December 28, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Russia has continued to shell cities across Ukraine as the war rages on. In an annual address Wednesday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the war has strengthened Europe’s unity, and that “no one in the West is afraid and will ever be afraid of Russia.”

Zelensky also thanked Ukrainian servicemen, calling them “heroes” and said the powerful weapons Ukraine has received have strengthened its advantage. 

If you’re just now catching up, here’s what you need to know:

Ongoing shelling. Russia struck cities including Kherson and Oleshky in the south and Kharkiv in the east. As fighting near the key Ukrainian city of Kreminna in the eastern Luhansk region continues, Russian civilians who had come to the city have stopped their work and left, according to the head of Luhansk’s military administration. If the Ukrainian military is able to dislodge the Russians from Kreminna, the Ukrainian military could then proceed in two directions, the official said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have called on residents to evacuate Kherson as the city was impacted 23 times over the last 24 hours.

Electricity deficit. Ukraine’s power grid electricity deficit grew on Wednesday due to the shelling of gas infrastructure in eastern Ukraine, state power utility Ukrenergo said in an update. Ukraine, which has faced a wide assault on critical infrastructure and power sources since early October, will not experience further power restrictions because of the growing deficit, Ukenergo said. However, the power utility added that “all regions were informed about consumption limits, the excess of which leads to the need for emergency outages.” In the last three months, the power grid has suffered nine missile and 12 Russian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks, according to Ukrenergo.

Paul Whelan. The White House on Wednesday renewed its commitment to getting US citizen and former Marine Paul Whelan returned from Russian detention on the four-year anniversary of his arrest. In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Whelan’s detention “unacceptable” and said that efforts to secure Paul’s release will not cease until he is back home with his family where he belongs.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 28.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his annual address Wednesday to the Ukrainian Parliament that the war Russia has waged on his country has strengthened Europe’s unity, and that “no one in the West is afraid and will ever be afraid of Russia.”

“For the first time in history, some European countries have reconsidered the notion of staying neutral and are resisting aggression together with us, together with Ukraine,” he added. “We helped Europe and most of the world to feel that to be neutral now is, I’m sorry, but to be immoral.”

Zelensky went on to say that countries are no longer interested “in whether Russia will hear them,” but rather “what else to expect from Ukraine, what else Ukraine can give to Europe, what else we can give to the world.”

Zelensky also thanked Ukrainian servicemen, calling them “heroes” and said the powerful weapons Ukraine has received have strengthened its advantage. 

During his address, Zelensky also honored Ukrainian Capt. Pavlo Cherniavskyi, the commander of a HIMARS battery, who had asked Zelensky to present his award to US President Joe Biden during Zelensky’s trip to Washington. 

“It was an honor for me to fulfill this special mission. But it has a second part to it,” Zelensky said. “President Biden in return handed over a Command Coin — a special symbol from the President of the United States of America. Captain! Pavlo! I owe to give this Command Coin to you now,” Zelensky said. 

Zelensky also thanked Biden, both parties of Congress “and every American family for the historic support of Ukraine, the support of our citizens.” 

As fighting near the key Ukrainian city of Kreminna in the eastern Luhansk region continues, Russian civilians who had come to the city have stopped their work and left, Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, said Wednesday in a television interview. 

Why Kreminna matters: If the Ukrainian military is able to dislodge the Russians from Kreminna, the Ukrainian military could then proceed in two directions, Hayday said. 

“There are two prospects. The first is to go to Starobilsk, which is the logistics center of Luhansk region. Whoever controls Starobilsk will be able to control the entire logistics of the Luhansk region with firepower. In other words, there will be almost no roads left along which the enemy could quietly move either personnel or equipment,” Hayday said. 

“The second direction is towards Rubizhne and Severodonetsk. This is in order to break the grouping, which is now constantly, round the clock, advancing towards Bakhmut. It could be split in two and, accordingly, make the defense for the military who are defending Bakhmut easier,” Hayday said. 

Hayday said two of the larger cities in Luhansk region near Kreminna, Severodonetsk and Rubizhne, have been “practically destroyed” by Russian forces over four and a half months of occupation and “therefore these cities cannot be any big defense bases,” Hayday said. 

“Accordingly, as soon as the major cities are de-occupied, the next step is relatively the countryside. Therefore they [Russian forces] will not be able to hold out there for long,” he said. 

Some background: Kreminna has been occupied since the spring and lies on a key north-south road from Svatove, which Russian troops had been using for resupplies. Losing Kreminna would limit Russia’s ability to resupply its troops in the key city of Severodonetsk.

An injured man stands in the street after Russian shelling in the city of Kherson, Ukraine, on December 24.

Ukrainian officials are calling on residents to evacuate from the city of Kherson as Russia continues its attacks on the southern city.

Some residents who lived through the Russian occupation are reluctant to leave, according to a local official who has been involved in helping residents with the evacuation.

Local authorities knocked on Inna Balyoha’s door on Wednesday to convince her to leave Kherson. But Balyoha told CNN she fears her elderly and sick mother cannot endure the journey.

“She is very weak. She will not reach another city. Many remain in Kherson under shelling because of their parents,” Balyoha told CNN.

More than half of Balyoha’s neighbors have already left. There are 86 flats in her building but only 29 remain occupied, she said.

An evacuee, Kateryna Malenkova, who spoke to CNN from Odesa where she has relocated after leaving Kherson, said the constant shelling became unbearable. Her mother remains in Kherson and refuses to leave. “She says she built the house and doesn’t want to leave it,” Malenkova said.

Another evacuee, 56-year-old Kherson native Yana Yermochenko, and her mother heeded the warnings from officials. They decided to leave Kherson in early December after experiencing constant shelling by Russian forces which left the pair of women shaking with fear. When the occupation ended, Yermochenko expected Russian retribution. “When we were under occupation, we understood that as soon as the Russians left, they would start bombing us… They’re just trying to destroy us,” she said.

Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan stands inside a defendants' cage before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, on August 23, 2019.

The White House is renewing its commitment to getting Paul Whelan returned from Russian detention on the four-year anniversary of his arrest.

Whelan, a US citizen and former Marine, was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on espionage charges, which he and the US vehemently reject.

Whelan was not included in a prisoner swap earlier this month that freed fellow American Brittney Griner from Russian detention. Despite US attempts at negotiating a joint release of the two Americans, Russia views Whelan’s case differently, American officials have said, and rejected those offers.

“I was arrested for a crime that never occurred,” Whelan told CNN’s Jennifer Hansler in a phone call from the penal colony where he is being held in a remote part of Russia on the day of Griner’s release. “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here.”

Members of Whelan’s family said they welcomed Griner’s release and said they were in touch with the White House about Paul’s case.

“Paul and the Whelan family recently showed the entire country the meaning of generosity of spirit in celebrating a fellow American’s return while Russia continues its deplorable treatment of Paul as a bargaining chip,” Sullivan wrote in his statement.

Moscow has demanded the release of a former colonel from Russia’s domestic spy organization in exchange for Whelan. The US has been unable to deliver upon that request because the ex-colonel is serving a life sentence in Germany.

If you’re just joining us, here’s everything you need to know about Wednesday’s developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russian shelling continues: Moscow struck Oleshky and Kherson in the south and Kharkiv in the east.

Moscow bans oil supply to countries that agreed to price caps: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday banning oil supplies to countries that have introduced a price cap on Russian crude oil at $60 a barrel, according to the decree published on the Kremlin’s website — a move that may prove to be largely symbolic. The United States, Canada, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia all agreed to the price cap.

The power situation in Ukraine: The electricity deficit in the Ukrainian power grid grew on Wednesday due to shelling of gas infrastructure in eastern Ukraine, according to the latest update from state power utility Ukrenergo. While the deficit did not mean further power restrictions due to relatively warm weather, “the available capacity in the system is not enough to meet all the needs of consumers in the country,” Ukrenergo said, adding that all regions have been informed about consumption limits. Ukraine has been facing a wide assault on critical infrastructure and power sources since early October, with the power grid suffering through nine missile and 12 Russian UAV attacks, according to Ukrenergo.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a press briefing on December 22, at Department of State headquarters in Washington DC.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday recommitted to his pledge to work to bring American Paul Whelan home from Russia on the fourth anniversary of his wrongful detention.

“His detention remains unacceptable, and we continue to press for his immediate release at every opportunity,” Blinken said in a statement. “I am committed to bringing home Paul and all U.S. hostages and wrongful detainees held around the world.”

Whelan’s sister said Wednesday that it’s “a sign of weakness that the Russian authorities continue this practice of hostage-diplomacy by refusing to release my brother, who they know full well was arrested and sentenced on charges they themselves concocted.”

“The Kremlin appears to have lost the plot,” Elizabeth Whelan told CNN. 

“Enough with this ‘spy’ horse crap, already!” she said. “Is this what passes for competent negotiating at the Kremlin? Because any random person at the local flea market could manage to make a deal with more skill.”

“And they certainly aren’t ‘winning friends and influencing people’ in this household, that’s for sure!” Elizabeth Whelan added.

Whelan’s brother called the four-year anniversary of Paul’s detention “both awful and mundane,” questioning, “How do you mark such an awful milestone when there is no resolution in sight?”

In an emailed message to the media, David Whelan said the anniversary is “another day that Paul has to suffer in a Russian labor colony for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Another day that our parents have to suffer without being able to see or be with their son. It is both a culmination of lost life - four years of missed birthdays, Christmases, and other experiences — and also not an end point,” he wrote. “It’s merely a marker of their suffering, not an indicator that the suffering will come to an end before another milestone, another year passes.”

“We continue to be grateful for the efforts of the US government to persuade the Kremlin to release Paul,” David Whelan added.

“Hopefully these efforts will be successful. Hopefully Paul will be able to stop by our parent’s home and visit them, free at last, before another milestone passes. On milestones, sometimes all you have is hope,” he said.

Some background: Whelan was arrested in Moscow in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020.

The Biden administration was unable to secure his release when they brought detained WNBA star Brittney Griner home last in a prisoner swap for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in mid-December.

Multiple US officials said that the Russians refused to negotiate a deal for Whelan, and CNN reported that Moscow repeatedly demanded a convicted murderer who is in German custody in exchange for the ex-Marine. 

“This was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home. It was a choice between bringing home one particular American — Brittney Griner — or bringing home none,” a US senior administration official said.

Whelan told CNN in a call the day Griner was released, “It’s a win for America when our citizens are repatriated and are back at home with their families, but I have to say I am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release. Especially as the four year anniversary of my arrest is coming up.”

The electricity deficit in the Ukrainian power grid grew on Wednesday due to shelling of gas infrastructure in eastern Ukraine, according to the latest update from state power utility Ukrenergo.

“As of December 28, the electricity deficit in the system has increased. This is due to the stop of some units of power plants due to the shelling of gas infrastructure in the eastern region,” Ukrenergo said in a statement.

Ukraine has been facing a wide assault on critical infrastructure and power sources since early October. 

The deficit did not mean further power restrictions because of “relatively warm weather,” Ukenergo said, but added: “the available capacity in the system is not enough to meet all the needs of consumers in the country. In this regard, all regions were informed about consumption limits, the excess of which leads to the need for emergency outages.”

In the last three months, the power grid has suffered nine missile and 12 Russian UAV attacks, according to Ukrenergo.

“As a result, generation facilities and transmission systems suffered large-scale and complex damage. Their restoration requires significant resources and time. Repair teams of Ukrenergo, electricity producers and distribution system operators are working continuously,” the statement said.

Russian soldiers patrol a street in Volnovakha in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on April 11.

Russian soldiers taking part in the war on Ukraine will be eligible for free sperm freezing and storage in cryobanks, according to Russia’s state news agency Tass, citing a lawyers union.

“The families of those called up for military service as part of the partial mobilization will receive free access to fertility treatment and the storage of biomaterial in a cryobank,” said Igor Trunov, the president of the Russian Union of Lawyers, which represents several couples, according to Tass.

The Russian health ministry responded to a request for the creation of “a free cryobank of genetic material” and amendments to the mandatory health insurance system to allocate a free fertility treatment quota for Russian citizens taking part in what Moscow calls its “special military operation,” according to Trunov.

“The RF Ministry of Health has decided it is possible to use money from the federal budget to fund the fee-free conservation and storage of sex cells (sperm) for citizens mobilized into the Special Military Operation, in 2022-2024,” he said, per Tass.

“Any subsequent free use of conserved genetic material in assisted reproductive technology is governed by the law, provided it is indicated as a part of [the individual’s] mandatory health insurance package,” he added.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova is pictured at UN headquarters in New York on September 24.

Russia’s foreign ministry has slammed Ukraine’s calls to remove Russia from the UN Security Council (UNSC), according to Russian state news agency TASS.

On Monday, the Ukrainian foreign ministry in a statement said Russia should be both excluded from the UNSC, and from being a member of the UN as a whole. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for Russia’s expulsion from the United Nations in the past.

Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, dismissed Kyiv’s statement Wednesday, saying, “Do nothing. This is precisely the case when dogs bark but the caravan moves on.”

Zakharova made the comments to Sputnik radio station on Wednesday in response to a question on Moscow’s reaction.

Here’s some background: Ukraine’s foreign ministry alleges “gross violations of the norms and principles of international law as well as for crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine, in particular, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as the crime of genocide.”

It suggests Russia could be re-admitted upon recommendation for UN membership once it “fulfils the conditions for membership in the Organization.”

 A district of the northeastern city of Kharkiv was hit with rockets on Wednesday, injuring one civilian, according to the regional military administration.

Russia captured swathes of Kharkiv in the early days of its invasion, before Ukrainian forces retook most of the region in an offensive in the fall.

French Armies Minister Sebastien Lecornu and Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov deliver a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 28.

The French minister for the armed forces, Sebastien Lecornu, has arrived in Kyiv. After arriving via train from Warsaw, he went to the city’s wall of remembrance where he laid a wreath, CNN affiliate BFM reported.

Lecornu will later meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov, BFM said, to discuss the defense of Ukraine. It was not yet clear if he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, BFM said.

This is the first time the minister has been to Ukraine since the war began in February.

A worker cleans up debris after Russian shelling of the hospital maternity unit in Kherson, Ukraine, on December 28.

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s southern Kherson region continued over the past 24 hours, injuring three civilians, according to the head of the regional military administration.

“Russian occupiers shelled the territory of Kherson region 50 times. Peaceful settlements of the region suffered from attacks from artillery, MLRS, mortars and tanks,” Yaroslav Yanushevych, head of the Kherson regional military administration, said in a Telegram post.

The city of Kherson was hit 23 times in the past 24 hours, Yanushevych said, adding that three people had sustained injuries of “varying severity.”

In November, Russia’s military retreated from Kherson city, the only regional capital Moscow had captured since the invasion began, in a major setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since then, Russian forces have stationed themselves across the river from Kherson and regularly shell the city from there.

On Tuesday, a hospital maternity ward in the city of Kherson was hit by Russian shelling, according to Ukrainian officials.

For Andrei Soldatov and his friends, Feb. 24 marked the end of Russia as they knew it.

In the early hours of that day, President Vladimir Putin announced that he had ordered Russian troops into Ukraine. “And all of a sudden, everything we still believed in got completely compromised,” Soldatov, a Russian investigative journalist who lives in self-imposed exile in London, told CNN.

Life in Russia had for many years been getting more difficult for dissidents, independent journalists and anyone speaking up against Putin’s regime, but Soldatov said people like him still had some hope to hold on to. The war changed that, he said.

Read the dissidents’ stories here.

An Australian man has died fighting to defend Ukraine from Russia’s invasion, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed to CNN on Wednesday. 

Sage O’Donnell “died in action defending the freedom of the Ukrainian people,” his mother said in a statement released by DFAT.

DFAT is providing consular assistance to the family, a spokesperson said.

At least 6,884 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia’s invasion of the country began in February, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said.

The figures, compiled up to Dec. 26, include 429 children, according to OHCHR, which added it believed the actual numbers were higher.

Nearly 11,000 people have been injured, it said.

CNN cannot independently verify the OCHR figures.

At least one man was killed and five other people were injured following Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, across from Kherson, Oleshky Mayor Yevhen Ryshchuk said via Facebook.

“As a result of the shelling of the town of Oleshky by the (Russian) occupiers the windows in the high-rise apartment building were shuttered. Unfortunately, five people were wounded and one person was killed,” Ryshchuk said.

The mayor also said that aside from a high-rise building, kiosks on the town’s market were damaged by the shelling. 

A hospital maternity ward in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was hit by Russian shelling, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine said Tuesday. 

Other impacted areas: Russian shelling also damaged the civilian infrastructure of the Antonivka settlement in the Kherson region and Kherson city, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said via Facebook, adding that there are casualties among civilians.

Meanwhile, the threat of air and missile strikes on critical infrastructure facilities remains on the whole territory of Ukraine, as Russia’s offensive took place in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions, trying to improve the tactical situation in the direction of Lyman, Ukraine’s Armed Forces said.

People walk down a dark street in Kyiv, Ukraine, during an energy black out on December 26.

The number of outages across Ukraine is decreasing as more parts of the electric grid are restored and consumption is reduced due to favorable weather conditions, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Tuesday.

In the event of no Russian shelling, the New Year holiday will pass without emergency shutdowns, Shmyhal said during a cabinet meeting in Kyiv, according to a government statement. 

More consumers are seeing power restored at least partially as the infrastructure is being restored, the prime minister said. 

Ukraine also believes Russia is preparing to continue attacks on the country’s energy system, according to Shmyhal, who emphasized that his country is “in a daily state of readiness for new massive shelling.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday banning oil supplies to countries that have introduced price caps on Russian oil and petroleum products, according to the decree published on the Kremlin’s website — a move that may prove to be largely symbolic.

Earlier this month, Western countries implemented a price cap on Russian crude oil at $60 a barrel, a policy aimed at Moscow’s remaining oil customers. It’s enforced by the companies that provide shipping, insurance and other services for Russian oil. Europe also banned the import of Russian crude by sea.

The United States, Canada, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia all agreed to the price cap. The United States and Canada banned the import of Russia’s oil and the European Union this month banned imports by sea.

Given those countries’ widespread bans, the Kremlin’s new policy may not pack much punch. The oil market was largely unfazed by Russia’s decree, with the benchmark Brent oil price rising less than 2% Tuesday. US oil topped $80 a barrel while Brent traded at around $86.

Read more here.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that the West must show restraint in nuclear questions, in an interview with state news agency TASS on Tuesday. 

In the same interview, Lavrov said significant ideas from Washington regarding full-fledged diplomatic contacts between Russia and the United States have not been received. 

“Now it is difficult to say something about the implementation of full-fledged bilateral contacts through the foreign ministries,” he told TASS. 

“There were no significant ideas from the Americans on this issue.

“We, at various levels, including the highest, have repeatedly stressed that we are not shying away from a constructive dialogue.”

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin floated the possibility that Russia may formally change its military doctrine of not being the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict, days after he warned of the “increasing” threat of nuclear war.

As a year dominated by Russia’s war on Ukraine draws to a close, Vladimir Putin has made a point of suggesting he is open to peace talks despite evidence to the contrary, with comments that have been roundly dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a ruse at a time when the prospect of negotiations in the near future appears extremely remote.

Days after saying he wanted an end to his war, the Russian President on Sunday repeated his claim that he was ready to “negotiate with everyone involved in this process about acceptable solutions,” state news agency TASS reported.

His remark came amid Russia’s tireless bombardment of Ukraine’s energy grid with rockets and missiles, which has sought to wipe out the country’s power as it enters its cold winter months, and follows a 10-month invasion in which Putin has repeatedly attempted to denigrate Ukraine’s sovereignty.

His comments were rejected by Ukraine and the US and are unlikely to be seen as more than a sideshow by the West.

That doesn’t mean Ukraine is not open to peace talks. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Associated Press on Monday that Kyiv wants UN-brokered discussions to start by February, but only after Russia faces a war crimes tribunal.

But the simple calculus remains unchanged; a conflict that many experts thought would be over within days or weeks has instead become a grueling war that Ukraine may be able to win, so any deal that diminishes the country’s borders or represents some form of victory for Putin would be unacceptable to Kyiv.

Read more here.