TV Rain license revoked, 60 Ukrainian soldiers come home, Hungary blocks financial aid
Your slice of the top headlines in Ukraine. Daily. Wednesday, December 7th, 2022.
• Montenegro has indicate it will support Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership.
This is the third declaration from a NATO member state that it will support Ukraine, President Zelenskyy announced. Earlier, similar declarations have been signed with the Czech Republic and Belgium.
• Two Ukrainian marines have been extracted from behind enemy lines.
“Now the guys are safe and sound at a Ukrainian naval base,” said Ukrainian MP Kopytin. “The special operation was carried out by a unit that’s been dubbed 'Angels' – for their experience in conducting such missions.”
• An oil depot near the airfield of the Russian city Kursk was set on fire after a drone attack.
At least, that’s the story that Russian Kursk Oblast governor Roman Starovoit reported. According to him, there were no victims and the damage was contained. If it was a drone attack, it would mark the third such incident since Dec. 5.
• Latvia’s media regulator NEPLP has decided to revoke the license of Russian television channel Dozhd.
The Latvian government took the move following an on-air statement by one of Dozdh's (also known as TV Rain) anchors, who said that the channel helps the Russian army fighting in Ukraine with “equipment.” Latvia’s NEPLP fined Dozhd EUR 10,000 ($10,000) over the incident.
• An unidentified man fired a machine gun at Russian policemen on Dec. 6 in Russia’s Rostov Oblast.
According to the pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, the incident took place by the customs post on the way out of the city of Novoshakhtinsk. According to some sources, the perpetrator could be a “suspect of desertion.”
• 60 Ukrainian servicemembers have returned home following a prisoner exchange.
Those sixty include defenders of Mariupol and some of those held in the Russian POW camp in the occupied town of Olenivka. “There are wounded who will receive all of the necessary help in Ukraine,” announced presidential chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak.
• Igor Girkin has reportedly returned to Moscow after serving only a few weeks on the front.
Girkin, an FSB agent who formerly oversaw the militias of the Donetsk puppet authority and was convicted of mass murder following the MH17 trials in The Netherlands, was supposedly surprised by this development, according to his posts on Telegram. “In late November, I was somewhat surprised to find out that not only I’m not on the list of my battalion, but I’m also not included in the staff of any regiment,” he said.
• Hungary has blocked EUR 18 billion in financial aid from the EU to Ukraine.
In particular, Budapest opposed the amendment to the Multiannual Financial Framework, which has to be adopted unanimously. He asked the Economic and Financial Committee to find an alternative solution that would be supported by all member states. However, a supermajority of EU member states did approve the amendment, and the package.
• Ukraine has the 19th highest inflation rate in the world.
According to a study by the Elements business outlet, based on data from Trading Economics, almost half of countries worldwide are seeing double-digit inflation rates or higher. Globally, Zimbabwe (269%), Lebanon (162%), and Venezuela (156%) have the highest rates in the world.
• Odesa businessman Borys Kaufman and former MP Oleksandr Granovsky have been charged with corruption.
Law enforcement bodies believe that Kaufman and Granovsky co-founded a criminal organization that exerted unlawful control over Odesa City Council, municipal budget expenditures and utility companies, and “committed other corruption crimes.” “In fact, the criminal organization controlled all significant budget expenditures of Odesa and determined the agenda of Odesa City Council sessions,” the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office stated.
• Russia continues to manufacture missiles, including those used in recent mass strikes, despite Western sanctions.
In a new report by The New York Times, Conflict Armament Research analysts determined that Russian Kh-101 missiles found near Kyiv after the Nov. 23 missile attack were produced last summer and in September 2022.
• The day’s long read: "But what do the Russian people have to do with this?" What the Germans do not understand
Acclaimed Ukrainian novelist and poet Serhiy Zhadan talks about his experiences in discussing the war and the Ukrainian perspective with German colleagues, and the difficulties the German worldview has with the truth of the war.
• Don’t miss: The West should give Putin an ultimatum
Former Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin explains why Russia should be on the receiving end of European ultimatums, instead of the other way around.
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