Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hailed the disputed annexation of Ukrainian territories as an army victory and said it has turned the Sea of Azov into an inland sea for Russia.
The Sea of Azov borders Ukraine and Russia, but Putin has illegally annexed land on the Ukrainian side. Putin, addressing members of his Human Rights Council, said even Peter the Great fought for the sea centuries ago.
And he said recent fake referendums in the annexed territories have shown that the population is part of Russia. Still, Putin claimed that the “special operation of the army” he refuses to call war “could be a long process. “
Putin dismissed claims that he would use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, calling them a deterrent. He said Russia would use “all available means” to protect its territory, adding annexed spaces of Ukraine.
“We don’t have crazy things,” he said Wednesday. We know perfectly well what nuclear weapons are. “
UKRAINE ATTACKS RUSSIA: U. S. U. S. Says It “Neither Allowed” Drone Strikes
Other developments:
►The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine may be only 3 times higher than the UN estimate, Fredrik Wesslau, outgoing deputy director of the European Union Advisory Mission in Ukraine, told the Kyiv Independent.
►A significant increase in the number of other people seeking to be informed in Ukrainian about the most prominent trend of the year, according to language app Duolingo, which has recorded more than 1. 3 million such cases since the war began last February. This increase is partly motivated by interest in countries that have hosted large numbers of Ukrainian refugees.
At least 16 other people were killed when a truck carrying the corps of army workers collided with a minibus at a Russian-controlled domain in Ukraine’s hotly contested Donetsk region, the Russian government said.
The European Union on Wednesday proposed bans and asset freezes on nearly two hundred more Russian officials and military officers as part of a new sanctions circular.
►The Help Ukraine Center, a volunteer organization that provides aid through its main warehouse in neighboring Poland, has appealed to donors on its website: “NO MORE CLOTHES, PLEASE. “The center searches for medical, food and hygiene products. .
In his televised remarks on Wednesday, Putin sought to deny rumors of a momentary mobilization of reservists, saying, “There is no need for the Defense Ministry and the country to do this. “
A Washington think tank says it’s an attempt to appease the public and facts about the war after the first mobilization in September sparked uproar and prompted thousands of Russian troops to flee the country.
The Institute for War Studies says Putin also seeks to prevent conscripts and their families from complaining about conscription, which has been followed by reports that new infantrymen were poorly trained and poorly equipped and that many ineligible men were forced to serve.
Putin “signed a law banning gatherings in government buildings, universities, schools, hospitals, ports, exercise stations, churches and airports, most likely to quell riots and protests among the mobilized men and their families,” the institute said, adding that reports of mobilization in 2023 have been persistent.
Russia is again turning to Iran as a weapon to bolster a reduced arsenal, raising questions about the ramifications of its increased cooperation, according to two officials familiar with the matter.
The option of Iran selling surface-to-surface missiles to Russia, in addition to the drones Moscow will gain from its continued attack on Ukraine, is worrisome for the United States, said a National Security Council official who spoke to The Associated. Press on condition of anonymity.
The Shahed drones the Kremlin received from Iran have played a leading role in Russia’s crusade to destroy Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, though Kyivan forces are more adept at shooting them down.
A United Nations diplomat who also spoke on condition of anonymity told the AP that Iran intends to sell Russia a slew of missiles and drones in violation of the 2015 Security Council solution that approved the nuclear deal between Tehran and six major powers. Russia is one of them, raising the question of what it would supply Iran in exchange for weapons.
Developing military ties between the two countries may have “massive implications for the security of the region,” the diplomat said.
A third of Ukrainians have been driven from their homes and the scale of civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure is “shocking,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk Turk said on Wednesday, speaking from Ukraine at the end of a four-day visit. , said 6. 5 million Ukrainians had fled their homes to seek refuge in the battered country of more than 40 million people. Another 7. 8 million Ukrainians have registered as refugees across Europe, he said.
Turk said a new report documents the “intentional” killings of 441 civilians in 3 northern regions coming with Kyiv in the first weeks of the war, killings that most likely amounted to a “war crime. “
“I am worried that Ukraine will have a long, dark winter,” Türk said. “The consequences of the war on the enjoyment of human rights for the rest of the people of the country have already been devastating, and the diagnosis is very worrying. “
Sub-zero temperatures and lack of heating and running water due to infrastructure damaged by pumps have greatly increased the threat to other already vulnerable people in Ukraine, he said, adding that the elderly, the youngest, the handicapped and the sick.
“My call is to all those involved in hostilities to fully respect (humanitarian law), especially in the most delicate and emotional circumstances,” he said, adding that “a violation in one aspect does not legitimize violations in another. “
Russia’s U. N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said Ukraine sought to destroy Russians “so that they cease to exist as a country. “He defended missile and drone strikes on cities, saying the strikes targeted infrastructure used for military purposes.
Time magazine named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as its Person of the Year and said, “This year’s selection is the clearest in living memory. “Kyiv after the Russian invasion on February 24.
“From his first 40-second Instagram post on February 25, in which it appeared that his cabinet and civil society were intact and in position, to the daily speeches delivered remotely to figures such as the Houses of Parliament, the World Bank and the Grammy Awards, Ukraine’s president everywhere,” wrote Time. “Their data offensive repositioned the geopolitical weather system, triggering a wave of action that swept across the globe. “
Popular Russian broadcaster Alexander Sladkov advised the Russian military to attack central Kyiv “in a call for peace in Donbass. “Sladkov said the attacks are targeting Maidan Square, home to the independence monument honoring Ukraine’s liberation from the Soviet Union in 1991. Sladkov said efforts to start ceasefire negotiations in the Donbass trading provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk will be in vain until Kyiv feels the full effect of Moscow’s power.
“As long as we don’t make minced meat in central Kyiv, the bombing of Donetsk will not stop,” he said.
Russia is seeking to “freeze” the war to regroup its troops during the winter months before launching a “major offensive” in the spring, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday. on the depletion of Western weapons stockpiles.
Stoltenberg said he had no data on Ukraine’s obvious drone movements in Russia, but said Kyiv was struggling to protect itself as Moscow bombed civilian infrastructure.
“They want a giant amount of ammunition, spare portions and also maintenance,” Stoltenberg said.
Contribute: The Associated Press