[Korrespondent] 22:29 As of the evening of December 26, in different regions of Ukraine, about 9 million people were disconnected from electricity, but the number and duration of outages are still gradually decreasing, Zelensky said.22:16 Zelensky, in an evening video message, spoke about the situation at the front: "Bakhmut, Kremennaya and other areas in the Donbass, which now require maximum strength and concentration, the situation there is difficult, painful. The occupiers are spending all the resources available to them - and these are significant resources, - to squeeze out some promotion."
The president also said that he had held a special meeting with officials on the situation in energy and infrastructure: “We are preparing for next year, and not only for the winter months. There are threats that we must eliminate. There are steps that must be taken. And the state must take them will do."
In addition, Zelensky said that today he held an expanded meeting on the results of his visit to the United States and the implementation of the agreements: "We will not waste time. We will implement everything that was agreed in Washington quickly. As much as possible."
21:44 Ukraine intends to hold a peace formula summit by the end of February 2023, UN Secretary General António Guterres is considered as a mediator, Kuleba said in an interview with AP: "The UN could be the best place to hold this summit, because we are not talking about to do a favor for a particular country. It's about getting everyone involved."
Answering a question about whether Russia would be invited to the summit, the Foreign Minister said that first she should be held accountable for war crimes - for example, in an international court. "Only in this way can they be invited to this initiative," he added.
21:09 The United States has developed a special plan for the accelerated deployment of Patriot air defense systems in Ukraine, Kuleba said in an interview with AP. According to him, the Patriot battery will be ready for operation in Ukraine in less than six months, while preparation usually takes up to a year.
20:50 Thanks to the redistribution of electricity, all districts of Kiev are now provided with a periodic supply of light, damaged nodes are still being repaired, Yasno CEO Sergei Kovalenko said.
19:56 A new commander of the troops of the Western Military District has been appointed in the Russian Federation: Colonel General Sergei Kuzovlev, who managed to stay in this post for only about a month, was replaced by Lieutenant General Yevgeny Nikiforov. Prior to this appointment, he served as chief of staff - first deputy commander of the Eastern Military District, Ukrainian military intelligence reported. It is known that at present, General Nikiforov is at the command post of the West group of troops in Boguchar, Voronezh region.
As a formal reason for the dismissal of Kuzovlev, the failure to prepare an offensive in the Liman direction was announced. However, in fact, this is a manifestation of the internal political struggle in the top leadership of the Russian Federation: a person from the orbit of Shoigu-Gerasimov is being exchanged for a candidate from the Surovikin-Prigozhin group, reports the GUR. General Nikiforov became the fourth commander of the Western Military District since the start of a full-scale invasion.
18:44 The Russians are concentrating their efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Liman directions, in Kupyansky, Avdeevsky and Zaporozhye - they are trying to improve the tactical situation. The enemy is on the defensive in the Novopavlovsk and Kherson directions, the General Staff reported in the evening summary.
In Tokmak, Zaporozhye region, the occupiers stepped up administrative and police measures. The servicemen, together with local collaborators, seek out patriotic Ukrainian citizens, check laptops, phones, and search homes.
18:29 Kazakhstan will not join the sanctions against Russia, but will not help it bypass the existing regime of restrictions, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Mukhtar Teleuberdi.
17:41 Ukrenergo warned about the spread of a fake about the alleged cancellation of emergency power outages with a link to a fake company page. "This is an attempt to stir up the public with false information," Ukrenergo stressed.
17:02 The EBRD will help about 80 Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses to leave the areas of Ukraine most affected by the Russian invasion. For these needs, the United States and Switzerland allocated 2.4 million euros in a targeted grant. Companies will be able to apply for up to 30,000 euros.
16:43 Air Defense Day in Russia began with "gifts": an explosion occurred at the strategic aviation airfield in Engels, Saratov Region. A "holiday" siren sounded in the city itself, and, according to media reports, there was a large-scale "fire show" at the air base. For more details, see Second Impact .
15:52 Zelensky said that he had a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi: "I wished an effective chairmanship of the G20. It was on this platform that I announced the peace formula, and now I count on India's participation in its implementation. He thanked the humanitarian aid and support at the UN."
15:29 Ukraine has initiated a comprehensive process aimed at excluding Russia from the UN Security Council and the UN as a whole , the Foreign Ministry said. The ministry’s statement emphasizes that the Russian Federation took the seat of a permanent member of the UN Security Council, bypassing the procedures defined by the UN Charter: this happened on the basis of a regular letter from RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin addressed to the UN Secretary General. The current UN Charter does not contain the words "Russian Federation". They are not, in particular, in Article 23 of the Charter, which lists the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Ukraine declares that Russia must go through the same international legal path of gaining UN membership as other countries. At the same time, the return of the Russian Federation to the UN in the future can be considered only if it meets the criteria for UN membership. "From a legal and political point of view, there can be only one conclusion: Russia is a usurper of the Soviet Union's seat in the UN Security Council," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In addition, the right of the Russian Federation to be a member of the UN as a whole is also doubtful, since it does not meet the main criterion for membership in the Organization. Article 4, paragraph 1, clearly states that UN membership is open to all peace-loving states. While the actions of the Russian Federation are opposite to the concept of "peacefulness". "Three decades of her illegal tenure at the UN were marked by wars and the seizure of the territories of other countries, the forceful change of internationally recognized borders, attempts to satisfy predatory and neo-imperial ambitions," the statement says. At the same time, the Russian Federation "refuses to comply with the mandatory order of the International Court of Justice and the resolutions of the UN General Assembly."
Ukraine calls on UN member states to renew the application of the UN Charter in the issue of the legitimacy of the Russian Federation's stay in the UN, deprive the Russian Federation of the status of a permanent member of the UN Security Council and exclude it from the UN as a whole. Ukraine is ready to cooperate with other countries to jointly protect the UN Charter and international law from the destructive influence of the Russian Federation, the statement says.
14:58 The Armed Forces of Ukraine are already near Kremennaya, and the military command of the Russian Federation has moved from this city to Rubizhne, said the head of the Luhansk OVA Serhiy Gaidai. According to him, fierce battles are going on outside the city.
14:45 Ukrainian air defense has already destroyed 70 Iranian kamikaze drones from the second batch, Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said. According to him, the Russians have already carried out four waves of attacks with drones from the second batch. Ignat stressed that the enemy still has drones, and he will intensify attacks.
14:32 Rossiyskiye Vedomosti, citing sources, writes that the Kremlin intends to hold regional elections in the annexed Ukrainian territories in September 2023, even under martial law.
14:18 The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation put Christ Grozev, a journalist from the international group Bellingcat, on the wanted list. A criminal case was opened against him for "spreading fakes about the Russian army."
13:52 In the east of Ukraine, a new domestic reconnaissance drone Dovbush T10 is being tested. This is a multifunctional UAV that can be upgraded into a reconnaissance or strike drone. Volodymyr Yatsenko, organizer of the project for the production of drones, said that thanks to the latest software and special equipment, the Ukrainian drone is practically inaccessible to enemy EW and air defense forces.
According to him, drones are produced in one of the countries of Europe, they plan to increase the production volume to ten or more per day. The weak point of the Ukrainian drone, like most others, is the impact of adverse weather conditions on their work. Yatsenko added that now the main task is the production of high-precision weapons, with an impact error of 1-2 meters.
13:40 Russia is preparing for a massive strike on the territory of Ukraine, but pinpoint strikes are not excluded, said OK Pivden speaker Natalya Gumenyuk. According to her, now there is one surface and two underwater rocket carriers in the sea with a total salvo of 16 Caliber missiles. “We remember that they have such an inclination to repeat operations that are more or less significant for them. Therefore, if we recall on December 5, how they were preparing for a massive missile attack, when they launched both launch vehicles into the sea and raised strategic and tactical aviation ", in principle, everything is very similar. We are ready for this. We are aware that such a strike is possible," Gumenyuk stressed.
According to her, the Russians are running out of missiles, but the enemy should not be underestimated: "We see that they are looking for an opportunity to delay the course of events, to take a so-called operational pause in order to bring up reserves. But our counteraction is adequate, we will not give them such a pause."
13:29 The FSB announced the liquidation of an allegedly Ukrainian DRG consisting of four people who tried to penetrate from the territory of Ukraine to the Bryansk region, "they had German SIG Sauer submachine guns and four 40 kg bombs in TNT equivalent with them."
13:16 In the Kherson region, in the settlements located near the Dnieper, due to the constant attacks of the Russians, it is almost impossible to ensure a stable heat and water supply. The head of the OVA, Yaroslav Yanushevich, calls on local residents to evacuate - for this, free buses run from Kherson to Odessa via Nikolaev. Another opportunity to leave is a daily train from Kherson to Khmelnitsky, where all evacuees will be provided with housing, food packages and cash payments.
12:23 Budanov said in an interview with LIGA that the Russians had only 47 Daggers by the beginning of the war: "During this time they were able to make a few, while there were spare parts. This is not serious. You can scare the world with the fact that you have a Dagger. But when you start you can actually use them - what next? You can deliver 47 hits. To understand, more than 900 Iskanders were used ... It is almost impossible to produce them now. They cannot get many components due to sanctions. They do parallel imports, but this makes it very difficult and increases the delivery time of these parts. And some of them, in spite of everything, cannot get it."
11:56 Erdogan accused the West of "provocations" in the issue of Ukraine: "Unfortunately, the West was only engaged in provocations and could not make efforts to become a mediator in the Ukrainian-Russian war. Turkey took on the role of a mediator in 2022 and achieved the launch Black Sea Grain Corridor. According to him, as part of the food deal, Europe received 44% of supplies, Turkey - 16%, African countries - 14%.
11:37 As of December 26, the power shortage in the energy system remains significant, Ukrenergo reported. There are also restrictions in the power transmission system as a result of significant damage to the backbone networks by massive Russian attacks. Consumption limits have been brought to all regions. Due to exceeding the consumption limits, emergency shutdowns were introduced in Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kharkiv, Lvov, Kyiv regions and in Kyiv.
11:05 The Russians are massively shelling the entire territory of Ukraine, but most often they are aiming at critical infrastructure facilities near Kiev, Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: "The capital is attacked the most. It is clear that the capital is the No. 1 target for the enemy."
Ignat recalled that Kyiv was the goal of the Russians from the first days of a full-scale war, when they tried to seize airfields, land troops and encircle the capital: “Now they attack differently, attacking critical infrastructure around Kyiv. These are objects of the fuel and energy sector. That is where the occupiers send more of their cruise missiles."
10:41 The European Commission transferred 66 million euros to the budget of Ukraine for the reconstruction of schools destroyed and damaged by the Russians, said Katarina Maternova, Deputy Director General of the EC Directorate General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations. In total, the support package for the restoration of educational institutions, which was agreed upon by the European Commission and the government of Ukraine, is 100 million euros.
10:37 Budanov said in an interview with LIGA that since February 24, not a single traitor has been found inside the GUR, "internal security is constantly working." At the same time, there were cases of "improper attitude to the preservation of state secrets", but in most cases it was "official negligence." Meanwhile, the number of GUR agents inside Russia has increased since the start of the full-scale war. According to Budanov, we are talking about people at "completely different levels."
10:32 At the initiative of the NBU, systemically important banks have united to create a common banking network called Power Banking. About a thousand branches included in the network will work and provide banking services to customers even in a critical situation during the blackout, the regulator said.
10:23 Budanov said in an interview with LIGA that the Russians have enough stocks of missiles for 2-3 hits, if we count the average salvo of 70-75 missiles. He drew attention to the fact that Russia has increased the intervals between missile attacks, because its industry is not able to cover the number of missiles that they spend. The invaders have almost stopped producing Iskander missiles, and the production of technologically sophisticated hypersonic Kinzhal missiles has also been reduced.
10:21 Journalist Roman Bochkala writes that as a result of a UAV missile attack at the location of the 6950th air base (military unit 06987, Engels, Saratov region, Russian Federation), the base control center was hit. The UAV fired two missiles, one of which was shot down by the air defense system, and the second hit the target.
10:13 Explosions at the Russian military airfield Engels were the result of Russia's criminal actions on the territory of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: "These are the consequences of what Russia is doing on our land. If the Russians thought that the war would not affect them in the rear "Then they were wrong. Such things are happening more and more often, and we hope that this will only play into Ukraine's hands." Ignat added that the real consequences of the explosions will become clear in a few days, when satellite images from the airfield appear.
09:56 Budanov said in an interview with LIGA that Crimea will be returned in a combined way: both by force and diplomacy. "But nothing will happen without force. Our units will go there with weapons in their hands," the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate emphasized.
09:33 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said about the "protracted nature" of the war in Ukraine: "Today the situation is such that any forecasts regarding the end of the Ukrainian crisis may turn out to be untenable. The military confrontation has become protracted."
09:28 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the enemy on the morning of December 26. The enemy suffered the greatest losses in the Kupyansky, Avdeevsky and Bakhmut directions.
- personnel - about 102,600 (+550) people liquidated,
- tanks - 3016 (+5),
- armored combat vehicles - 6017 (+7),
- artillery systems - 1996 (+5),
- MLRS - 418 (+0),
- air defense systems - 212 (+0),
- aircraft - 283 (+0),
- helicopters - 267 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 1707 (+1),
- cruise missiles - 653 (+0),
- ships/boats - 16 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 4647 (+12),
- special equipment - 178 (+0).
08:49 In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the night passed without shelling - this is the third quiet night in almost six months since the Russians began shelling the Nikopol region, said the head of the OVA, Valentin Reznichenko.
08:38 Over the past day, units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled the attacks of invaders in the areas of the settlements of Novoselovskoe, Stelmakhivka, Ploshchanka, Nevskoe and Chervonopopovka of the Luhansk region and Vesele, Yakovlevka, Soledar, Bakhmutskoye, Podgorodnoye, Bakhmut, Kurdyumovka, Mayorsk, Vodiane, Krasnogorovka and Maryinka Donetsk region, said the General Staff in the morning summary .
07:16 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that air defense systems allegedly shot down a Ukrainian drone at low altitude when approaching the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region. As a result of the fall of its wreckage, three Russian soldiers who were at the airfield were killed, and the aircraft were not damaged, the Russian Defense Ministry assures.
02:28 On the territory of the Russian Engels airfield in the Saratov region, from which massive missile attacks on Ukraine were carried out, explosions are heard, a siren sounds, social media users report and videos are published .