Pope Francis urged Putin to end the war in Ukraine and denounced the “absurd” risk to humanity of a nuclear war

Pope Francis urged Putin to stop the violence in Ukraine and denounced the “absurd” risk to humanity of a nuclear war as tensions escalate.

Francis uttered his strongest plea yet on the war as he spoke in St. Peter’s Square. It was the first time in public that he cited Putin’s leadership.

The pope said that Zelenskyy should be interested in serious peace proposals. He exhorted the international community to “use all diplomatic instruments” to end this “huge tragedy” and “horror” of war.

“That humanity again finds itself before the threat of atomic war is absurd,” the pontiff said. How much more blood will have to flow in order for the war to end? asked Francis.

He expressed anguish that “the world is learning about the geography of Ukraine” through the names of its cities and towns, now associated with the death of civilians, including Bucha and Mariupol.

Throughout the war, Francis has denounced the recourse to arms and urged dialogue. But recently, he stressed Ukraine’s right to defend itself from aggression.

The assault appears to be the heaviest bombardment of missile and rocket attacks seen in most of Ukraine since February, targeting power plants, bridges, civilian infrastructure and other locations.

Moscow fired at least 84 cruise missiles toward Ukraine on Monday, the Ukrainian military said, 43 of which were neutralized by missile defense systems. The Russian attack drones were used and 13 of them were destroyed.

Two days earlier, a strategic blow to the Kremlin was dealt with when an eruption damaged a bridge. Putin was wounded in Russia’s defeat on the battlefield and had to respond with force after the explosion, which the Russian leader blamed on the Ukranian government.

“It is simply impossible to leave such crimes unanswered,” Putin said in a brief television appearance on Monday. “If attempts to carry out terrorist attacks on our territory continue, responses from Russia will be tough and will correspond in scale to the level of threats to the Russian Federation.”

Ukraine’s bomb attacks on Monday night as a warning to all concerned: Putin’s special military operation in Ukraine has changed since he declared victory in May

The underground stations of the subway were serving as a shelter for several hours on Monday. Rescue workers were trying to pull people from the rubble when the air raid alert was lifted.

According to the Prime Minister, as of 11 a.m. Monday, a total of 11crucial infrastructure facilities had been damaged in eight regions.

The Ukrainian State Emergency Services reported that the electricity supply had been cut in several towns. In the rest of the country, electricity was partially disrupted.

The Security Council of Putin held an operational meeting on Monday, which was a day after he called the explosions on the bridge a terrorist attack.

Sergey Aksyonov, the head of annexed Crimea, claims that his approach to what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine has changed.

“I have been saying from the first day of the special military operation that if such actions to destroy the enemy’s infrastructure had been taken every day, we would have finished everything in May and the Kyiv regime would have been defeated,” he added.

Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency alleged that Russia had been planning Monday’s missile attacks since early last week, before the blast on the bridge. The strikes showed that Putin is desperate because he has lost many battles and he uses missile terror to try and change the course of the war in his favor, according to the Foreign Minister.

The scale of the attacks became clear as Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that they were trying to wipe them off the face of the earth. That is what it is, in a nutshell. They are trying to slaughter our people who are sleeping in their homes in Zaporizhzhia. They are trying to kill people who are on their way to work in Dnipro and Kyiv.”

Ukraine’s Western allies doubled down on their support for Kyiv following the strikes, with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell Fontelles tweeting that “additional military support from the EU is on its way.”

The Dutch Prime Minister said that Putin was scaring innocent civilians in the cities. The Netherlands condemns the heinous acts. Putin appears to not understand that the will of the Ukrainian people is not negotiable.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the attacks “another unacceptable escalation of the war and, as always, civilians are paying the highest price.”

The Birth of Jesus: Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and a Video Conference for the G7 Conference in Paris, France, and the Nordics

An emergency meeting of the G7 group of nations will take place via video conference on Tuesday, the office of the German Chancellor confirmed to CNN, and Zelensky later said on his account that he would address that meeting.

Each church will have the option to celebrate on December 25, which marks the birth of Jesus according to the Gregorian calendar, rather than January 7, which marks the birth of Jesus according to the Julian calendar, still used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In recent years a large part of the Orthodox community in Ukraine has moved away from Moscow, a movement accelerated by the conflict Russia stoked in eastern Ukraine beginning in 2014.

The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church responded by cutting ties with the Constantinople patriarchy, which is part of the Russian state.

And Kirill remains outspoken in his support of the invasion, announcing in September that Russian soldiers who die in the war against Ukraine will be cleansed of all their sins.

Ukrainian authorities have been stepping up raids on churches accused of links with Moscow, and many are watching to see if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron hosts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store for a working dinner Monday in Paris.

Also in France, on Tuesday, the country is set to co-host a conference with Ukraine in support of Ukrainians through the winter, with a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

NPR State of Ukraine: Highlights from the November 8, 1991 Freeze-Out of the Basketball Star and the onset of Russian-Russian Warfare

After almost 10 months of Russian captivity and months of negotiations, the US basketball star was freed on December 8. The US agreed to give over convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for her release. Griner is with her husband in the U.S. The man, known as Bout, joined a political party in Russia.

New measures targeting Russian oil revenue took effect Dec. 5. They include a price cap and a European Union embargo on most Russian oil imports and a Russian oil price cap.

There are two military bases inside Russia. It was reported that drones launched from Ukrainian territory to attack Russia demonstrated that Ukraine could take the fight deep into Russia and could attack at a distance.

Bakhmut was turned into burned ruins by Russian forces, said Zelenskyy. Fighting has been fierce there as Russia attempts to advance in the city in the eastern Donbas region.

On December 11, President Zelenskyy had a call with President Biden, as well as the leaders of France and Turkey, in a sign that diplomacy was stepped up over the Russian invasion.

Here you can read past recaps. For context and more in-depth stories, you can find more of NPR’s coverage here. Listen and subscribe to the NPR State ofUkraine podcast for updates throughout the day.

Revisiting the Defiant Address of Vladimir Zelensky: “We will celebrate our holidays!” Prime Minister Sergei Petrovich Yanushevych told the Ukrainians in Kherson

President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Ukrainians to have “patience and faith” in a defiant Christmas address after a deadly wave of Russian strikes pounded the southern city of Kherson.

He said that the Ukrainian people had been resisting evil forces for over three hundred days and eight years. The hammer and sword of our spirit and consciousness. The wisdom of God. Courage and bravery. There are virtues that help us do good and overcome evil.

He urged the nation to stand firm in the face of a grim winter of energy blackouts, the absence of loved ones and the ever-present threat of Russian attacks.

There may be no chairs around it. Our houses and streets are not bright. The Christmas bells can ring inspiringly but not so loudly. There were gunshots and explosions through air raid sirens.

Addressing the Ukrainian people directly, he said the country would sing Christmas carols louder than the sound of a power generator and hear the voices and greetings of relatives “in our hearts” even if communication services and the internet are down.

We will hug each other tightly even in darkness. And if there is no heat, we will give a big hug to warm each other.”

Zelensky concluded: “We will celebrate our holidays! As always. We will be smiling and happy. As always. There is a difference of one. We will not wait for a miracle. We create it ourselves.

A number of buildings in the city of Kherson, including apartments and medical facilities, were hit by Russian strikes hours before Zelensky was to deliver his Christmas address.

Yanushevych said Sunday that a total of 16 people had been killed in 71 Russian attacks across the wider Kherson region on Saturday, including three state emergency workers who were killed during demining operations. He said that 64 people received injuries of varying severity.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/25/europe/ukraine-zelensky-christmas-message-intl/index.html

On the nature of armed conflict in Ukraine: a statement from Kiev against the invasion of Kherson and Kiev’s response to Crimea

“These are not military facilities,” he wrote on Telegram Saturday. According to the rules, this is not a war. It is terror, and it is killing for the sake of pleasure.

In November, Russia’s military retreated from Kherson city, the only regional capital it had captured since the invasion began. Since then, Russian forces have stationed themselves across the river from Kherson and regularly shell the city from there.

The commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, said his air defenses successfully intercepted a total of 12 incoming attacks, six of which were in Kyiv. The total number of incoming attacks was unclear.

Kyiv’s emergency services were dispatched to several locations around the city. Videos published to social media and geo-located by NPR show several apparent injuries, including partially severed limbs and bloodied faces on one residential street.

Earlier in the week, the leader of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told a local newspaper that he expects Ukrainian forces to move into Crimea by the summer.

Putin said that the West lied about wanting peace. They are using Ukraine and its people to weaken and split Russia after preparing for an attack.

Russian Defense Minister Vladimir Putin Has Proposed a Temporary Stop-Fire in Ukraine Over Orthodox Christmas and Its Entails More Violence against the Peoples of Ukraine

The order of saint George is Russia’s highest military award and was bestowed on the commander of the forces in Ukraine.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also announced the return of 82 Russian prisoners of war following what it said were negotiations with “territories under the control of the Kyiv regime.”

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed his country’s defense minister to order a temporary cease-fire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas.

The announcement was made in response to a call by the leader of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church for guns to be silenced over the Orthodox holiday.

The Orthodox believers can go to church on Christmas. They sit and reload their rockets at the same time as they declare a truce. Boris Filatov, the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, wrote a post on Telegram.

President Biden tells reporters that he’s reluctant to respond to anything Putin says. And I found it interesting. He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches on the 25th and New Year’s. I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters, “Our concern … is that the Russians would seek to use any temporary pause in fighting to rest, to refit, to regroup and ultimately to to re-attack. And so in that sense, it can’t be considered a cease-fire if the intent is to train their fire with even more vengeance, with even more ferocity, with even more lethality against the people of Ukraine. Russia would withdraw its forces from the territory of Ukranian if it were serious about peace. That is what constitutes an end to this war.”

The US will send infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, and Germany will send Marder infantry fighting vehicles, according to the White House.

Putin’s “Serious Dialogue” with Ukraine after the 2014 Crimean Reionization Reaction: A Call to Recep Tayyip Erdogan

In a call with Putin earlier in the day, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked the Russian leader to implement a unilateral cease-fire to support efforts to end the war.

In response, Putin repeated Russian demands that Ukraine accept Moscow’s recent annexation of four regions of Ukraine before “serious dialogue” could begin, according to a Kremlin readout of the exchange.

Ukraine maintains that peace can be only achieved when Russian forces leave the occupied territories — including Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.