Long-distance battle between the two presidents over the war in Ukraine. Russian troops have “the initiative” in their hands, he said from Moscow Wladimir Putin, attending a meeting of military leaders. While from Kiev, in the year-end press conference, Volodymyr Zelensky claimed a “major victory” in the Black Sea, where Russian ships had reportedly lost their operational capability. However, he acknowledged that it was impossible to say when the conflict would end.
The Ukrainian leader denied that Kiev was losing the war, but acknowledged concerns about uncertainties over Western funding and some disagreements with the armed forces commander, Valery Zaluzhny. The latter, said Zelensky, asked him to sign one Forced mobilization of another half a million menbut the president explained that he needed “more arguments to support this idea” because it would require enormous economic resources.
Even Russia, despite Putin's triumphant tones, has to deal with a frozen front-line conflict, but also with attacks that continue deep into its territory. Today the Ukrainians fired several drones over several regions and one of them reached Moscow before being shot down in the Odintsovo district, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. That is, in an area not far from Rubliovka, the luxurious residential district where politicians and famous people live, and from Novo Ogaryovo, where the residence of the president himself is located. After the attempted attack, two of the capital's three international airports, Vnukovo and Domodedovo, were closed to traffic. In conversation with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and senior military commanders:
Putin expanded the discussion to include weapons that he said need to be developed to “maintain the strategic balance of power” with the West. especially the Nuclear arsenals. The Kremlin chief announced that 15 new launch systems for the Yars and Avangard intercontinental ballistic missiles will be put into operation by the end of the year. Four new nuclear submarines are entering service, two of which have already been launched: the Krasnoyarsk and the Alexander III, equipped with Bulava ballistic missiles. Shoigu also ordered to increase production of the Zirkon and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
And according to a British military intelligence report, a Kinzhal was used by the Russians last week – for the first time in four months – to hit a military airport in central Ukraine. But Russia continues to work on the experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik, which can strike anywhere in the world, and the unmanned submarine Poseidon, a nuclear torpedo capable of triggering a tsunami with catastrophic consequences.
As for Ukraine, Moscow said 383,000 Kiev soldiers had been killed or wounded since the start of the conflict, while Kiev said over 348,000 Russians had died. But their respective positions seem to preclude a negotiated solution for the time being. “We will negotiate only on the basis of our interests,” Putin warned. And Zelensky rejected any prospect of negotiations with a Russia he described as “arrogant.” Meanwhile, the suppression of voices critical of the war continues on the Russian internal front. The Investigative Committee announced that it had opened a criminal case against the writer Boris Akunin (pseudonym Grigori Chkhartishvili) for “publicly justifying terrorism” and “disseminating false information about the Russian army.” relate. Investigative Committee agents also searched the offices of the Zakharov Publishing House in Moscow, which publishes Akunin's books, the Meduza newspaper reported, citing the publisher itself.
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