Ukraine-Russia warfare newest: Kyiv confirms lack of key jap city after Pope slams Putin for rejecting truce | EUROtoday

Debris from a downed Ukrainian drone sparked a hearth at an industrial web site in Russia’s Tula area, its governor Dmitry Milyaev mentioned on his Telegram channel this morning.

Milyaev didn’t give particulars in regards to the industrial facility.

He mentioned that Russian air defence items destroyed a minimum of 12 Ukrainian drones over the area.

Several explosions had been heard in southern Moscow at present on the web site the place Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was killed by a automotive bomb on Monday, Baza and SHOT Telegram channels reported.

Witnesses advised the channels, which have sources in Russia’s legislation enforcement companies, {that a} automotive was detonated.

At least two individuals had been severely injured within the explosions which occurred close to a police station, SHOT, Baza and different unofficial Russian Telegram information channels reported.

Sarvarov was killed on Monday when a bomb exploded underneath his Kia Sorento as he left a parking area in southern Moscow, Russian investigators mentioned, including they had been doable involvement by Ukrainian particular companies.

Russia’s defence ministry mentioned on Tuesday that its troops had captured the settlements of Prylipka in Ukraine’s Kharkiv area and Andriivka in Dnipropetrovsk area.

Russian forces additionally struck vitality and navy services with Kinzhal missiles, the ministry added.

The Independent couldn’t independently confirm the studies of good points on the battlefield.

WhatsApp criticised restrictions to its service in Russia yesterday, accusing the authorities of making an attempt to deprive greater than 100 million Russians of the proper to non-public communications earlier than the vacation season.

Thousands of Russians complained about outages and slowdowns yesterday, monitoring web sites confirmed.

“In restricting access to WhatsApp, the Russian government aims to take away the right to private, end-to-end encrypted communication from over 100 million people, right before the holiday season in Russia,” a WhatsApp spokesperson mentioned.

“WhatsApp is deeply embedded in the fabric of every community in the country – from parent and workplace groups to friends, neighborhood, and extended family chats across Russian regions. We’re committed to fighting for our users because forcing people onto less secure and government-mandated apps can only lead to less safety for Russian people,” the messaging and video calling app’s spokesperson mentioned.

WhatsApp’s assertion adopted a repeat warning by Russia’s communications regulator that it might fully block WhatsApp if it didn’t adjust to its calls for to deliver its companies into line with Russian legislation.

“WhatsApp continues to violate Russian law. The messenger is used to organise and carry out terrorist acts on the territory of the country, to recruit their perpetrators and to commit fraud and other crimes against our citizens,” Roskomnadzor, the regulator, advised Russian state media.

It mentioned it was taking measures to progressively limit WhatsApp consequently

Ukrainian forces have pulled out of the embattled jap city of Siversk close to Bakhmut, Kyiv’s navy mentioned.

“The invaders were able to advance due to a significant numerical advantage and constant pressure from small assault groups in difficult weather conditions,” Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement.

It said it had withdrawn soldiers to preserve lives and resources, adding that they had, however, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.

Russia said earlier this month it had captured Siversk, whose pre-war population was around 10,000, a claim Kyiv had denied.

Pope Leo said he feels “much sadness” that Russia did not agree to a Christmas ceasefire in its war on Ukraine.

“Among the things that cause me much sadness is that apparently Russia has refused a ceasefire request,” the pope told journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

“I will make an appeal one more time to people of good will to respect at least Christmas day as a day of peace,” he said.

“Maybe they will listen to us and there will be at least 24 hours, a day of peace, across the world.” the pope mentioned.

Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned on Tuesday that a number of draft paperwork, together with on safety ensures, had been ready after Ukrainian officers held talks in Miami with US counterparts on ending Russia’s warfare.

“They worked productively with envoys of President Trump and several draft documents have now been prepared,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X.

“In particular, these include documents on security guarantees for Ukraine, on recovery, and on a basic framework for ending this war.”

Local authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar area mentioned on Tuesday {that a} fireplace on the gas oil provide pipeline on the port of Taman had been extinguished.

It comes after a hearth on an oil tanker and a pier, attributable to a drone assault, was additionally extinguished on Monday, native authorities mentioned.

The newest dialogue between Russian and the US officers in Miami on the warfare in Ukraine shouldn’t be seen as a breakthrough, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned.

Calling it a “working process”, Vladimir Putin’s shut aide mentioned the discussions had been anticipated to proceed in a “meticulous” expert-level format and that Russia’s precedence was to acquire from the United States particulars of Washington’s work with Europeans and Ukrainians on a doable settlement.

He mentioned Moscow would then decide how far these concepts matched what he referred to as the “spirit of Anchorage”.

Earlier, Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff mentioned the talks had been “productive and constructive”.