Inside a prison where Russia tortured Ukrainian POWs
The Olenivka POW camp, located in the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk Oblast, was a notorious Russian-controlled prison where Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages from Mariupol have been subjected to torture. The Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit will name those responsible for torturing prisoners in Olenivka.
At the annual EU-China meeting on Dec. 7 in Beijing, EU leaders urged China to use its influence on Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine, and to engage with the Ukrainian Peace Formula.
The United States on Dec. 7 announced an indictment alleging Russian citizens Peretyatko and Andrei Korinets oversaw a campaign to hack into computers in NATO member states on behalf of Moscow.
Russian forces attacked border areas and settlements of Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast on Dec. 7, firing 17 times and causing at least 61 explosions, the local military administration reported via Telegram.
Ukrainian and U.S. officials signed a statement of intent on the co-production of critical weapons and data exchange between the two countries "to address the urgent needs of Ukraine's armed forces," the Pentagon reported.
The Kyiv Independent’s investigative documentary "Uprooted" on Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children has won the National Investigative Journalism Competition 2023.
President Volodymyr Zelensky implemented on Dec. 7 the decision by the National Security and Defense Council to sanction over 300 Russian and Moscow-linked individuals and companies.
Throughout November, Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) transported 14 million tons of cargo, a 33.8% increase compared to the same period last year, the Infrastructure Ministry reported on Dec. 7.
"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.
Russian troops struck a thermal power plant in one of Ukraine's front-line regions on Dec. 7, causing a shutdown of two power units, the Energy Ministry reported.
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 evacuation is being carried out because the settlements of the Nova Kakhovka district are located within the 15-kilometer combat zone on the east bank of the Dnipro River," the occupation administration said on Telegram.
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.
Between August and October, the amount of newly committed aid to Ukraine decreased by 87% compared to the same period last year, according to a new study by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
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.
Lithuania is investigating the circumstances around how relatives of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich were given Lithuanian citizenship between 2011 and 2013, the Lithuanian Interior Ministry announced on Dec. 7.
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.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a Belarusian national they claim was involved in Ukraine-orchestrated attacks on a key railway line in Russia's far eastern republic of Buryatia the previous week, state news agency TASS reported on Dec. 7.