A “military operation”. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban echoed the Kremlin's formula, calling Russia's invasion of Ukraine “a military operation” on Thursday. “This is a military operation as long as there is no declaration of war between the two countries,” the nationalist leader said during his annual news conference. “If the Russians declare war on Ukraine, then it will be war,” he added. “Strictly speaking, as long as there is no war, we should be happy. If there is a war, there is a general mobilization and I don't wish that on anyone,” he concluded.
Russia must not “win”. The West cannot “let Russia win in Ukraine,” Emmanuel Macron stressed on Thursday, saying support for Kiev must continue even if “it costs us something.” “Whoever knows the balance of power measures what we cannot allow and how much we cannot let Russia win,” he said during a Christmas dinner to French forces stationed in Jordan. “What would tomorrow look like for us Europeans? So we will continue to help the Ukrainians, which we do, even if it costs us something,” he concluded to the troops.
An explosion in Kyiv. A residential building in Kiev was hit by a Russian explosive drone on Thursday evening, said the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Andriy Iermak. “A residential building in Kiev was hit by a Shahed,” an Iranian-made drone that Moscow regularly uses in its attacks, he said. The incident occurred in the Solomiansky district in the southwest of the capital, adds the capital's mayor Vitali Klitschko, reporting “flames on the upper floors” of the building. One man was hospitalized in the area and another received medical treatment on site, he said.