MOSCOW, Dec 22 Russia will seek to keep the conflict at Ukraine has been completed, and the sooner the better, said Russian President Vladimir Putin during a press conference on Thursday. He noted that Russia's goal is not to spin «this flywheel» of a military conflict, but to protect people in Ukraine who feel they are part of Russian culture.
Speaking about the pace of the special operation, he said that the intensification of hostilities leads to unjustified losses. However, according to him, everything connected with the special operation is a forced and necessary measure. He added that the Russian Federation is spending military supplies, these are big numbers, but the difference with the Ukrainian military-industrial complex is huge, and assured that Russia is able to increase the pace of arms production without detriment to other sectors of the economy.
At the same time, the head of state noted that Russia has never refused to negotiate with Ukraine, stressing that the Ukrainian leadership has forbidden itself to negotiate, which looks somewhat unusual and even strange. Putin recalled that all armed conflicts end with negotiations, and the sooner this becomes clear to Kyiv, the better.
The course of the special operationAccording to the Ministry of Defense, the RF Armed Forces continued offensive operations in the Donetsk direction, destroying up to 50 Ukrainian soldiers in a day, while Kyiv lost up to 35 soldiers in the Kupyansk and Krasnolymansk directions.
In addition, in the DPR, during the counter-battery fight, the Russian military launched two missile attacks on the firing positions of Ukrainian Grads and Smerchs, and destroyed the Ukrainian M777 artillery system repair point. At the same time, Russian Aerospace Forces fighter aircraft shot down two Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft and a Mi-8 helicopter in the DPR.
As the defense ministry added, the Russian Armed Forces destroyed two Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the DPR and the Zaporozhye region, and also defeated Ukrainian army units in the areas of Nikolsky, Novomayorsky and Novopol. In just one day, up to 30 Ukrainian servicemen were killed in the South-Donetsk direction.
At the same time, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu checked the conditions for the deployment of personnel and military equipment at the points of temporary deployment of military units in the zone of the special operation. During the hearing of the unit commanders during the inspection in the special operation zone, he paid special attention to the organization of comprehensive support for the troops in the field. During the inspection, Shoigu also spoke with the military, thanked the personnel for the exemplary performance of tasks during the military defense.
Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, at a briefing for military attaches, said that Russian attack drones had already destroyed over 600 Ukrainian targets during the special operation, and Russian operational-tactical and army aviation had already destroyed 11,000 units of Ukrainian weapons, making about 150 sorties in day. He added that Russian high-precision long-range missiles during the special operation hit more than 1.3 thousand critical objects of Ukraine, which significantly reduced the combat potential of the Ukrainian army and paralyzed the work of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.
As Gerasimov noted, since the beginning of the special operation, Western countries have supplied Ukraine with more than 350 tanks, 700 artillery systems, 100 multiple launch rocket systems, 30 helicopters, at least 5,000 drones, 1,000 armored vehicles, at least 800 armored vehicles, 5,300 portable anti-aircraft missile systems. According to him, the length of the front in the special military operation zone is 815 kilometers, the situation on the front line has stabilized, and the main efforts of the Russian Armed Forces are now focused on the liberation of the DPR.
Ukrainian Joint Center for Control and Coordination of War Crime Issues (JCCC) reported that on Thursday morning, Ukrainian troops fired eight rockets from MLRS at the Petrovsky district of Donetsk. Also, the Ministry of Coal and Energy of the DPR informed that three mines were de-energized in Donetsk after shelling by Ukrainian troops. According to the agency, at the time of the shelling, 107 people were underground, work was started to evacuate the miners. The ministry later announced that all the miners from the de-energized mines had been brought to the surface, and there were no casualties.
According to the JCCC, in the afternoon, Ukrainian troops again shelled the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, firing six more NATO-caliber 155-millimeter shells and 10 rockets from MLRS. In addition, on Thursday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired eight rockets from the MLRS in the Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk.
A strike on a hotel in DonetskThe hotel, where a group of military advisers, including Dmitry Rogozin, lived, came under fire in Donetsk, the ex-head of Roskosmos was wounded in the back, there is no threat to his life, the persons accompanying him also received injuries of varying severity , said his assistant.
Doctors have come to the conclusion that a fragment of a mine that got into Rogozin's spine cannot be removed. Acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin said that two people were killed during the shelling of the hotel, and DPR Prime Minister Vitaly Khotsenko and ex-head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin were injured, their condition was assessed as satisfactory. According to him, it was a deliberate terrorist act against the civilian population.
According to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the hotel was allegedly hit by a 155mm Caesar self-propelled artillery mount. Later, Rogozin, in his Telegram channel, expressed the version that someone «leaked» data about his location. The former head of Roskosmos, in his own words, was wounded by a metal fragment measuring 3 × 4 millimeters, which entered above the shoulder blade and got stuck in the spine.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov expressed condolences to the families and friends of the victims, wished a speedy recovery to the wounded during the shelling of Donetsk.
Later it became known that Rogozin and two other victims were taken to a hospital in Rostov-on-Don. Several wounded military advisers continue to be in the medical facilities of the DPR, their condition is stabilized, but doctors have not yet given permission for their transportation.
Around the special operation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow is warning Athens about the consequences and responsibility for breaching the contract if Greece decides to transfer Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine. She added that the violation of a number of intergovernmental agreements between the Russian Federation and Greece, which prohibit the re-export of Russian military products to third countries without Russia's agreement, will have consequences, and the sending of the S-300 may weaken Greece's defense capability in the field of air defense.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the United States and other countries are following the path of expanding the range of arms supplies to Ukraine, this does not contribute to the speedy settlement of the situation. At the same time, he answered in the affirmative to the question of whether these deliveries would become the goal of the RF Armed Forces. According to him, the supply of arms to Ukraine cannot prevent the Russian Federation from achieving its goals in the course of a special military operation, but leads to the fact that they prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people for longer than it could be.
Meanwhile, the DPR authorities expect the delivery of new air defense systems to the region, Denis Pushilin, acting head of the DPR, said. In addition, Pushilin told reporters that the DPR needs modern air defense systems and enhanced counter-battery work, «these issues are under control, being worked out.»
Results of Biden's meeting with Zelensky US President Joe Biden at a joint press conference with Vladimir Zelensky said that he was ready to seek a «just peace» with Russia; Zelensky nodded in confirmation of this. At the meeting, the US President also said that the transfer of the Patriot air defense battery to Ukraine allegedly does not entail an escalation of tension, we are talking about defensive weapons.
According to Biden Zelensky, the United States will provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $374 million. According to him, the assistance will be delivered both in the form of food and basic necessities, and in the form of financial support. Combined with the $1.8 billion in defense assistance announced earlier today, the new aid package for Ukraine will reach $2.2 billion.
Commenting on the visit of Vladimir Zelensky to the United States, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that these negotiations showed that neither he nor the American leadership wants peace and are not ready for it, the unwillingness declared by the American administration to enter into a direct conflict with the Russian Federation is in fact empty sound. He stressed that Kyiv and the United States are aimed at conflict, the death of soldiers and «further tying the Ukrainian regime to the needs of Washington.» He assessed the last visit as an announcement of the need to bring the conflict around Ukraine to a complete victory over the Russian Federation.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin regretted that neither US President Joe Biden nor Zelensky himself had spoken of a potential willingness to heed Russia's concerns, as well as calls for peace. According to him, not a single warning was issued to Zelensky against the continuation of the barbaric shelling of residential buildings in the settlements of Donbass. Peskov added that the United States continues the policy of de facto and indirectly fighting with Russia to the last Ukrainian.
John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council, in turn, said that the topic of peace in Ukraine was the main one during the conversation between US President Joe Biden and Vladimir Zelensky. According to him, Zelensky outlined his «peace formula» of 10 points, which he had already voiced, Biden promised that his national security team would try to find progress within these ideas and turn them into a potential result. At the same time, he ruled out the possibility of limiting military assistance to Kyiv because of the risk of a veto by NATO allies. According to him, the United States is doing everything possible to provide Kyiv with the necessary military equipment, and does not blame Volodymyr Zelensky, who demands more.
IAEA visit to ZAESV Moscow hosted another round of consultations between Director General of Rosatom State Corporation Alexei Likhachev and Director General of IAEA Rafael Grossi. During the meeting, approaches to the creation of a nuclear and physical safety protection zone at the Zaporozhye NPP were discussed. Significant proximity of positions on the draft declaration on the creation of such a zone was noted. The consultations will continue with the understanding of the need to reach a mutually acceptable text of the agreement as soon as possible, Rosatom said in a statement.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, after talks in Moscow, said that the protective zone around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is needed solely to prevent a nuclear accident. «I continue to make efforts to achieve this goal with a sense of extreme urgency,» Grossi wrote on Twitter.
The G7 expressed support for the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to create a protective zone at the Zaporozhye NPP, a statement released on Thursday said.
G7 on support for KievThe G7 has raised $32.7 billion in budgetary assistance to Ukraine in 2022, according to a statement published on the website of the German Finance Ministry. The ministry added that the G7 countries intend to continue supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary. According to a joint statement of the G7, the G7 countries intend to increase economic pressure on the Russian Federation and those who «bypass restrictive measures.» German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said following a virtual meeting of ministers that the G7 intends to intensify efforts to provide Ukraine with military equipment, including air defense systems.