U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday fired Republican Mike Turner, a vocal supporter of aid to Ukraine, for the following reasons: chairman Member of the powerful House Intelligence Committee. Mr. Johnson, who works closely with Mr. Trump, said: “The intelligence community and everything related to it, [the committee] We need a fresh start.'' Turner's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the next president of the United States President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the new administration would seek “bold diplomacy” to end the war.. “Not only Russia but also Ukraine will have to make concessions,” he said.
Russia fired missiles and drones at energy facilities in Ukraine on Wednesday, The day after Kiev announced it had carried out the largest air raid of the war against Russian munitions factories and energy sites hundreds of kilometers from the front lines.. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: “It's another large-scale attack by Russia. We are now in the middle of winter, but the Russians' target remains the same: our energy sector.''Ukraine's air force launched 30 missiles and unmanned vehicles. Despite announcing that 47 planes had been shot down, Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said the Russian attack had been a “failure”.
The mayor of the southern city of Kherson said the heavy fire had caused a power outage. The governor of the Ivano-Frankivsk region in western Ukraine said critical infrastructure facilities were targeted. In the Lviv region, which borders EU and NATO member Poland, authorities said two similar facilities in the Drogovic and Struj districts were damaged. “There were no casualties, but there was damage,” Governor Maxim Kozicki said. Poland scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace, but said there were no violations. State power grid operator Ukrenergo called on Ukrainians to limit their electricity use throughout the day after an emergency power outage was lifted in seven regions.
After the barrage, President Zelensky called on the West to use some $250 billion in Russia's unallocated frozen assets to buy Kiev weapons. He spoke with Polish President Andrzej Duda at a news conference in Warsaw. “Ukraine will take this money and allocate a large amount to domestic production and import of exactly the types of weapons that Ukraine does not have,” the Ukrainian president said. The EU last week paid Kyiv the first 3 billion euros (about $3.1 billion) of a loan backed by interest earned on Russian assets.
