Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 01-04-2025

Many who say they want peace in Ukraine are actually seeking Ukraine’s capitulation.

It seems the Argentinian leftist and proponent of liberation theology, the one who rose through the ranks to become God’s emissary on Earth, has decided to issue a statement on Ukraine, one as candid as it is naive.  The  Pope articulated what many in the global community really wanted  but  hesitated to declare publicly.

Two opposing wings of the American political spectrum don’t really want peace in Ukraine.  What they want is for UKRAINE TO CAPITULATE.  The left-wing progressives and right-wing isolationists are united in their animosity toward traditional NATO-centric US foreign policy.

The ruling came after a lawsuit brought by Russia’s prosecutor’s office against the Yandex maps service to remove the images of what is considered to be a military installation.

The Moscow courts website reported on Thursday that the Khamovnichesky District Court had made a legal ruling that has ordered Yandex to remove images of the Ryazan Oil Refinery Company (RNPK), a subsidiary of Rosneft, from its maps service.

A lawsuit brought by Russia’s prosecutor’s office said that as the plant, which is located at the Yuzhny Industrial Hub in Ryazan, is included in the country’s register of enterprises of the military-industrial complex it was illegal to publish it online.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

A pilot with seven years of experience at South Korea’s Muan International Airport testified that he had never been informed about the existence of a concrete mound housing a localiser on the airport’s runway, nor had he been able to distinguish it from a dirt pile. The concrete structure is believed to have significantly exacerbated the severity of the accident, as the aircraft’s collision with the solid mound during its belly landing is thought to have triggered the catastrophic explosion. Pilot and flight instructor A, who has used Muan airport for seven years, told Yonhap News on Thursday, “I’ve seen the mound from the air during countless take-offs and landings and assumed it was a dirt pile. It never occurred to me that it was made of concrete.” He said, “There was no indication in the airport charts or separate guidance mentioning that the mound was a 2-metre-high, 4-metre-thick concrete structure. Other pilots were also unaware of its true nature.” The Jeju Air accident occurred on December 29 at 8:57am. The control tower had issued a bird strike warning just before the aircraft attempted a belly landing. During the landing, the aircraft collided with the localiser’s concrete mound, leading to an explosion. The crash resulted in the deaths of 179 passengers and injuries to two crew members - Korea Times

In an extraordinary turn, a judge Friday set President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money criminal case for Jan. 10 — little over a week before he’s due to return to the White House — but indicated he wouldn’t be jailed. The development nevertheless leaves Trump on course to be the first president to take office convicted of felony crimes. Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump’s trial, signaled in a written decision that he’d sentence the former and future president to what’s known as an unconditional discharge, in which a conviction stands but the case is closed without jail time, a fine or probation. Trump can appear virtually for sentencing, if he chooses. Rejecting Trump’s push to dismiss the verdict and throw out the case on presidential immunity grounds and because of his impending second term, Merchan wrote that only “bringing finality to this matter” would serve the interests of justice. Trump was convicted last year on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in what prosecutors alleged was a scheme to buy the silence of a porn actor with whom he had an affair - AP

One person was killed and seven injured in the Russian missile attack.

A rescue operation has been completed in Chernihiv, Ukraine following a triple missile strike in the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 3 that left one person dead and several others injured.

Dmytro Bryzhynsky, head of the Chernihiv Regional Military Administration (RMA), confirmed the conclusion of the operation in a Telegram post.

The woman joins a young man, a truck driver, who died Friday

A young woman injured by debris from a downed Russian drone in the Kyiv region on Friday, Jan. 3 has died in the hospital, authorities confirmed Saturday.

Mykola Kalashnyk, the acting head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, shared the news on Facebook, reporting that the woman, born in 2002, sustained a severe stomach wound. Despite medical efforts to save her, she succumbed to her injuries after nearly a day of treatment.

The attack led to the destruction of 78 servers, the disabling of 211 workstations, and the erasure of all backups, according to sources within HUR.

Ukrainian hackers from the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) launched a cyberattack on the Russian company LLC “RegionTransService” on Saturday, Jan. 4, completely disrupting the company’s operations and leaving all of its servers disabled in a strike coinciding with the birthday of HUR head Kyrylo Budanov, sources in HUR told Kyiv Post in a written statement.

“RegionTransService,” a leading provider of freight wagon maintenance services, was specifically targeted due to its critical role in supporting Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

As Putin’s circle appears to reject proposals from Trump’s team, eyes are on the US President Elect – will he capitulate or will he channel his Cold War predecessors?

Recent headlines in international media have conveyed the message that “Russia Rejects Donald Trump’s Ukraine Peace Plan.”

There have been no officially reported negotiations or meetings, yet the Kremlin has publicly fired its first salvo of “nyet,” and set a demand that any direct peace talks between Russia and the new US administration will not happen with Ukraine’s presence.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister confirms a three-month reduction in the training period for its pilots on US F-16 fighters to get them up to speed as quickly as possible.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Serhiy Melnyk told the ArmyInform in-house journal on Thursday that there has been a significant reduction in the F-16 pilot training program. The initiative has called for the scheme to be cut by three months to accelerate the rate at which the flyers become operational.

Melnyk suggested during an armed forces ministerial-level meeting in November that there was also going to be an expanded and accelerated training program for Ukrainian pilot cadets that would increase numbers and better prepare them for the move towards “fast jet” training. This would in some ways compensate for a reduction in the overall F-16 training schedule as trainees would be assessed before progressing to the next phase.

The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology reported that 38% of Ukrainians said they would be willing to give up territory for peace, 51% said no land concessions should ever be made.

A majority of Ukrainian respondents asked opposed ceding any land captured by Russia in exchange for peace, a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) survey shared on Tuesday found.

The opinion survey, used a random sample of mobile phone numbers in all regions of Ukraine controlled by the Ukrainian Government. 

The White House supplied long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine which can penetrate inside Russia following the entry of North Korean soldiers fighting on Russia’s side into the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Russia said on Saturday it had shot down eight US-supplied ATACMS missiles, whose use Moscow has warned could spark a hypersonic ballistic missile attack on central Kyiv.

ATACMS missiles have a maximum range of 190 miles (300 kilometers) according to publicly available data.

Ukraine’s leading steel company and pipe producer has added military production to its outputs.

Metinvest Group, a mining and metals company that belongs to Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov as a part of SCM Holding, manufactured and assembled armored protection for the control module of the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system, the company wrote in its press release on Friday.

“Engineers from Metinvest have already mounted the first armor on an operational air defense control module,” the press release said.

The global fintech company and a digital bank has announced that its beta-testing on Ukraine’s market to possibly launch operations.

The fintech company and a digital bank Revolut, headquartered in London, launched beta testing of its app in Ukraine and wants to enter market, Forbes Ukraine reported on Friday. 

The Ukrainian language is already available in the bank’s app. 

Poland has assumed the presidency of the Council of the European Union. What’s on the agenda.

Poland launched its presidency of the Council of the EU on Friday mired in a diplomatic row with Hungary that underscored a deepening sense of political disunity across Europe just as it confronts a raft of major global challenges.

Politics

Among the strikes was an afternoon missile attack on Chernihiv that left at least one person dead

At least five people were killed in a series of Russian and Ukrainian strikes on Friday, officials said, the latest casualties of the nearly three-year war.

Among the strikes was an afternoon Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, which left at least one person dead and damaged a residential area, according to authorities.

A ship suspected of being part of Russia’s “Shadow Fleet” may have sabotaged a sea cable.

Sweden said Friday it was sending a military ship to help Finnish investigations into the cutting of a Baltic undersea cable, which Helsinki suspects was sabotaged by a Russian-linked vessel.

Finland’s transport agency said Thursday that it was inspecting the Eagle S, a tanker suspected of being part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.”

Ukrainian enterprises have been working hard in the face of Russia’s ongoing invasion, keeping the economy resilient despite some prominent emerging concerns.

In 2024, Ukraine’s economy remained resilient. Still, government officials began looking at necessary but unpopular policies such as raising taxes, Chief Executive of The Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) Oksana Kuziakiv told Kyiv Post.

The IER was created back in 1999 when Ukraine lacked independent economic research to create policy and advise the government. It has helped Ukraine to become a member of the World Trade Organization, develop civil society foundations and become ready to start membership negotiations with the EU. It also launched research to observe business sentiment.

The year ahead will see competition between Trump, Putin, and their opposing world views.

The world continued to be ground down by violence at home and wars in Ukraine, Israel, and Sudan, and yet stock markets soared. Will 2025 be worse, better, or similar?

Forecasting is always foolish, but signs, trends, personalities, and events point to specific probable outcomes.

The Ministry of Defense has presented a new application to computerize statistics.

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the launch of the “Strike Report” application, designed to digitalize combat statistics and reduce paperwork, Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov announced on Facebook.

According to Umerov, the new project aims to improve several aspects of statistical reporting within the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).

The Ukrainian-built UAV, one of many thousands of similar weapons deployed in Ukraine, ended its existence in a kamikaze strike against a Russian tank.

The little Ukrainian kamikaze drone ended its service life pretty much as its creators had hoped and planned it would – in a suicide attack against the thin rear armor of a Russian T-72 tank operating in the eastern Kharkiv sector in late November.

A Defense Ministry spokesman said on Dec. 16 that drone production is one of Ukraine’s great military success stories, with the count of UAVs manufactured by state-run, commercial and grass-roots manufacturers on track to top the 1.3 million mark by year’s end.