The U.K. announced sanctions on Dec. 8 against 17 members of the Belarusian judiciary, including judges, prosecutors, and an investigator, for their involvement in politically-motivated cases. The sanctioned individuals had been involved in cases against "political activists, independent journalists, and human rights defenders."
According to the prosecutors, the individual began spying for Russia in October and was tasked with taking pictures of the locations of Ukrainian troops, as well as defense and energy infrastructure in Odesa, which he then sent to his Russian contacts. He also allegedly photographed the aftermath of Russian strikes in the oblast so that future Russian attacks could be corrected for a more accurate result.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) found that Yan Petrovsky collaborated with members of the Russian-installed proxy government in occupied Luhansk Oblast and the Rusich neo-Nazi paramilitary unit to aid the Russian invasion of Ukraine starting in 2014.
The delivered items included 11 reconnaissance drones, six border protection vehicles, eight off-road Zetros trucks, 100,000 first aid kits and other medical materials, 33 GMG automatic grenade launchers, and additional 155mm artillery shells.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been in power as either president or prime minister since 1999. Constitutional changes signed by the Russian leader in 2021 allowed Putin to run for two more six-year terms, meaning he could stay in power until 2036. It is unclear if other candidates will nominally participate, but Putin's victory is all but assured.
Ukraine's state-owned railway Ukrzaliznytsia shipped 23 trucks by train that had been stuck at the Polish border amid the ongoing protest and blockade by Polish truckers, the company's press service announced on Dec. 7. Once across the Polish border, the trucks unloaded from the trains and continued their journey by road.
"As soon as this test train passes and everything is fine, we will launch it en masse," said Valerii Tkachov, deputy director of commercial work for Ukraine's state-owned railway, Ukrzaliznytsia.
According to the prosecutors, the soldier kidnapped the boy during the Russian offensive near Chernihiv and held him hostage for four days to try and force his mother, a Ukrainian soldier, to divulge the location of Ukrainian troops in the area.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions in coordination with the U.K. on Dec. 7 against two Russian nationals for their role in a wide-ranging cyber campaign against the U.S., U.K., and other Western countries.
Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian lawmaker, won Argentina's presidential election on Nov. 19 after a campaign in which he said he would seek to reduce ties to Russia and China, among other policy views that represented a break from the outgoing President Alberto Fernandez.
The Serbian branch of exiled Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk's organization is headed by Dragan Stanojevic, a Serbian politician and public figure known for his pro-Russian, anti-Ukrainian views. Stanojevic was sanctioned by Ukraine in 2021 and banned from entering the country.
Roman Mrochko, head of Kherson city's military administration, said that Russian attacks had damaged the connection to a refrigeration unit at an industrial food factory, causing an ammonia leak, which was reported as being minor and under control.
The U.K.'s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) identified a likely Russian-controlled hacking group called Star Blizzard, whose cyber activities included phishing attacks on U.K. lawmakers, leaking of secret U.K.-U.S. trade documents, and hacking into the accounts of institutions and individuals from the U.K.'s civil society.
The Republican party has increasingly soured on continuing to support Ukraine, often citing economic reasons. However, what ultimately doomed the Dec. 6 vote was the mixing of U.S. aid to Ukraine with other political issues, namely domestic border security and the U.S. aid for longtime ally Israel.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Dec. 6 signed into law a bill that increases the profit tax for banks from 18% to 50% in 2023 and sets the rate at 25% starting from 2024. Funds from the increased tax rate will be directed towards Ukraine's military expenses.
The new sanctions target both Russia's military-industrial complex and its foreign suppliers, entities and individuals associated with the Wagner Group, and four United Arab Emirates-based companies that help Russia evade sanctions on the trade of oil above the $60 per barrel price cap.
Stanislav Skala, the president of the Slovak truckers union (UNAS), said that he understood the "path to a solution is not easy" but that it is "unacceptable for the current situation to remain."
It was Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's first trip to the region since 2019. Putin has only made a few trips abroad in 2023 after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant in March for his role in the deportations of Ukrainian children.
According to the prosecutors, the soldier, a senior lieutenant and Moscow resident, was part of a group of Russian soldiers who fired upon the civilian car as it drove through the village of Velyka Komyshuvakha, near Izium in Kharkiv Oblast.
Ukraine's Air Force said on Dec. 6 that Russia had launched 48 drones overnight at Ukraine, 41 of which were destroyed by air defenses.
"Your fight is our fight. Your security is our security. That’s why the Dutch government has allocated 2.5 billion euros to support Ukraine in 2024," said Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot.
President Joe Biden said that Congress failing to vote on the funding package would be "just wrong," adding that "the failure to support Ukraine is just absolutely crazy,” and "against U.S. interests."
Cameron previously announced 29 million pounds in humanitarian aid in the leadup to his first trip to Washington as foreign secretary on Dec. 6.
On both occasions, first in April 2023 and then again in July, lawmaker Vitalii Bort stayed longer than Ukraine's parliament approved and missed work days.
The two workers, men aged 42 and 48, were buried under loose earth while working on a pipeline under a Kharkiv street. More than 30 rescue workers were quickly summoned, but the two men were already dead.
Since the Black Sea humanitarian corridor opened in August, 200 ships have passed through it, carrying 7 million metric tons of cargo from Ukrainian ports, including almost 5 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Dec. 4.
Negotiations on future EU security commitments for Ukraine have begun on the instruction of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the President's Office announced on Dec. 4.
The navy said that "the coasts and coastal waters of the Black Sea remain a fairly dangerous zone due to the threat of mines, in particular, during stormy weather."
The fund was created in 2022 with 1 million euros ($1.08 million) in seed money from Ireland, and it has since received 2 million euros ($2.2 million) from Germany and 700,000 Czech Koruna ($31,000) from the Czech Republic.
The order involves tens of thousands of 155mm NATO standard shells and is expected to be delivered in 2025. It will be produced by Rheinmetall Expal Munitions, a Spanish subsidiary.
In particular, Russia tried to inflame tensions that erupted after a series of public Quran burnings in Sweden, which resulted in protests breaking out around the Muslim world.
The Tylihulska Wind Power Plant project, which will involve an investment of more than 650 million euros ($702 million), is a joint venture that includes DTEK, the Ukrainian and Danish governments, and Western banks.
