Here is the situation as it stands on Sunday, December 11:
Fighting
Ukraine attacked Russian-occupied Melitopol, a strategically located city in the country’s southeast. The Russian-installed administration said a missile attack killed two people and injured 10, while the exiled mayor said many “invaders” were killed.
All non-critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian port of Odesa was without power after Russia used Iranian-made drones to hit two energy facilities, leaving 1.5 million people without electricity, officials said.
Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for Odesa’s regional administration, has denied that any officials had called for evacuation. He said a Facebook post to that effect, which has since been deleted, was being investigated by Ukraine’s security services as “an element of the hybrid war” by Russia.
A Russian army helicopter flies above as volunteers of a newly formed battalion take part in training at a range outside the city of Melitopol, Russian-controlled Ukraine [File: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters]
Diplomacy
Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to conquer parts of Ukraine and shows no restraint in his brutality, but it is still important to keep contacts open in case a moment arrives to end the war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
US officials barred Russian diplomats from visiting the graves of Soviet servicemen at a cemetery on a military base in Alaska, Russian state agency TASS reported.
Russia wants to turn Ukraine into a “dependent dictatorship” like Belarus, the wife of jailed Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski said upon receiving the prize on his behalf, speaking his words.
Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, freed in a prisoner swap for US basketball star Brittney Griner, said he wished her good luck on the tarmac in Abu Dhabi where they were exchanged on Thursday.
Economy, grain
Traders have no plans to suspend grain shipments from Ukraine’s Odesa Black Sea ports due to the latest Russian attack on the region’s energy system, Agriculture Minister Mykola Solky said.
A dozen countries, including Belgium, Italy, Poland and Slovenia, have made a push to “significantly” lower a planned European Union cap on gas prices, as the bloc struggles to strike a deal on the measure.
The Russian-installed administration of Ukraine’s Kherson region says it has begun changing locally circulated Ukrainian hryvnia currency into Russian roubles, with hryvnia circulation in Moscow-controlled areas of the region to end on January 1.
– AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
