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Russian president says pair discussed ‘serious matters’
Russia’s Vladimir Putin has met with his closest international Alexander Lukashenko twice in 24 hours, in meetings at which the Belarusian president said “many issues were finalised”.
There are fears that Belarus could be dragged actively into the war in Ukraine, after Mr Putin used it as a staging ground for his invasion in February. The presidents publicly acknowledged discussing the economy, space missions, the Russian language, and “serious matters, including our bilateral relations”.Meanwhile, Kyiv’s armed forces claimed to have incapacitated 100 Russian troops in the Zaporizhzhia region - among them 15 FSB agents – in an attack on Christmas Day, as fighting raged most heavily in Bakhmut and Lyman on the Donbas frontline.
It came as Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Ukraine should hand over the four regions Mr Putin has unsuccessfully attempted to illegally annexe – as Kyiv announced hopes for a peace summit in February, hosted at the United Nations. Asked if Russia would be invited, Ukraine said it should first face prosecution for war crimes at an international court.
Ukraine claims to have killed and wounded 15 Russian FSB agents on Christmas Day
Ukraine’s military claims to have incapacitated 100 Russian troops – 15 of them FSB agents – in the Zaporizhzhia region on Christmas Day.
“On 25 December, our soldiers struck a concentration of Russian invaders near Novobilozerka, Vasylivsky district, Zaporizhzhia oblast. The enemy lost up to 100 soldiers dead and wounded. Among them are 15 employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation,” said the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces.
“During the day, the aviation of the Defense Forces struck the area where the occupiers were concentrated. At the same time, units of missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces of Ukraine hit four control points and six areas of concentration of the enemy’s manpower.”
Putin and Lukashenko meet twice in 24 hours to ‘finalise many issues'
Vladimir Putin has met with his closest international ally, Alexander Lukashenko, twice in the past 24 hours, Belarusian state media reports – with the Belarusian president saying that “many issues were finalised”.
The two leaders first met on Boxing Day at an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States and again over breakfast this morning at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg, reported the Belta news agency.
“We did have a look at some things,” said Mr Lukashenko. “Well, if someone, as you rightly said, thinks that we only drink tea, then I must say that yesterday we discussed a lot of issues not only over tea but also late at night when returning home.
“Sometimes it takes years for some states to discuss so many things over such a short period of time. Meanwhile we put many dots over the ‘i' in the evening, continuing our Minsk dialogue, since it was mainly about the economy.
“I thank you for the fact that many issues were finalised yesterday. The governments will fine-tune them. They should not have any complaints any longer. We have reached agreements on all issues they asked for.”
Nine million remain without power in Ukraine, says Zelensky
As last night, some nine million people remained without power in parts of Ukraine, in the wake of Russia’s bombardment of the country’s energy system, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.
“But the number and duration of outages is still gradually decreasing,” Ukraine’s president said in his nightly address, adding: “I am thankful to each and everyone who made this result possible.”
Kyiv is making preparations for its energy system for the year ahead, he said. “There are threats that we have to eliminate. There are steps that need to be taken. And the state will definitely take them.”