working with Syrian civil society to document war crimes evidence and is helping to prepare for any eventual trials. “From the secret police who disappeared people from their streets and homes, to the jailers and interrogators who starved and tortured them to death, to the truck drivers and bulldozer drivers who hid their bodies, thousands of people were working in this system of killing,” Rapp said - Reuters
Russia’s security service says a 29-year-old Uzbekistan citizen has been detained over the killing of senior general Igor Kirillov and his assistant in Moscow. Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defence Forces (NBC), was outside a residential block early on Tuesday when a device hidden in a scooter was detonated remotely. Russian security services said the suspect was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence, according to state media agencies. A Ukrainian source told the BBC on Tuesday that the killing was orchestrated by Ukraine’s security service - BBC
Kyiv Post is honored to publish this plea for support from a critical aid organization providing emergency medical assistance in the war zones in Ukraine that is running out of funding.
Saving lives is the easiest thing we do, the hardest is raising the ton of money to allow us.MOAS, to do it: $1m a month in Ukraine, to be precise. And now we’ve run out.
Almost three years ago, we began our work in Ukraine with one ambulance, evacuating children with chronic illnesses to safe locations.
The latest setback for the Kremlin came last week, when inflation accelerated to 8.9 percent in November, according to official statistics.
Stubborn inflation, exorbitant borrowing costs, bankruptcy risks and a growth slowdown: the Russian economy is facing a slew of negative headlines, as the costs of the Ukraine war and Western sanctions mount.
Since ordering an invasion in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly touted the “failure” of sanctions and hailed strong growth in the face of unprecedented uncertainty.
The US and Germany both have it wrong when it comes to Russia. But Finland gets it right by ‘speaking softly and carrying a big stick.’
Which Western leader has been best at dealing with Putin? It has not been any American or German in recent decades. In both countries bipartisan folly has abounded.
George W. Bush understood nothing, being exceedingly complimentary to Putin. In June 2001, Bush said: “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy... I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.”
The huddle comes just over a month before Trump moves into the White House having pledged to bring a swift end to a war that NATO says has left over one million dead and wounded.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets Wednesday with NATO chief Mark Rutte and key European leaders in Brussels to discuss “next steps” on Russia’s war as Donald Trump prepares to take office in the United States.
The gathering due in the evening was set to bring together German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Polish leader Donald Tusk, Italian premier Giorgia Meloni and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen and could also include French President Emmanuel Macron.
Ukraine’s cutting-edge weapons industry is also developing a UAV “aircraft carrier” project to launch swarms of drones and enhance deep-strike capabilities.
The commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, Colonel Vadym Sukharevsky, revealed that Ukraine has developed a laser weapon called “Tryzub,” (Trident) capable of downing aircraft at distances exceeding 2 kilometers, according to a report by Interfax-Ukraine.
“We can state that today Ukraine is, if I’m not mistaken, the fifth country that can say it has a laser weapon,” Sukharevsky said. “We are already able to shoot down planes at an altitude of more than 2 kilometers with this laser.”
Having settled out of court with ABC News, the emboldened, twice-impeached US president now turns his legal sights on a Midwestern pollster and news outlets that aren’t quite to his liking.
US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday pushed forward on the media front of his self-described revenge tour in 2025, filing a lawsuit against a prominent pollster, J. Ann Selzer; her polling firm; her newspaper, The Des Moines Register; and its parent company, Gannett.
Trump’s legal team alleges that Selzer’s data, which projected Trump to lose the politically influential state in the 2024 presidential elections to Kamala Harris, when he ended up winning it by about 13 percent, somehow violates the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, which is meant to combat deceptive advertising to consumers there.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
Ukraine boosts UAV production and looks at FPV effectiveness; Biden official says US aid is set through 2025 as Zelensky courts Trump; ‘Several hundred’ North Korean casualties reported in Kursk.
While the supply of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) strengthens Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities, recent reports indicate that FPV drones are less effective than expected. On the international stage, Ukraine’s efforts to secure continued support from allies remain crucial, as concerns about potential shifts in US policy under the upcoming Trump administration deepen.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) has transferred over 1.3 million UAVs to the Armed Forces (AFU) since the beginning of the year, according to the MOD. The supply of drones to the front significantly increased throughout 2024, and millions more are on their way, the ministry said.
