Russia Ukraine war live: Putin’s forces hit by ‘mouse fever’

Ukrainian troops were pictured shooting rockets from a self-made rocket launcher on Wednesday.

The photos were taken from the frontline in the Donetsk region and are of the 228 Separate Battalion of the 127th Separate Territorial Defence Brigade.

The U.S. imposed new sanctions on alleged violators of a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil and tightened compliance rules for insurance firms and shippers, Wednesday.

Firms across the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong were identified for economic sanctions, including UAE-based Sun Ship Management D Ltd., which Russian state-owned fleet operator Joint Stock Company Sovcomflot owns.

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As the Ukrainian army says they need another 500,000 troops mobilised, my colleague Alexander Bulter has calculated how many soldiers they already have:

The Ukrainian army counted around 500,000 servicemen, 200,000 of which are active military personnel, recent figures show.

If the figures are accurate, the Ukrainian army’s suggestion would bring the total number of servicemen to nearly one million.

Under Ukrainian law, only men aged 27 to 60 can be mobilised for the front line, although younger men can volunteer to fight. As of January 2022, Ukraine had a male population of 19 million.

Men aged 18 to 20 cannot be sent to the battlefield. Most Ukrainian soldiers at the front are believed to be volunteers, many of whom have been fighting since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Estimates of the number of Ukrainian men killed in the conflict have varied between 30,000 and 70,000. In November, a Ukrainian civic group put the death toll at 30,000.

But US military sources have suggested the number is closer to 70,000. Kyiv treats its losses as a state secret and officials say disclosing the figure could harm its war effort.

Ukrainians are gearing up to celebrate their first Christmas according to a new calendar, another step towards erasing all traces of Russian influence as their military fends off a Kremlin invasion.

“It turns out that Ukrainians used to celebrate Christmas on December 25, just like the rest of Europeans,” said Tetiana, a 25-year-old believer who said she would celebrate on Dec. 25 for the first time.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked countries who continue to support Ukraine.

His message of gratitude comes after the Empire State Building in New York was lit up in blue and yellow to show solidarity.

“I am grateful to every country that has stood with Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began,” Zelensky wrote on X. “This support provides strength to our people.”

Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin met in Beijing on Wednesday to discuss the two nation’s ties.

“Maintaining and developing China-Russia relations well is a strategic choice made by both sides based on the fundamental interests of the two peoples,” Xi Jinping was quoted as saying by the Chinese foreign ministry.

The South China Morning Post reported that Xi Jinping also pledged that Beijing would continue to develop “high-level” political and economic relations with Moscow.

Ukraine’s largest mobile network has restored all services following a large-scale cyber attack last week.

Ukraine’s Kyivstar, which provides cellular and internet services to 24.3 million mobile subscribers and over 1.1 million home internet users, came under a deadly cyberattack last Tuesday.

It silenced air raid alerts in some parts of Ukraine at a time Russia started firing ballistic missiles on civilian regions, wiped out services, and damaged IT infrastructure.

A source close to Kyivstar said military communications have not been affected by the attack.

Kyivstar said: “Our specialists have resolved the communication difficulties that arose this morning in a number of cities in the west and south of Ukraine.

“The services are now operating as usual.”

Kyiv plans to produce a million FPV (first-person-view) drones and more than 11,000 medium- and long-range attack drones next year, Ukraine‘s minister for strategic industries said on Wednesday.

Ukraine has used FPV drones – small drones originally for personal civilian use, but modified for the battlefield – since the first days of the 2022 Russian invasion as a cheap but effective option for attacks.

The tactic was subsequently adopted by Moscow’s troops, now estimated to have many more such drones at their disposal.

“All production facilities are ready, and contracting for 2024 begins,” Oleksandr Kamyshin, the minister, said on Telegram messenger.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later said the issue of drones, both in stock and being deployed, was discussed at a meeting of commanders and officials on Wednesday

“Logistics will be faster. We are also working on making the use of drones, particularly FPV drones, more efficient in all areas,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

“This is an obvious priority for our country and a very concrete way to protect the lives of our soldiers.”

Ukraine has been working to increase its domestic weapons production in order to secure stable deliveries, not rely exclusively on partners’ aid, and give a boost to the economy.

Ukrainians are gearing up to celebrate their first Christmas according to a new calendar, another step towards erasing all traces of Russian influence as their military fends off a Kremlin invasion.

Most Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians and the country’s main church agreed this year to move away from the traditional Julian calendar, which is used in Russia and celebrates the holiday on Jan. 7.

“It turns out that Ukrainians used to celebrate Christmas on December 25, just like the rest of Europeans,” said Tetiana, a 25-year-old believer who said she would celebrate on Dec. 25 for the first time.

Standing outside Kyiv’s golden-domed St. Michael’s Monastery, she added that it would feel “a little unusual” but was “the right thing to do”.

Near the front line of Russia’s invasion, which is nearing its two-year mark and shows no signs of abating, soldiers were also preparing to make the switch to Dec. 25.

“Just like it was before Jan. 7 was imposed upon us,” said Bohdan, a service member stationed in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow’s February 2022 attack rallied the nation in defence and sparked many Ukrainians to reject the Russian language and culture, among other historical ties to Kyiv’s former ruler.

“Everything that was related to Russia, and everything that Russia did the same way we did, provoked disgust among people,” said Mykhailo Omelian, an Orthodox priest in Kyiv.

The Kremlin said that there is no current basis for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and that Britain had sunk chances of a peace deal in 2022 by putting pressure on Kyiv to refuse a draft deal.

“We really consider that the topic of negotiations is not relevant right now,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He said Ukraine withdrew from the negotiation process in 2022 “at Britain’s insistence” and “forbade” negotiations with Russia.

Peskov said: “After that, there were no prerequisites for negotiations – and there were even fewer prerequisites after Ukraine actually legally prohibited any negotiations with the Russian side,”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree in October 2022 formally declaring the prospect of any Ukrainian talks with Putin “impossible” after Russia claimed to have annexed four regions of southern and eastern Ukraine.

Peskov said that Zelenskiy’s peace plan, known as his “peace formula”, was flawed because he said it sought to find peace without Russia’s participation.