People walk through the Fomin Botanical Garden in Kyiv on Dec. 21. Kyiv saw its first heavy snowfall of the season on the evening of Dec. 20. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
Kyiv had its first heavy snowfall of the season on the evening of Dec. 20, with 13 centimeters of snow rapidly covering the capital.
Municipal workers clean the snow in the Taras Shevchenko Park in central Kyiv on Dec. 21. Kyiv saw its first heavy snowfall of the season on the evening of Dec. 20. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
Traffic ground to a halt across the city while the number of road accidents surged. For example, a tram derailed on Kyrylivska Street in the Podil neighborhood.
Traffic remained slow on Dec. 21 as Kyiv was dealing with the consequences of the season's first heavy snowfall. Mask wearing is mandatory on public transport in Kyiv, but passengers often pull their masks down during the ride. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
The city authorities reported that they deployed 287 snow plows and 354 municipal workers to clean the snow off the streets.
A boy sleds down a hill in central Kyiv on Dec. 21. Kyiv saw its first heavy snowfall of the winter on Dec. 20. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
The snowfall was accompanied by a cold snap: Temperature fell to -9 degrees Celsius on Dec. 21 and is expected to stay below zero for most of the week. Due to the cold weather, heating points have opened in Kyiv.
Kyiv saw its first heavy snowfall of the season on the evening of Dec. 20. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
On the bright side, Kyiv saw its first glimpse of sunlight in several weeks the day after the snowfall. Daily snowfalls are forecasted to begin again on Dec. 24.
Real winter came to Kyiv on Dec. 20-21, with the season's first heavy snowfall and the temperatures sliding to minus 9 Celsius. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
The bill's passage is a condition for unlocking an approximately $700 million IMF tranche and 3.7 billion euros ($4.1 billion) in EU macro-financial assistance.
"These are frozen Russian assets held in Europe, belonging to Russians who are destroying Ukraine and killing people there every day... the idea of releasing these assets is completely out of the question," said Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.
"All of us in Europe want this war to end. And for that to happen, strong signals are needed — more real pressure on Russia and more defense support for Ukraine," Zelensky wrote on social media upon arrival.
Romanian authorities opened an investigation into the possibility of a drone strike on one of the tankers, after drones violated the country's airspace overnight.
"Every step now to help the Russians increase their financing of the war is a bad sign. We very much stick to Volodymyr Zelensky's view on this," Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
"The fact that the ECHR has accepted the complaint and opened proceedings indicates that there are reasonable legal grounds for the case, that it has legal merit, and that the court intends to examine it on its merits," the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank said.
Ukraine relies on Starlink to operate its mid-strike drones in Russian-occupied Ukraine. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that only the U.S. president has the right to determine speed and usage restrictions for Starlink military systems.
What Russia is doing is "appalling and... horrific, and it illustrates that Putin is not interested in peace. That's why we must manifest our support for Ukraine in the practical ways that we can," said Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin.
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