Zelenskyy urges faster fortification of frontline areas
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday called for faster fortifications on key battlegrounds facing attacks by Russian forces, particularly in eastern Ukraine.
“In all important areas, we need to strengthen and speed up the building of structures,” Zelensky said in a nightly speech, according to a translation, after touring Ukrainian positions in the northeast trying to repel recent Russian advances and retake certain areas. .
In particular, he cited the need for stronger defenses in Avdiivka, Maryinka and other parts of the Donetsk region, along with various defensive lines in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions.
– Elliott Smith
Ukraine shoots down 18 Russian drones. Russia destroys unmanned navy ship
The Ukrainian Air Force stated this Telegram channel on Friday that it shot down 18 of 25 attack drones launched by Russia into eastern and southern Ukraine overnight, along with one of two guided cruise missiles.
In a report translated by Google, the Russian navy said early Friday morning that it destroyed an unmanned Ukrainian naval vessel headed for Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
CNBC was unable to independently verify each side’s claims.
– Elliott Smith
Germany’s Scholz stresses ‘unwavering solidarity’ with Ukraine in call with Zelenskyy
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed the latest political, military and humanitarian situation in Ukraine in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday, the German government said in a statement.
Scholz told the Ukrainian president that Germany will continue to support Ukraine together with European and international partners.
Scholz also reiterated Germany’s “permanent and unwavering solidarity” with Ukraine and said its “future lies in the European Union,” according to the statement.
Zelensky discussed recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian energy infrastructure and thanked Germany for its military support.
— Jenny Reed
Russian top court bans LGBT movement as ‘extremist’
Russia’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that LGBT activists should be labeled as extremists, in a move that gay and transgender advocates fear will lead to arrests and prosecutions.
A Reuters reporter in court heard it announce that it had granted a Justice Department request to recognize what it called an “international LGBT social movement” as extremist and ban its activities.
The move is part of a pattern of increasing restrictions in Russia on expressions of sexual orientation and gender identity, including laws banning the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relationships and banning legal or medical gender reassignments.
TOPSHOT – LGBT activists take part in a May Day rally in St. Petersburg on May 1, 2018. (Photo by OLGA MALTSEVA / AFP) (Photo by OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images)
Olga Malcheva | Afp | Getty Images
President Vladimir Putin, who is expected soon to announce he will seek a new six-year term in March, has long sought to promote an image of Russia as the guardian of traditional moral values in contrast to a decadent West.
In a speech last year, he said the West was welcome to adopt “rather strange, in my view, new trends like dozens of sexes and gay parades,” but it had no right to impose them on other countries.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters before the court decision was announced that the Kremlin was “not following” the case and had no comment on it. The Supreme Court took about five hours to deliver its ruling after it began sitting at 10am local time.
— Reuters
Lavrov tells OSCE he is ‘on the brink’
SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA – NOVEMBER 30: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends the 30th Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council in Skopje, North Macedonia on November 30, 2023. (Umeys Sulejman/Anadolu Photo via Getty images)
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday that the group was “on the brink of an abyss”.
Attending the latest OSCE meeting in Skopje, North Macedonia, Lavrov accused the 57-member security-oriented organization of “essentially turning into an annex of NATO and the European Union.”
“The organization, let’s face it, is on the brink,” he said. according to comments reported by Interfax.
“It becomes a simple question: does it make sense to invest efforts in its revival?”, he asked, questioning the equality of member countries and the approach to regional security problems.
So far, he said, “there are a lot more questions than answers.”
“But in the meantime, life does not stand still, the processes of Eurasian integration and equal cooperation based on an honest balance of interests are developing on our continent in constructive ways, regardless of the deepening immersion of the OSCE in the imposed conflict agenda.” Lavrov said.
Ukraine and the Baltic states are boycotting this year’s OSCE summit because of Lavrov’s presence. The OSCE has also been largely stymied in its decision-making because Russia has used its veto to scuttle the process, putting its future in doubt.
— Holly Elliott