2023-12-19 16:05:02
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to journalists on Tuesday, December 19, at the end of a year marked by the disappointed hope of a major counter-offensive, followed by the crumbling of Western support and increased pressure from Russia on the front.
Information to remember
⇒ Zelensky wants to mobilize “up to 500,000 people”
⇒ The UN regrets that the world is “jaded”
⇒ The Kremlin intends to “circumvent” the new sanctions
Ukrainian army wants to mobilize up to 500,000 people, says Zelensky
The Ukrainian army, which is struggling to find volunteers, has offered to mobilize “450,000 to 500,000 people” to continue fighting the Russian invasion, declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while specifying that he had not not yet made a decision.
“When we talk about mobilization, we must understand that for one soldier, there are six civilians who work to finance it,” he stressed. However, “how can we find three million additional taxpayers from January?” he asked journalists. Russia has 617,000 soldiers in Ukraine, its President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday, who ruled out a second wave of mobilization in his country.
Ukraine will produce “one million drones” in 2024, announces Zelensky
Ukraine will produce “one million drones” for its army in 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced, as these devices play a crucial role in the war against Russia.
“We will produce a million drones next year,” he assured during his annual press conference in kyiv. According to Ukrainian officials, Ukrainian forces need 100,000 to 120,000 drones of various types per month to hold out against the Russian army.
‘No one’ knows when war with Russia will end, Zelensky warns
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned this evening that “no one” could predict the date of the end of the war against Russia while assuring, despite signs of crumbling Western support, that the United States would not “betray ” Ukraine.
The leader held a press conference to take stock of a difficult year, marked by the disappointed hope of a major counter-offensive, followed by the crumbling of Western support and increased pressure from Russia on the forehead. Faced with a shortage of soldiers on the front, the Ukrainian army offered to mobilize “450,000 to 500,000 people”, he said, an enormous figure for this country.
Putin in front of the hierarchs of his army
Vladimir Putin praised Tuesday, in front of the hierarchs of his army, the “consolidation” of society” behind his assault on Ukraine, a few months before the presidential election and the second anniversary of a murderous war. Taking stock of the he year 2023, the Russian president once again criticized the West for waging war on him through Ukraine, accused his neighbor of Nazism and called into question the existence of the Ukrainian nation. And he again presented this conflict as a struggle for Russia’s survival against the West.
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“Perhaps the most important thing is […] this general consolidation of all the forces of society. I once thank those who help our fighters on the front,” he said in front of an audience of generals, senior officials and even the Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, gathered at the Ministry of Defense.
The UN regrets that the world is “jaded”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights regrets that the world is “blasé” about the war in Ukraine where war crimes continue to be “committed mainly by the forces of the Russian Federation” .
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The evidence assembled by the Office of the High Commissioner “continues to document flagrant violations of international human rights law, serious violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes, mainly committed by the forces of the Federation of Russia”, denounced Volker Türk on Tuesday in Geneva during a debate on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine before members of the Human Rights Council.
The Kremlin intends to “circumvent” the new sanctions
The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that Russia would “circumvent” new European sanctions on the lucrative diamond trade, which the EU sees as a source of financing its offensive in Ukraine.
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Western countries have adopted a significant number of economic sanctions against Moscow since the start of its attack in Ukraine almost two years ago. The European Union adopted a twelfth package of measures of this type on Monday, notably banning the import of Russian diamonds.
Candidate pledges allegiance to Putin
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Russian nationalist and Kremlin loyalist Leonid Slutsky, named Tuesday by his party as candidate for the March 2024 presidential election, immediately promised that Vladimir Putin’s victory will be “enormous”. Leonid Slutski’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) is one of the political groups constituting the parliamentary opposition on paper, but which in reality supports the master of the Kremlin. He is the first candidate designated to face Vladimir Putin, and a few others, equally attached to the Russian leader, should follow.
The EBRD increases its investments in Ukraine
READ ALSO: War in Ukraine: Europe facing the specter of a lasting conflict
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Tuesday a capital increase of 4 billion euros, which will notably allow “significant and sustainable investments in Ukraine’s real economy”. The governors of the institution “approved a resolution aimed at increasing the contributed capital of the Bank by 4 billion euros, thus bringing its capital base to 34 billion euros”, announced the EBRD in a press release .
14 foreigners convicted of espionage
A Polish court on Tuesday convicted 14 members of a dismantled spy network for preparing acts of sabotage and carrying out intelligence activities for the benefit of Russia.
“After examining the case, the court found all the defendants guilty of the crimes charged and found that some of them operated within an organized criminal group,” announced Judge Jaroslaw Kowalski while pronouncing the verdict.
Disclose’s revelations on Decathlon
The French sporting and leisure goods group Decathlon continued to deliver clothes to the Russian buyer of its stores, notably through a “shell company” in Dubai, according to an investigation published Tuesday by the media Disclose.
While most Western groups left the country after the start of the war in Ukraine, Decathlon, for example, delivered Kalenji jogging jackets, Wedze ski jackets and Quechua pants and shoes to Russian Desport stores, for a total of of at least 12 million dollars (around 11 million euros).
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