Battle | Zelensky “slapped Putin in the face”

Day 298 since the start of the war: Feverish work is being done in Ukraine to restore electricity supplies. President Zelenskyj calls for more anti-aircraft defenses. All information on news blog.

10:32 PM: According to its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine is ready for all hypothetical scenarios on the borders of Russia and Belarus. Securing borders is a priority, he says in his nightly video address. Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit Belarus soon. There is currently speculation about a new Russian attack that could come from Belarus.

10:13 PM: Ukrainian military leadership fears new Russian missile attacks at the start of the year. As military spokesman Yuri Ignat explained, it cannot be ruled out that the enemy will “greet” this way at the end of the year. “They have a clear plan in which they set priority goals.” The aim is to cause as much damage as possible to Ukraine.

“Depending on where it hurts us the most, that’s where they will aim, averagely, boldly and as painfully as possible,” Ignat was quoted as saying by the Union government agency. In addition, the date of the next attacks will be set “to please the dictator (Vladimir Putin)”. But the attacks earlier in the year were aimed at attracting “internal audiences”, meaning the Russian population.

9:06 pm: Ukrainian armed forces say they have destroyed at least two Russian ammunition depots and anti-aircraft systems in fighting in the east of the country. Public servants in Kiev announced this. The Luftwaffe made several missions. Location information not disclosed.

Russian troops suffered heavy losses in the fierce fighting for the city of Pakmut in the Donbass. There, a Russian unit of 400 to 800 men fell into a carefully prepared ambush and “didn’t work,” said Oleksiy Arestovich, a presidential adviser in Kyiv. The information could not be independently verified.

During the day, the Russian-held city of Donetsk came under repeated artillery fire. A hospital was hit, Russian state agency TASS reported, citing local officials. Due to the fire, evacuation of staff and patients began.

7:56 pm: Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Belarus. Putin will meet his colleague Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, the press service of the Kremlin and the Belarusian president announced. According to the Kremlin, the heads of state want to discuss the “strategic partnership” between their countries.

Russia and Belarus have been close since 2020, when protests against Lukashenko’s disputed re-election were suppressed with Moscow’s approval. Since then, the two countries have signed new agreements on economic and military cooperation. Since the start of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, Belarus has primarily served as a staging area for Russian troops, but the Belarusian armed forces have not yet intervened in the fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 44, wants to fight Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70, anytime. “Always, always,” he said in an interview with French TV channel TF1. “A real man, if he wants to tell someone something, or if he wants to – how do you say it – punch him in the face – he does it himself, does not send any intermediaries.”