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“According to preliminary reports, one person was killed,” the head of the city’s military administration, Sergiy Popko, said on Telegram.
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Popko said Russian forces had used eight Kinzhal and Iskander missiles in the strike at around 7:00 am (0500 GMT).
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Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that, “as a result of the enemy attack”, two people were hospitalised and debris fell in four areas, setting cars and buildings alight.
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“Emergency services are working everywhere,” he said on Telegram.
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The blasts came after the Ukrainian air force warned of an impending ballistic missile attack.
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“Ballistic missile from the north!” the air force said on Telegram.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference on Thursday suggested a “hi-tech duel” over Kyiv to test his claims that Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile, dubbed Oreshnik, is impervious to air defences.
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Ukrainian authorities also reported missile attacks in the southern port city of Kherson, where one person was killed and six injured, as well as several other Ukrainian cities and towns.
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More on this shortly, in other developments:
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Attacks overnight also hit the southeastern city of Kryvyi Rih, badly damaging a two-storey building and injuring six people, according to officials. A man and a teenage girl had been pulled from the rubble and had been hospitalised, the region’s governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram.
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to Putin’s comments about testing a new hypersonic missile above Kyiv “to see what happens”. Zelenskyy said: “Do you think that’s a sane person? Simply scumbags.”
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Russia has been accused of carrying out a mass cyber-attack on Ukraine’s state registries. Ukrainian deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna said on Facebook late on Thursday: “As a result of this targeted attack, the work of the unified and state registries, which are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, was temporarily suspended.” Stefanishyna said it was clear the attack was “carried out by the Russians to disrupt the work of the country’s critically important infrastructure”. Russia did not immediately comment on the claim.
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Vladimir Putin has said he was ready to meet Donald Trump and discuss peace proposals as he used a marathon phone-in event to claim that the war in Ukraine had made Russia “much stronger”. The Russian president said during the annual event that Moscow was “ready for negotiations and compromises” to end the fighting, but later he pointed to a maximalist position that would involve keeping Crimea and other occupied territories, Ukraine not joining Nato, and the lifting of sanctions by the west. He also denied that the fall of his key ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria had hurt Moscow’s standing.
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Zelenskyy said Putin was a fantasiser and accused him of wanting to destroy Ukraine’s army. “He (Putin) is an old fantasiser. He lives in a different world. He lives in his own aquarium I am afraid.”
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Zelenskyy said he needed both Europe and the United States on board to secure a durable peace, as he huddled with EU leaders at their final summit before Donald Trump’s inauguration. “I believe that the European guarantees won’t be sufficient for Ukraine,” he said after talks with his EU counterparts.
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main events
Russia sentenced residents of eastern Ukraine Luhansk According to AFP news agency, Moscow's Federal Security Service sentenced a local resident to 16 years in prison for “high treason.”
The Russian government regularly sentences people it accuses of spying for Ukraine with heavy sentences and consistently imprisons Ukrainians in Russia and the occupied territories.
The man was sentenced at a military court in Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia.
Prosecutors said he passed information about the Russian military to security services in Kiev.
The FSB announced that the man was found guilty of treason for being an accomplice in terrorist acts and as an accomplice in the illegal handling and transportation of explosives, Russian news agencies reported.
The court ordered him to serve his sentence in a high-security penal colony.
Ukraine's air force said it shot down five ballistic missiles and 40 drones in the Russian attack, and another 20 drones failed to reach their targets.
A total of 65 drones were launched overnight.
This morning, Russia launched a missile attack on Kiev, leaving one person dead and two hospitalized. Officials in Moscow claimed the attack was in retaliation for Ukraine's attack on mainland Russia using US-made weapons earlier this week.
Photos show the aftermath of this morning's Kyiv attack…
Russia said it targeted the arms industry and security services in an attack on Kiev this morning in a “response” to Ukraine's attack this week on a chemical factory in southern Russia with a Western missile.
One person was reported killed and two others injured in an attack on Kiev early this morning.
“A combined offensive with long-range precision weapons was launched today in response to the actions of the Kiev regime, supported by Western leaders,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Russia announced yesterday that Ukraine launched six U.S.-made long-range ATACM missiles and four British-made Storm Shadow missiles toward Russia's southern Rostov region on Wednesday.
The Polish Foreign Ministry said on Friday that Poland would summon the Hungarian ambassador in response to the city of Budapest granting asylum to former deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, Reuters reported. Poland called the move a “hostile act.”
Romanowski is under investigation in Poland on suspicion of misuse of public funds.
Speaking to the website mandiner.hu, the Hungarian Prime Minister's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, accused the Polish government of cornering its political opponents. He said the decision to grant asylum followed both Hungarian and European Union law.
“The actions of Prime Minister (Donald) Tusk's government have created a situation in which the Polish government ignores the rulings of the Constitutional Court and uses criminal law as a tool against its political opponents,” Gryas said.
Poland and Hungary have historically been close allies, but the Ukraine war tore them apart. Hungary is the Kremlin's closest ally in the EU.
The pro-European Tusk government claims it has cleared the way for prosecutors to investigate wrongdoings that were previously covered up under the previous nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government, which left office in 2023.
“If Hungary is unable to fulfill its European obligations, Poland also requests the European Commission to open legal proceedings against Hungary,” it said in a statement.
Opening overview
One person was reported killed in a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian capital on Friday. KyivAFP officials saw plumes of smoke rising in parts of the city after a series of explosions.
“According to preliminary reports, one person was killed,” the city's military administrator said. Sergi Popkohe said on Telegram.
Popko said Russian forces used eight Kinzhal and Iskander missiles in the attack at around 7 a.m. (5 p.m. Japan time).
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people were hospitalized “as a result of enemy attacks,” debris fell in four areas, and cars and buildings were set on fire.
“Emergency services are working everywhere,” he said on Telegram.
The explosion occurred after the Ukrainian Air Force warned that a ballistic missile attack was imminent.
“Ballistic missile from the North!” the Air Force said on Telegram.
president of russia Vladimir Putin At a press conference on Thursday, he proposed a “high-tech duel” over Kiev to test his claim that Russia's new hypersonic ballistic missile, called Oreshnik, is impenetrable to air defenses.
Ukrainian authorities also reported missile attacks in the southern port city of Kherson, killing one person and injuring six others, as well as in several other Ukrainian cities and towns.
We'll talk more about this in other developments soon.
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Another overnight attack in the southeastern city of Krivy Rif caused extensive damage to a two-story building and injured six people, officials said. The region's governor, Serhiy Raisak, said on Telegram that a man and a teenage girl were pulled from the rubble and hospitalized.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to Putin's comment that the country tested a new hypersonic missile over Kiev “to see what will happen.” President Zelenskiy said: “Do you think that person is sane?” He's just a scumbag. ”
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Russia is accused of carrying out a large-scale cyberattack against Ukraine's state registry. “As a result of this targeted attack, the operations of the Unified Register and State Register under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine have been temporarily suspended,” Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishna said on Facebook late Thursday. . Stefanishina said it was clear that the attack was “carried out by the Russians in order to disrupt the operation of the country's very important infrastructure.” Russia did not immediately comment on the allegations.
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President Vladimir Putin says he is ready to meet with Donald Trump and discuss a peace plan. He used the marathon phone event to claim that the Ukraine war had made Russia “much stronger.” The Russian president said during an annual event that Russia was “ready to negotiate and compromise” to end the fighting, but later announced plans to keep Crimea and other occupied territories, Ukraine's non-participation and the cancellation of NATO. He pointed out the maximalist position such as Sanctions by Western countries. He also denied that the ouster of key ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria had hurt the Kremlin's standing.
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Mr. Zelensky accused Mr. Putin of being a fantasist and trying to destroy Ukraine's military. “He (Putin) is an old-fashioned daydreamer. He lives in another world. Unfortunately he lives in his own aquarium. ”
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President Zelenskiy said that ensuring lasting peace requires both Europe and the United States to participatewhen he gathered with EU leaders at the last summit before President Donald Trump took office. “We believe that European guarantees are not sufficient for Ukraine,” he said after consultations with EU countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last night called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “stupid” in a post on X.
The post included a video of the Russian president saying the idea of attacking Kiev with hypersonic Oleshnik missiles to test Ukraine's air defenses was “interesting.”
“People are dying and he thinks it's 'funny'… idiot,” Zelenskiy's post read.
People are dying and he thinks it's “funny”…idiot. pic.twitter.com/JyJ9ok0fok
— Volodymyr Zelensky / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 19, 2024
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