Key events
Ukraine’s gross domestic product fell by 30.4% in 2022 – the largest annual fall in over 30 years – because of the war with Russia, the economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko said this morning.
Reuters reports that Svyrydenko said in a statement that Ukraine’s economy had suffered its largest losses since it won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 although the fall was less than initially expected.
“The successes of Ukraine’s defence forces on the frontlines, the coordinated work of the government and businesses, the unbreakable spirit of the population and the speed of rebuilding damaged critical infrastructure units and also systemic financial support from international donors have allowed us to keep up the economic front and continue our movement towards victory,” Svyrydenko said.
The economy ministry said Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure continued to put pressure on business activity and sentiment. Ukraine’s GDP had grown by 3.4% in 2021.
Overnight, Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), has said that service personnel injured in the attack on the barracks in occupied Makiivka have been mostly transferred to hospitals within Russia. Donetsk is one of the Ukrainian regions which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed. He posted to his Telegram channel:
The doctors said that the wounded began to arrive very quickly after the incident, thanks to which they were able to provide emergency medical care in a timely manner. Almost all of them have already been transferred to other regions of Russia.
Both the fighters and the commanders behaved heroically, they saved many of their colleagues. And what is important – they have a fighting mood. All as one are eager to avenge their comrades.
Prior to the declaration of annexation, only three UN member states – Russia, Syria and North Korea – recognised the DPR as any kind of legitimate authority. It was established in 2014.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk oblast – one of the regions which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed – has posted a status update in which he says two people have been killed by Russian fire in the last 24 hours. He writes on Telegram:
On the Donetsk side, Kurakhove was the most affected – the city was hit by several shellings. Six private houses, two shops and equipment at an infrastructure facility were damaged. Marinka was subjected to intense shelling, and in the morning isolated airstrikes were recorded in the old part of Avdiivka – without casualties.
Two people died in the Horlivka direction and one person was injured in Bakhmut. In Chasiv Yar, a high-rise building was destroyed, four more houses and a hospital building were damaged. In Soledar, a five-story building was damaged – no one was injured.
The UK’s ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, has posted a picture from Cornwall of people celebrating Christmas with Ukrainian flags, commenting: “Pretty amazing to see how strong support for Ukraine remains in the UK after nearly a year of the Russian invasion.”
Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, governor of Sumy oblast, has said on Telegram that the night passed without incident in his region, which borders Russia.
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has posted his daily update on events in the region. He states that in the past 24 hours there has been one air alert – on Wednesday morning – but no attack materialised. He said that in the last 24 hours, 60 internally displaced people arrived in Lviv by train, and 58 by bus. They were travelling from what he described as “the epicentres of hostilities”. On the power situation, he writes:
As of this moment, there are no power outages in our region. Ukrenergo provide consumption limits. If they are exceeded, the schedule of hourly outages will be applied.
The New York Times has led its international morning briefing with the reaction to the devastating attack on Makiivka. Natasha Frost writes:
Russian soldiers’ use of open cellphone lines in Ukraine has been a known vulnerability for its military, often revealing forces’ positions. Intercepted calls have revealed the disarray and discontent in Russia’s ranks. Some Russian lawmakers and military bloggers pushed back against the blame, calling it an attempt by the military to avoid faulting commanders.
Kyiv says its forces have killed or wounded more than 1,000 Russian soldiers in a series of pinpoint attacks. Russia has confirmed only one of three waves of strikes.
The United States is not “hand-wringing” over the mass casualties of Russian soldiers in a Ukrainian attack reportedly using US-supplied artillery, a senior White House official said Wednesday.
After criticism in Russia over the use of US-delivered weaponry by Ukrainian defenders, including in the Makiivka strike, national the security council spokesperson John Kirby said Russia is to blame.
There is no “hand-wringing by the administration at all. This is a war. They have been invaded and they (Ukrainians) are striking back and defending themselves,” Kirby said. “Russian soldiers in their territory are legitimate targets for Ukrainian military action, period.”
Kirby would not give a US estimate of the casualties in an attack that all sides agree was unusually fatal, even by the bloody standards of the now more than 10-month-old Russian invasion.
“I’m not going to get into the casualty count. It is war. And it is in a vicious area of fighting right now. And war is a bloody affair,” he said.
A senior US administration official has given a sobering assessment of fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Reuters reports, especially around the largely ruined, Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut. Fierce combat is likely to persist for the foreseeable future, although Russian forces have made incremental progress, the official said.
“The fighting is still quite hot … I think what we’re seeing in Bakhmut we should expect to see elsewhere along the front that there will be continued fighting in the coming months.”
In his video address, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian troops outside Bakhmut were inflicting numerous losses on the Russians and said Moscow was building up its forces in the region.
What is the difference between armoured vehicles and tanks?
After France said it would supply Ukraine with AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles, Zelenskiy said that while he was grateful for the help, Ukraine needed heavier vehicles – or tanks.
So what is the difference?
According to the British Forces Broadcasting Service, “The main difference between a tank and an armoured vehicle is their role on the battlefield. A tank is an armoured vehicle that is specifically used to break enemy lines.”
A tank is a particularly powerful or heavy armoured vehicle. Ukraine has asked for US tanks, called Abrams tanks, and the German Leopard tanks.
Tanks “do not typically carry infantry, and are actually designed to fight in direct combat with enemy forces”, using armour to protect themselves, “and their main gun as their offence”, according to the BFBS.
US considering sending Bradley fighting vehicles, but not tanks
The US president, Joe Biden, said later on Wednesday that Washington was considering sending Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine.
The Bradley fighting vehicle, which has a powerful gun, has been a US army staple to carry troops around battlefields since the mid-1980s. The US army has thousands of Bradleys, and they would give Ukraine more firepower on the battlefield and strengthen its ability in trench warfare.
Biden’s move, however, would fall short of sending the Abrams tanks that Ukraine has sought. Kyiv has repeatedly asked western allies for heavier fighting vehicles such as the Abrams and German-made Leopard tanks.
‘No rational reason’ west hasn’t sent tanks, says Zelenskiy
Western allies are poised to supply Ukraine with armoured battle vehicles but not the heavier tanks it has requested to fight Russia, Reuters reports.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, told the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy his government would send light AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles to help its war effort, a French official said on Wednesday after a phone call between them.
While the official said these would be the first western armoured vehicles delivered to Ukraine, Australia said in October that it had given Kyiv 90 of its Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles, an armoured unit that is hardened against landmines, small arms fire and other threats.
In an evening video address, Zelenskiy thanked Macron for the announcement and said it showed the need for other allies to provide heavier weapons.
“This is something that sends a clear signal to all our partners. There is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with western tanks,” he said.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments.
Our top story this morning is that western allies are considering supplying armoured battle vehicles to Ukraine but not the heavier tanks it has requested.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, his government would send light AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles to help its war effort, a French official said on Wednesday after a phone call between the two leaders.
The US president, Joe Biden, meanwhile, said that Washington was considering sending Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine.
In an evening video address, Zelenskiy thanked Macron for the announcement and said it showed the need for other allies to provide heavier weapons.
“This is something that sends a clear signal to all our partners. There is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with western tanks,” he said.
Here are the other key recent developments:
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The US is looking at ways to target Iranian drone production through sanctions and export controls, the White House said. Washington previously imposed sanctions on companies and people it accused of producing or transferring Iranian drones that Russia has used against Ukraine.
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Heavy fighting around the largely ruined, Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut is likely to persist for the foreseeable future, with the outcome uncertain as Russians have made incremental progress, according to a senior US administration official.
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The Ukrainian deputy defence minister said significant Russian losses meant Moscow would probably have to announce a second partial mobilisation in the first quarter of the year.
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Further strikes deep in Russian territory should be expected, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, has told the US TV network ABC. He added that the attacks would come “deeper and deeper” inside Russia, without specifically saying whether Ukraine would be behind them.
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Ukraine’s military general staff said Russia had launched seven missile strikes, 18 airstrikes and more than 85 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems in the past 24 hours on civilian infrastructure in three cities – Kramatorsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. “There are casualties among the civilian population,” it said. The reports have not been independently verified.
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Ukraine’s efforts to increase exports under the Black Sea grain deal with Russia are focused on securing faster inspections of ships rather than including more ports in the initiative, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday.
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Ukraine’s navy has claimed Russia has three combat-ready ships in action in the Black Sea and that it continues to “violate the international convention for the protection of human life at sea 1974 (Solas), disabling auto identification systems on civilian vessels in the Azov Sea”, it said in a post on Facebook.
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Vladimir Putin took part in a ceremony by video link while the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov went into combat service equipped with the Zircon hypersonic missile systems. The Russian president said: “I am sure that such powerful weapons will reliably protect Russia from potential external threats and will help ensure the national interests of our country”. The defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said the Gorshkov would sail to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and to the Mediterranean Sea.
