Ukraine war: 'All drones' shot down in latest attack on Kyiv, prisoner swap and missile decision - Euronews

1. Ukraine shoots down 'all 13 drones' in latest Russian strikes

Ukrainian air defences shot down "all 13 drones" launched by Russia in new strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding area on Wednesday morning, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video.

Several buildings were damaged in the latest attack, but no casualties have been reported.

The national energy grid manager Ukrenergo said that Wednesday's strikes did not hit any facilities and also hailed the "brilliant work of the air defence forces".

Zelenskyy referred to the Russian drones as "Shahed", the Iranian-made so-called "suicide" devices used by Russia in many recent attacks.

Kyiv was targeted by "two waves" of attacks, the head of the Ukrainian capital's military administration Sergei Popko said in a statement on Telegram, adding that "shrapnel from downed drones hit an administrative building" in the central Shevchenkyvskyi district.

Four residential buildings were slightly damaged, Popko added.

Authorities said earlier that at least two administrative buildings had been hit in the latest attack after Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko reported multiple explosions in a central district.

Air raid siren alerts sounded for about 20 minutes before the blasts.

Local residents have claimed that fragments from a drone contained the words “For Ryazan,” a reference to a Russian military base that suffered damage last week.

Ukrainian authorities said that during the last round of attacks on 5 December, more than 60 of 70 strikes were intercepted by air defence systems.

The barrage of recent Russian air strikes across the country has largely targeted infrastructure, knocking out electricity and water supplies for millions of Ukrainians

Fighting has also continued along the front lines in Ukraine's eastern and southern regions. Both sides claimed successes on Tuesday while stating that the situation on the battlefield in the Donetsk region was "difficult".

The eastern region was one of four that was annexed by Moscow in September after referendums that have been labelled a "sham" by Kyiv and its allies. None of the four regions is under Moscow's complete control.

On Wednesday, a regional Russian governor also claimed that the town of Klintsy -- in Russia's southern Bryansk region -- was shelled overnight by Ukraine

"As a result of the work of the air defence systems of the Russian Armed Forces, the missile was destroyed, and some parts hit the territory of an industrial zone," governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram.

There were no reports of any casualties in Klinsty, which is located around 45 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

2. US poised to approve Patriot missile battery for Ukraine

US officials are poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders.

The Patriot would be the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks in the war.

Zelenskyy had pressed Western leaders again on Monday to provide his country with more advanced weapons.

During a video conference, Zelenskyy told G7 leaders that his country needed long-range missiles, modern tanks, artillery, missile batteries and other high-tech air defence systems to counter Russian attacks.

White House and Pentagon leaders have said consistently that providing Ukraine with additional air defences is a priority, and Patriot missiles have been under consideration for some time. But President Joe Biden has flatly rejected sending any US combat troops to Ukraine.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned NATO against equipping Kyiv with Patriot missile defences, and it is likely the Kremlin will view such a move as an escalation.

The United States has given Ukraine $19.3 billion in military assistance since Russia's invasion began on February 24.

US officials also said last week that Moscow has been looking to Iran to resupply the Russian military with drones and surface-to-surface missiles.

On Tuesday, more than 50 countries and international organisations at a conference in Paris pledged €1 billion in aid for Ukraine to keep the country in power and fed through the winter.

French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said some €415 million would be devoted to Ukraine's energy sector, while the rest of the funds will be channelled to Ukraine's health, food, water and transport sectors.

"Nobody is suffering as much from Russia's war as the Ukrainians - and we stand firmly by their side," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the European Parliament on Wednesday.

3. Dozens of prisoners of war released in latest exchange

Sixty-four Ukrainians and one American were reportedly released on Wednesday in a new prisoner exchange between Kyiv and Moscow.

Ukraine's presidency said the freed soldiers included those who had "fought in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions".

A US National -- identified as Suedi Murekezi -- "was also released," according to President Zelenskyy's chief of staff.

Russia has not yet acknowledged the prisoner swap.

Kyiv has previously stated that the exchange of prisoners would continue until the "last Ukrainian" had been freed.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine have released official figures on how many prisoners of war they have taken since the invasion began exactly nine months ago.

Zelenskyy said last month that Russia had freed 1,319 prisoners since March.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that no Christmas or New Year truce on the ground in Ukraine was currently under discussion.

"No proposal has been made by anyone, this subject is not on the agenda," spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday when asked about the possibility of a pause in the fighting in Ukraine.

4. US charges seven suspects over Russian smuggling conspiracy

The US Department of Justice has charged five Russian nationals, including a security official, and two Americans over an alleged Russian government conspiracy.

The suspects are accused of illegally supplying Russia's defence sector with sensitive electronic components and munitions.

The group allegedly used front companies and a multitude of bank accounts to import the components, which are likely to have military use.

The goods, estimated to be worth millions of euros, were reportedly transported through Estonia, Finland, Germany and Hong Kong.

The seven suspects were "directed by the intelligence services" to work for two Russian companies for at least five years, according to a statement. The two companies were already sanctioned by the US in March over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Three of the suspects are in custody, including one awaiting extradition to Estonia, and four are at large.

They have been charged with fraud, conspiracy, smuggling, money laundering and violations of international sanctions and face 30 years in prison.

"The Department of Justice and its international partners will not tolerate criminal attempts to support the Russian war effort in Ukraine," United States attorney general Merrick Garland said in the statement.

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2022-12-14 12:11:15Z
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China Covid: Hospitals under strain in wave of infections - BBC

EPA

By Stephen McDonell

BBC News, Beijing

China's hospitals are already under so much pressure, following the country's rapid 180-degree shift in Covid policy, that doctors and nurses could be infecting patients.

It seems frontline medical workers are being told to come in even if they have the virus themselves because of staff shortages.

A Chinese professor specialising in health policy has been monitoring the crisis in his home country from Yale University in the United States.

Chen Xi told the BBC that he has been speaking to hospital directors and other medical staff in China about the massive strains on the system right now.

"People who've been infected have been required to work in the hospitals which creates a transmission environment there," he said.

China's hospitals have hastily increased their fever ward capacity to meet a huge influx of patients, but these have been filling up quickly, in part because the message is still not getting through that it is all right to stay at home if you catch the virus.

Reuters

Prof Chen says much more needs to be done to explain this to people.

"There is no culture of staying at home for minor symptoms," he said. "When people feel sick they all go to hospitals, which may easily crash the healthcare system."

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A rush on pharmacies has led to significant nationwide shortages of medicine used to treat a cold or the flu. Home testing kits for Covid are also hard to come by.

In Beijing, though restaurants are allowed to open again, they have very few customers and the streets are quiet.

Companies are telling employees they should return to the office, but many don't want to.

This all makes sense when you consider that, just weeks ago, the government was saying that there will be no swerving from zero-Covid, that those infected must go to centralised quarantine facilities and that lockdowns were necessary.

The coronavirus was something to fear and Chinese people were lucky to live here because the Communist Party would not sacrifice them on the altar of opening up.

Now the goal of returning each outbreak to zero cases has been abandoned, Covid is spreading like wildfire and the line from the government is that catching this disease is not something to worry about.

China's easing of Covid restrictions was expected to unfold more slowly, much more gradually.

Then came street protests, in city after city, with demonstrators demanding their old lives back. They wanted to be free to move around again. There were clashes with police and the chant was going up for China's leader Xi Jinping to resign and for the Communist Party to give up power.

This was the straw that broke zero-Covid's back.

According to Prof Chen, this meant that the timing of China's re-opening was "not ideal" but they had to do it.

He said countries like Singapore and New Zealand made their changes when infections were at bay. However, China has moved with full-blown outbreaks under way in cities like Beijing.

The government "heard the voice of the protesters", he said, but added that this was not the ideal choice for them in terms of timing.

So the protesters may have won, but the speed of the cave-in from the government has left elderly people afraid to leave their homes.

One woman we met going for a walk with her grandson said she would stay clear of crowded places, that she would keep wearing a mask and continue to wash her hands regularly.

Yet a reluctance to be in places where infection is more likely permeates all groups in society.

The impact on Beijing has been great.

Another reason restaurants are empty is that the city government still requires a negative PCR test result within 48 hours to dine inside. However, the majority of results are not coming through to health code phone apps.

This seems to be because the labs have been swamped with work now that Covid is spreading so rapidly.

A 34-year-old woman, who is isolating at home after catching Covid, told the BBC that the experience, so far, has been surprisingly smooth.

She said her symptoms have not been as bad as she had expected them to be and that she has everything she needs.

She also said she was much happier to have the option of recovering at home with her husband rather than in a crowded quarantine centre.

However, she too worries. She has a sister with young children, parents living alone in their hometown and a grandmother who all have to get through this period.

Doctors are taking to social media in an attempt reassure people that it is fine for them to remain at home after they catch Covid.

Officials have also started to transform China's Covid isolation centres into temporary hospital facilities, to cope with an explosion of infections.

In just one day this week, 22,000 people in Beijing tried to get into a fever clinic.

Questions are being asked.

Why didn't the government prepare for this earlier, with an expansion of hospital ICU capacity?

Why has it taken so long to make this switch when countries around the world had already done it?

Why did Xi Jinping's administration allow the zero-Covid approach to cause so much damage to the economy more broadly and people's livelihoods more specifically?

A renewed vaccination push has started but it too should have come before China reached this stage.

The government says it is the virus which has changed, that newer strains are less dangerous and that this has meant the time was right to alter the response.

Either way, there is much more optimism now.

A group of overseas Chinese have set up a special chat on the Wechat app so that people living in other countries can share their experiences of having Covid with users in China.

The goal is simple. Calm nerves.

For sure, the next couple of months are going to be tough here. Millions of people are going to get sick and there will be many deaths.

However, the old approach was clearly unsustainable and, at last, people can see a way out.

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2022-12-14 10:45:02Z
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Ukraine energy: Zelensky calls for 50 million lightbulbs - BBC

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By Ben Tobias

BBC News

Millions of energy-efficient lightbulbs are needed to help Ukraine cope with Russian attacks on the country's energy system, President Zelensky has said.

Speaking at a conference in Paris, he argued that one of the keys to stopping Russian aggression was to guarantee Ukraine's energy stability.

Generators are now "as necessary in Ukraine as armoured vehicles and bulletproof vests", he said.

Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy grid have left millions without power.

With winter temperatures in parts of the country often below zero for weeks on end, Ukraine has accused Russia of using the cold weather as a weapon against its civilian population.

Many parts of the country now only have electricity for a few hours a day.

The damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure has caused an average shortfall of about two-and-a-half gigawatts of power, Volodymyr Zelensky told an international aid conference on Tuesday.

But supplying the country with 50 million LED lightbulbs, which use less energy than older varieties, would save around one gigawatt of power - reducing the shortfall by about 40%.

The EU has already committed to sending 30 million bulbs.

"In these times of suffering and darkness, it is so important to bring light to Ukraine," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Around 12 million people in Ukraine are now disconnected from the electricity grid, President Zelensky told the Paris conference, which was organised to help Ukraine get through winter and to plan the country's reconstruction.

"Unfortunately, this is a typical situation for us. And we expect new Russian strikes every day, which can dramatically increase the number of shutdowns."

Blackouts, both scheduled and unscheduled, have affected almost every region of the country, some lasting days at a time.

Many critical services are relying on generators to keep the lights on, including hospitals and other medical facilities which are forced to limit the number of patients they treat.

"We are prioritising emergencies, trauma injuries, anything related to the war. We understand the consequences," Ukraine's Health Minister Viktor Liashko told the BBC.

President Zelensky said more generators were urgently needed, as well as specialist equipment to repair the energy infrastructure.

Restoring Ukraine's power grid would cost about €1.5bn (£1.3bn), he said.

Pledges at the conference totalled a little over €1bn, France's foreign minister said, with €415m allocated to energy.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted Tuesday's conference, described Russia's strikes on Ukraine's power grid as "cynical" and "cowardly".

"They violate without any doubt the most basic principles of humanitarian law. These acts are intolerable and will not go unpunished."

Experts have told the BBC that Russia's strategy of targeting Ukraine's infrastructure almost certainly violates international law, because of the disproportionate harm done to civilians.

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2022-12-13 16:35:18Z
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EU strikes deal on world-first carbon border tariff - Reuters

BRUSSELS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - After all-night negotiations, the European Union struck a political deal on Tuesday to impose a carbon dioxide emissions tariff on imports of polluting goods such as steel and cement, a world-first scheme aiming to support European industries as they decarbonise.

Negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament reached a deal at around 5am in Brussels, on the law to impose CO2 emissions costs on imports of iron and steel, cement, fertilisers, aluminium and electricity.

Companies importing those goods into the EU will be required to buy certificates to cover their embedded CO2 emissions. The scheme is designed to apply the same CO2 cost to overseas firms and domestic EU industries - the latter of which are already required to buy permits from the EU carbon market when they pollute.

Mohammed Chahim, European Parliament's lead negotiator on the law, said the border tariff would be crucial to EU efforts to fight climate change.

"It is one of the only mechanisms we have to incentivise our trading partners to decarbonise their manufacturing industry," Chahim said.

The aim of the levy is to prevent European industry from being undercut by cheaper goods made in countries with weaker environmental rules.

It will also apply to imported hydrogen, which was not in the original EU proposal but which EU lawmakers pushed for in the negotiations.

Some details on the law, including its start date, will be determined later this week in related negotiations on a reform of the EU carbon market.

Currently, the EU gives domestic industry free CO2 permits to shield them from foreign competition, but plans to phase out those free permits when the carbon border tariff is phased in, to comply with World Trade Organisation rules. How quickly that phase-in happens will be decided in the carbon market talks.

Brussels has said countries could be exempted if they have equivalent climate change policies to the EU, and suggested the United States could dodge the levy on this basis.

Still, the EU plan has faced criticism from countries including China, and comes amid heightened trade tensions with the United States over the Inflation Reduction Act's subsidies for green technologies, which the EU has said could disadvantage European firms.

The tariff is part of a package of EU policies designed to help the world avoid disastrous climate change by cutting EU emissions 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels.

Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2022-12-13 07:19:00Z
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EU corruption scandal puts democracy under attack - European Parliament head - BBC

Reuters

By James Gregory

BBC News

The president of the European Parliament has warned that "European democracy is under attack", following allegations that Qatar bribed EU officials to win influence.

Roberta Metsola said that "open, free, democratic societies are under attack".

Belgian police have arrested four people, among them European Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili.

The four have been charged with corruption and money-laundering. Qatar has denied wrongdoing.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the accusations were "very serious" and called for the creation of a new EU ethics body.

The BBC's Brussels correspondent, Jessica Parker, says details released by Belgian authorities in the last few days left many people's jaws on the floor.

MEPs who spoke to our correspondent say they are shocked by both the scale and blatancy of the accusations.

Belgian police seized cash worth about €600,000 ($632,000; £515,000) in 16 searches in Brussels on Friday. Computers and mobile phones were also taken.

No suspects have been publicly named, but Ms Kaili is understood to be among those who have been indicted.

Ms Kaili - an MEP for eight years - was suspended from her duties as one of 14 vice-presidents by the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

She has also been suspended from the parliament's Socialists and Democrats Group and expelled from the Greek centre-left Pasok party.

Prosecutors in Greece have reportedly frozen all of Ms Kaili's assets.

Watchdogs and opposition MEPs said the bribery investigation could represent one of the biggest corruption scandals in European Parliament history.

Ms von der Leyen said confidence in European institutions required the highest ethical standards.

"It is a question of confidence of people into our institutions, and this confidence of trust into our institutions needs higher standards," she said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban mocked the EU after the allegations surfaced.

Tweeting a photo of former US presidents Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush that is often used as a meme, he referred to the European Commission's recommendation to freeze billions of euros in funds earmarked for Hungary.

Good morning to the European Parliament! @Europarl_EN pic.twitter.com/VYXGeSOwul

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) December 12, 2022

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

Prosecutors said they suspected a Gulf state had been influencing economic and political decisions of the parliament for several months, especially by targeting aides.

Local media has named the state as Qatar, although the Qatari government said any claims of misconduct were "gravely misinformed".

Ms Kaili's responsibilities as vice-president include the Middle East. She has been a defender of Qatar in the past.

The European Parliament is the EU's only directly elected institution. Some 705 members of parliament, elected by voters in the 27 nations which make up the EU, meet to scrutinise proposed legislation and vote through European law.

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2022-12-12 17:25:19Z
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Friend of Italian PM among three killed in Rome cafe shooting - Sky News

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has paid tribute to a friend who was among three people killed when a gunman open fire in Rome.

A meeting of apartment block residents was being held at a cafe in the northeastern district of Fidene when three women were killed.

A 57-year-old man from Rome was arrested after the attack.

The shooting occurred in the enclosed outdoor seating area of the cafe, known as Il Posto Giusto. A fourth person suffered serious wounds, according to reports.

Ms Meloni dedicated a post on Instagram to her friend Nicoletta Golisano, who was one of the victims.

"For me she will always be beautiful and happy like this," Ms Meloni wrote alongside an image of the two of them standing next to each other.

"It is not right to die like this."

More on Giorgia Meloni

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She described her friend as a "protective mother, a sincere and discreet friend, a strong and fragile woman".

Ms Golisano, 50, is survived by her husband and 10-year-old son, according to Ms Meloni.

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Police arrested the suspect who was overpowered by other residents after the shooting. A witness told Rai News that he had been in a series of disputes with the residents' association.

"He came into the room, closed the door and shouted 'I'll kill you all' and then started to shoot," Italian news agency Ansa quoted another eyewitness saying.

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Four other people were wounded in the shooting, with at least one of them suffering serious injuries.

A shooting range from which the suspect had taken the gun used in the attack has been closed and placed under investigation by the authorities, Ms Meloni added.

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2022-12-12 09:30:43Z
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Ursula von der Leyen calls for EU-wide ethics body after Qatar corruption claims - Financial Times

Brussels must set up a body to uphold rules on integrity and ethics across all EU institutions, the European Commission president has said, in response to a growing scandal over alleged payments to EU lawmakers by Qatar.

Ursula von der Leyen said a corruption scandal in the European parliament involving claims that the football World Cup host was seeking to buy influence in the chamber was of the “utmost concern”, which raised questions about the confidence of citizens in the EU itself.

Von der Leyen said on Monday there was already a watchdog overseeing matters of transparency and independence at the commission but that she wanted to see “the same rules across all European institutions”, including the parliament.

Her comments came as leading ministers from across the bloc said the scandal raised questions about the “credibility” of the EU, and demanded a full investigation into the alleged payments.

Belgian police detained an MEP and seized €600,000 in cash during raids of politicians’ homes over the weekend as part of an international investigation involving claims against Qatar and leading EU representatives.

“It is a question of confidence of people into our institutions and this confidence and trust into institutions needs the highest standards of independence and integrity,” von der Leyen told reporters.

Commission vice-president Věra Jourová was “currently discussing with the European parliament and council the way forward”, added von der Leyen, who publicly backed the establishment of an ethics body when she ran for office in 2019.

“I am not a judge, there is a process ongoing. Certainly, the news is very worrisome, very, very worrisome. We are facing some events, some facts that certainly worry me,” said Josep Borrell, head of the EU’s foreign and security arm who was president of the parliament from 2004 to 2007.

“[We] have to act according not only to the facts but to the . . . evidence. I cannot go beyond the judiciary statements. I am sure you understand that these are very grave accusations,” he said on Monday ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

“This is an unbelievable incident that must now be clarified without ifs and buts with the full severity of the law,” said Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s minister of foreign affairs.

“This is about the credibility of Europe, so this has to trigger consequences in various areas,” Baerbock added.

A Belgian judge charged four unnamed people on Sunday with “participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption”.

The scandal has already triggered official resignations and the suspension of a parliamentary vote on granting Qatari nationals visa-free travel to the bloc, due next week.

Jan Lipavský, the Czech foreign minister, said he “despise[d] it in all possible terms” when asked about the allegations.

“It is absolutely unacceptable, any form of corruption, and I am glad the Belgian police were able to act on it,” he told reporters.

“Of course, the relationship between the EU and Qatar, or European countries and Qatar, needs to be built on a set of policies including human rights and labour rights,” he added. “So, let’s see what [has] happened.”

While the suspects have not been named by investigators, Eva Kaili, a vice-president of the European parliament from Greece, has been stripped of her duties in the legislature as well as her membership of Pasok, the Greek socialist party.

Kaili, a former TV news presenter, defended Qatar’s human rights record in the European parliament last month, hailing the country as “a frontrunner in labour rights” for its decision to scrap a migrant workers sponsorship system.

“There is currently an investigation ongoing into particularly serious crimes, we must all respect that,” Nikos Dendias, Greece’s foreign minister, said on Monday.

The head of Greece’s anti-money laundering authority on Monday ordered a freeze of Kaili’s Greek financial assets and those of her associates. During its investigation it said it had discovered an Athens-based real estate company had been formed on November 30, under the names of Kaili and her partner.

Kaili and her partner could not be reached for comment.

Doha has rejected any allegations of misconduct. “Any association of the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and gravely misinformed,” an official said.

Von der Leyen said the commission was also going through its own transparency register to check for undue influence.

“If there is any kind of new information we will act,” she added.

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2022-12-12 13:57:02Z
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