www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/dec/19/russia-ukraine-war-live-news-drone-strike-on-kyiv-uk-to-announce-new-artillery-package
An air raid alert has been issued across Kyiv and most of Ukraine, according to officials.
A statement by the Kyiv regional military administration reads:
Air alarm in the Kyiv region. Stay tuned for further posts.
Deutsche Welle’s Emmanuelle Chaze shares a map of where air sirens have sounded in Ukraine:
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Emmanuelle Chaze
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 Air raid alert over Kyiv and North/Eastern Ukraine.
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6:37 AM · Dec 19, 2022
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Last Updated: 06:47 Monday, 19 December 2022
51m ago
Zelenskiy urges western leaders to ramp up supply of air defence systems to Ukraine
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, asked western leaders meeting in Latvia to ramp up the supply of a wide range of weapons systems to his country.
Addressing a meeting in Riga of leaders of countries in the Joint Expeditionary Force, which includes Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, Zelenskiy said:
Russian aggression can and must fail. The task now is to make sure it happens faster. I call upon you to do everything to accelerate the defeat of the occupiers.
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks via video link as Latvian prime minister Krisjanis Karins and British prime minister Rishi Sunak listen during a Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) plenary session in Riga, Latvia. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images
Millions had been left without heat and water after Russia launched further attacks using Iranian drones last night, he said.
He continued:
May I ask you to increase the possibility of supplying air defence systems to our country … 100% air shield for Ukraine, that would be one of the most successful steps against Russian aggression and this step is required right now.
Last Updated: 06:32 Monday, 19 December 2022
1h ago
Summary
The time in Kyiv is nearly 1pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s stories so far:
A Russian drone attack caused “fairly serious” damage in Kyiv region on Monday and three areas in the region have been left without power supply, governor Oleksiy Kuleba has said. Russia unleashed 35 “kamikaze” drones on Ukraine in the early hours of Monday as many people slept, hitting critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv in Moscow’s third air attack on the Ukrainian capital in six days.
Ukraine’s air force says it shot down 30 out of 35 Russian-launched Shahed drones overnight. The Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones were reportedly launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov, the force added.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down four US-made HARM anti-radiation missiles over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, in the space of 24 hours, the state-run TASS news agency has reported. One person died and several were injured by Ukrainian shelling in the region on Sunday morning, the region’s governor told Reuters.
Belarus’ defence ministry said on Monday it had completed a series of inspections of its armed forces’ military preparedness, hours ahead of a visit to Minsk by Belarus’ most important ally, the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Weeks of military manoeuvres and inspections have raised fears in Kyiv that Belarus, which acted as a staging post for Russia to launch its invasion of Ukraine in February, could be preparing to take a more active role in the conflict once again, Reuters reported.
Russian troops that were moved to Belarus in October to become part of a regional formation will conduct battalion tactical exercises, the Russian Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing the Russian defence ministry.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is due to fly to Belarus on Monday amid fears he intends to pressure the former Soviet ally to join a new ground offensive against Ukraine and open a new front. His visit for talks with the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, will be his first to Minsk since 2019.
Russian military proxy group Wagner continues to take a major role in attritional combat around Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. In recent months, the group has developed offensive tactics to make use of the large number of poorly trained convicts it has recruited, the ministry notes in its latest intelligence report.
Rishi Sunak has touched down in the Latvian capital, where he is meeting northern European allies to discuss countering Russian aggression. He will urge fellow leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force to stand firm in their support for Ukraine, after announcing a major new artillery package for the war-torn nation.
EU countries will need to reach a compromise on a gas price cap on Monday, and the latest proposal on the table offers a good basis to do so, Malta’s energy minister, Miriam Dalli, has said. “What the presidency is proposing is a very good step in the right direction,” Dalli said before entering a meeting of the EU’s energy ministers.
Four people in the southern Russian border region of Belgorod were reportedly wounded by shelling on Sunday, the governor said. Witnesses reported loud blasts in the regional capital.
Ukraine’s forces are holding on to the heavily contested eastern city of Bakhmut, according to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “The Bakhmut direction is key,” he said in his latest national address. “We keep the city, although the occupiers are doing everything so that not a single undamaged wall remains there.”
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for now. My colleague Léonie Chao-Fong will be along shortly to continue bringing you the latest from Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Last Updated: 06:11 Monday, 19 December 2022
2h ago
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down four US-made HARM anti-radiation missiles over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, in the space of 24 hours, the state-run TASS news agency has reported.
One person died and several were injured by Ukrainian shelling in the region on Sunday morning, the region’s governor told Reuters.
Last Updated: 05:51 Monday, 19 December 2022
2h ago
Belarus’ defence ministry said on Monday it had completed a series of inspections of its armed forces’ military preparedness, hours ahead of a visit to Minsk by Belarus’ most important ally, the Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Weeks of military manoeuvres and inspections have raised fears in Kyiv that Belarus, which acted as a staging post for Russia to launch its invasion of Ukraine in February, could be preparing to take a more active role in the conflict once again, Reuters reported.
Last Updated: 05:30 Monday, 19 December 2022
3h ago
Rishi Sunak has touched down in the Latvian capital, where he is meeting northern European allies to discuss countering Russian aggression.
The UK prime minister landed in snowy Riga at 11.20am local time, stepping out of the plane into a gusty -4C, PA Media reported.
He will urge fellow leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force to stand firm in their support for Ukraine, after announcing a major new artillery package for the war-torn nation.
He will continue his whistlestop tour by flying to Estonia later on Monday, where he will meet British troops and sign a new technology partnership.
Last Updated: 04:36 Monday, 19 December 2022
3h ago
Russia’s drone attack caused “fairly serious” damage in Kyiv region on Monday and three areas in the region have been left without power supply, governor Oleksiy Kuleba has said.
Russia unleashed 35 “kamikaze” drones on Ukraine in the early hours of Monday as many people slept, hitting critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv in Moscow’s third air attack on the Ukrainian capital in six days.
Last Updated: 04:14 Monday, 19 December 2022
3h ago
EU countries will need to reach a compromise on a gas price cap on Monday, and the latest proposal on the table offers a good basis to do so, Malta’s energy minister, Miriam Dalli, has said.
“What the presidency is proposing is a very good step in the right direction,” Dalli said before entering a meeting of the EU’s energy ministers.
“It shows also the willingness to arrive at a compromise today. I’m convinced that today we will mange to compromise, I believe that the willingness is there. Today is crunch time.”
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