
Ukraine sanctions Georgian oligarch Ivanishvili, PM, other officials amid pro-EU protests
The sanctions target oligarch and de facto leader of Georgian Dream Bidzina Ivanishvili and 18 other individuals.
The Power Within: The Kyiv Independent’s first-ever magazine. Be among the first to get it.
pre-order nowTeam
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
The sanctions target oligarch and de facto leader of Georgian Dream Bidzina Ivanishvili and 18 other individuals.
Romanian authorities on Dec. 4 declassified evidence of what they described as a "highly organized" social media campaign backed by a "state actor" to boost pro-Russian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu in a recent vote.
The exact list of supplies, provided in accordance with a decision on military support in late 2022, remains classified.
NATO countries will do all they can to provide Ukraine with air defenses necessary to protect its infrastructure but there is no surplus of such systems, Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Dec. 4.
The legislation was lambasted by the media and activists as an attempt to hamper investigations into corruption and other illicit activities by officials.
An undisclosed NATO source told the Ukrainian Suspilne outlet that the U.S. and Germany continue to oppose inviting Ukraine at the moment.
Ukraine's Finance Ministry and the EU signed a memorandum and an agreement to attract up to 35 billion euros ($36.7 billion) as part of the G7 loan, the ministry said on Dec. 4.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 29 of the 50 Russian drones overnight, the Air Force said. Eighteen drones were lost, and one flew to occupied territories, according to the statement.
The Russian news channel Astra wrote that Ryazan residents heard explosions near the Dyagilevo airbase on the city's outskirts. There have been no official comments on the situation in the regional center or the airbase.
U.S. far-right pundit Tucker Carlson said on Dec. 4 that he is in Moscow to interview Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, promising the discussion would be released "very soon."
The provision of HAWK, NASAMS, and IRIS-T batteries will help avert blackouts, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said as Ukraine braces for fresh attacks in the third winter of the full-scale war.
Since 2022, Oleksii Chernyshov has been the CEO of the Naftogaz Group, Ukraine's state-owned energy giant.
"Press freedom and pluralism are crucial for strengthening democracy, supporting political debate, and advancing Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic path," the G7's representation in Ukraine said on X.
NATO's two-day ministerial meeting will focus on providing Ukraine with enough military aid to enable it to enter any possible negotiations from a position of strength, Secretary General Mark Rutte said ahead of the meeting in Brussels on Dec. 3.
The perpetrators were between 14 and 15 years old at the time of the attack and included two Syrian citizens and two German citizens, the ARD news channel reported.
Ukrainian troops managed to fend off Russian forces attempting to establish a foothold on the western side of the Oskil River north of the Kharkiv Oblast town of Kupiansk, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Dec. 3.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has told U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that Washington would face a "dire threat" from China, Iran, and North Korea if Ukraine is forced to accept an unfavorable peace deal, the Financial Times reported on Dec. 2.
Moscow's forces targeted energy infrastructure facilities in several regions as Ukraine enters its third winter of the full-scale war.
Romania's presidential and parliamentary elections saw a strong showing for far-right politicians critical of military support for Ukraine. Anti-NATO and Russia-admiring independent candidate Calin Georgescu came in first during the initial round of the presidential vote on Nov. 24, with nearly 23%, a shock result that contradicted previous polling. Nationalist
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukraine's capital for the first time since June 2022, promising to announce the delivery of 650 million euros ($680 million) worth of arms to be supplied this December.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry condemned on Dec. 2 the violent crackdown by Georgian authorities against pro-EU protesters, saying the government's steps demonstrate a "turn toward Moscow."
Over 220 protesters have been detained over the past few days, the country's Interior Ministry said. This included several journalists and Zurab Japaridze, leader of the opposition Girchi – More Freedom party, who was detained on Dec. 2 before being released the same day.
Russian forces launched 110 Shahed-type drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles against Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said. Fifty-two were shot down, 50 were lost across Ukraine thanks to electronic warfare countermeasures, and six flew to Belarus and Russia, according to the statement.
Some of the North Korean soldiers deployed to fight for Russia have already been killed, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Kyodo News on Dec. 1 without revealing their numbers.
"Our army lacks the strength to do that. That is true," President Volodymyr Zelensky told Kyodo News regarding the liberation of territories held by Russia since 2014, including Crimea.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Kyiv on Dec. 2 to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and reaffirm his country's support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met a Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in Seoul on Nov. 27 to discuss the deepening military ties between Russia and North Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Slovakia's Ukraine-skeptic Prime Minister Robert Fico accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to attend the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow next May, Fico announced on Nov. 27.
Between 60,000 to 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the full-scale war, and 400,000 more are too injured to fight on, according to estimates by The Economist published on Nov. 26.
MOAS's team of all-Ukrainian medics has been evacuating critically injured troops during the three years of the full-scale war. The company said its work has managed to save 62,000 lives.
According to Ukraine's former diplomacy chief, Ukraine is a "personal obsession for Putin" but also a way to "show to the world how the West is incapable of defending itself or what it stands for."
Ukrainian drones and missiles attacked Sevastopol in occupied Crimea on Nov. 27, its Russian-installed proxy head Mikhail Razvozhayev claimed.