Live blog: Ukraine in process of acquiring Patriot missile system from US
Meanwhile, Russian forces have shelled the center of Kherson, the major city they retreated from last month, and strikes on the Russian region of Belgorod have killed one and injured several others, as fighting enters its 297th day.
The Ukrainian leader said he is directly involved in the acquiring process of the Patriot missile system because of his “personal relationship with (US) President (Joe) Biden.”
Sunday, December 18, 2022
Ukraine in process of acquiring Patriot missile system from US
Ukraine is in the process of acquiring the Patriot air defence system from the US, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
“The process is ongoing, and I am personally involved in it. It is very necessary… (and) important for us,” Zelenskyy told a French news channel, according to a report by Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform.
He said Kiev is also waiting on a decision from Italy and France on the delivery of the SAMP/T Mamba air defence systems.
Zelenskyy calls for a global peace summit in video message
Ukraine's President Zelenskyy has proposed holding a global peace summit this winter, in a video message Kiev was hoping would be broadcast ahead of the soccer World Cup final in Qatar, although it appeared unlikely FIFA would allow the move.
CNN reported on Friday that Zelenskyy had asked world soccer's governing body FIFA to let him share a message of peace before the final.
"I announce the initiative to hold a Global Peace Formula Summit this winter. The summit is to unite all nations of the world around the cause of global peace. Stadiums’ stands get empty after the match, and after the war, cities remain empty," he said.
Ukrainian grain ships are finally arriving at East African ports. They're sailing as part of the Turkish and UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative, and bringing much-needed relief to a region gripped by historic drought
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Watch the full Show: https://t.co/GdcOmNagTM pic.twitter.com/Xcx0dTaM6J
Russian shelling targets the heart of city of Kherson
Russian military forces have shelled the center of Kherson, the major city that Russian soldiers retreated from last month in one of Moscow's biggest battlefield setbacks in Ukraine.
Three people were wounded in the attacks, said presidential deputy chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
The southern city and its surrounding region have come under frequent attacks since the Russian pullback. Regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said Sunday that Russia had carried out 54 attacks with rocket, mortar and tank fire over the previous day, killing three people and wounding six.
One dead, several injured in strikes on Russian region: governor
Strikes on the Russian region of Belgorod that borders Ukraine have killed one person and injured several others, the regional governor said, two days after attacks by Moscow battered Ukraine's energy grid.
Air defence systems were operating over the region earlier Sunday, with strikes targeting the regional capital and a surrounding district, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on social media.
Overall eight people were injured in Sunday's strikes. Seven of them are in hospital, one in intensive care, Gladkov said.
He said more than a dozen residential buildings and several cars were damaged across the region's main city Belgorod.
It's time for a negotiated peace in Ukraine, Kissinger says
The time is approaching for a negotiated peace in Ukraine to reduce the risk of another devastating world war, but dreams of breaking up Russia could unleash nuclear chaos, veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger has said.
Kissinger, an architect of the Cold War policy of detente towards the Soviet Union as secretary of state under Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, has met Vladimir Putin multiple times since he first became president in 2000.
The Kremlin says Kiev must acknowledge Moscow's annexation of southern and eastern regions. Ukraine says every Russian soldier must leave its territory, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Kiev applied to join NATO after Moscow announced the annexations in September.
Footages reveal the scale of destruction in Ukraine’s Bakhmut city pic.twitter.com/FRXHHFolqC
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Heating restored in freezing Kiev: Mayor Klitschko
Heating has been fully restored to Kiev after the latest Russian bombardment that targeted water and power infrastructure, the capital's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
"The city is restoring all services after the latest shelling," Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app. "In particular, the capital's heat supply system was fully restored. All sources of heat supply work normally."
Ukrainian officials said Russia fired more than 70 missiles on Friday in one of its heaviest barrages since the Kremlin's February 24 "special operation," forcing emergency blackouts nationwide and cutting access to heat and water.
Zelenskyy seeks reliable air defence shield
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeated his call for international allies to maintain a supply of air defence systems to Ukraine, as it deals with a seemingly relentless Russian bombing campaign.
"Dear partners. Find an opportunity to give Ukraine reliable protection of the sky, a reliable air defence shield," Zelenskyy said in his new address.
"When this happens, the main form of Russian terror, missile terror, will become simply impossible." He also stressed the importance of the commitments by allies in support of Ukraine.
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