Patriarch Kirill added to Ukraine’s wanted list
As just mentioned, Ukraine’s interior ministry has placed the head of Russia’s Orthodox church – a backer of the Kremlin’s 21-month-old war against Kyiv – on its wanted list.
Ukraine’s security services accuse him of abetting the conflict.
Reuters reports that the measure is purely symbolic because Patriarch Kirill is in Russia and under no threat of arrest.
It is, however, the latest step in Ukraine’s campaign to uproot the influence of priests it alleges maintain close links to Russia and subvert Ukrainian society.
A post on the Ukrainian ministry’s wanted list identified Kirill by name, showed him in his clerical robes and described him as “an individual in hiding from the bodies of pre-trial investigation”. It said he had been “missing” since 11 November.
Orthodox Christianity is the dominant faith in Ukraine and authorities in Kyiv have launched criminal cases against clergy linked to a branch of the Orthodox church once directly linked to the Russian church and Kirill.
Parliament in Kyiv is considering a bill that would ban that branch of the church, which has lost many of its parishioners since Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022. The church says it severed all links to Moscow in May 2022.
Ukraine’s SBU security service issued a document last month saying Kirill “infringed Ukrainian sovereignty” by virtue of his position as “part of the closest entourage of Russia’s military and political leadership”.
Security forces have launched dozens of criminal cases, including accusations of treason, against priests and officials linked to the branch of the church associated with Moscow.
Kirill has denounced those actions and appealed to clerical leaders worldwide to stop Ukraine’s moves against the church.
A senior official in the Russian church told Russia’s RIA news agency that placing Kirill on a wanted list was “a step that is as ridiculous as it is predictable”.
Vladimir Legoida, responsible for ties with other churches, told RIA that Ukrainian authorities were guilty of “lawlessness and attempting to intimidate parishioners”.
Key events
Some images from the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine:
Russia has lost 344,820 troops since it invaded Ukraine last February, according to the latest figures shared by Ukraine’s armed forces.
Russia had suffered 930 casualties over the past day, the army said.
According to Ukraine’s report, Russia has lost 5,720 tanks, 10,667 armoured vehicles, 10,710 vehicles and fuel tanks, 8,100 artillery systems, 920 multiple-launch rocket systems.
It had also lost 605 air defence systems, 324 planes, 324 helicopters, 6,238 drones, 22 ships and boats, and one submarine, Ukraine said.
As we have just reported, Ukraine faces hurdles in its path to becoming a member of the EU. On the subject of those accession talks, the Guardian has published this editorial:
When tens of thousands of lives have been lost, and Ukrainians remain under Russian occupation or assault, it seems perverse to focus on symbolism. The harsh reality is that the country faces another cold, bleak winter, locked in a military stalemate, with more wounded soldiers and grieving families. It needs massive material support to continue its fight.
Yet the EU’s agreement to open membership talks with Ukraine – and Moldova – on Thursday is nonetheless welcome and important. While the path to accession is in reality long and winding, this decision reaffirms solidarity with Kyiv. Volodymyr Zelenskiy greeted it as a triumph for both his country and Europe: “A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens.”
Many had feared that Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU, would block the move. Instead, Hungary’s prime minister took the highly unusual step of effectively abstaining at the Brussels summit. What some have portrayed as unaccustomed deftness on the part of Olaf Scholz – with the German chancellor suggesting that he step outside for a coffee while others voted – is clearly not the critical part of the story. Unfreezing some of the frozen EU funding for Hungary following judicial reforms doubtless helped. But a highly transactional leader has presumably cut an unspecified deal off stage.
Though Mr Orbán was correct to say that Hungary could pull the handbrake in future, that was a message for his domestic audience. The fact is, he is allowing negotiations to proceed now.
Continue reading here:
Ukraine confident of securing EU funding package
Luke Harding
Ukraine has expressed confidence it will receive a €50bn aid package from the EU, despite Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, vetoing the funding at a crucial summit in Brussels.
In a statement, the foreign ministry in Kyiv shrugged off Orbán’s blocking tactics. It said it expected “all necessary legal procedures” to be completed at an EU summit in January, with the aid delivered “as soon as possible”.
“This is a clear signal that the financial support of Ukraine from the EU will continue,” it said. It added that the cash would be used to “modernise” the state and speed up its integration into the EU bloc.
Hungary’s veto topped a rollercoaster week for Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which he attended the inauguration ceremony for Argentina’s new president and scrambled to Washington to meet President Joe Biden and leading US Republicans.
Russia says it has thwarted a series of Ukrainian drone attacks. It said anti-aircraft units had destroyed 32 drones over the Crimean peninsula and six in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.
In Ukraine’s partially occupied southern Kherson region, the Russian-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, reported on Telegram that at least 15 aerial targets had been downed.
Here are some of the latest images coming through from Ukraine:
Ukraine says its air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters have shot down 30 out of 31 Russian drones over 11 regions across the country so far on Saturday.
Witnesses told the Reuters that a series of explosions resounded throughout the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as air defence units engaged Russian drones.
Serhiy Popko, the head of the city’s military administration, said:
This is the sixth air attack on Kyiv since the start of the month.
Tonight, after three days of ballistic threats, the enemy again launched Shaheds on the capital. The drones attacked in groups, in waves, and from different directions.
There were no casualties and no major damage reported in Kyiv, Popko said.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said anti-aircraft units went into action as groups of the Russian drones flew across the outskirts of the city and targeted areas near the centre.
Anti-aircraft activity was heavy in the Darnytskyi district on the east bank of the Dnipro and explosions also struck historic Podil on the opposite bank, he said.
Patriarch Kirill added to Ukraine’s wanted list
As just mentioned, Ukraine’s interior ministry has placed the head of Russia’s Orthodox church – a backer of the Kremlin’s 21-month-old war against Kyiv – on its wanted list.
Ukraine’s security services accuse him of abetting the conflict.
Reuters reports that the measure is purely symbolic because Patriarch Kirill is in Russia and under no threat of arrest.
It is, however, the latest step in Ukraine’s campaign to uproot the influence of priests it alleges maintain close links to Russia and subvert Ukrainian society.
A post on the Ukrainian ministry’s wanted list identified Kirill by name, showed him in his clerical robes and described him as “an individual in hiding from the bodies of pre-trial investigation”. It said he had been “missing” since 11 November.
Orthodox Christianity is the dominant faith in Ukraine and authorities in Kyiv have launched criminal cases against clergy linked to a branch of the Orthodox church once directly linked to the Russian church and Kirill.
Parliament in Kyiv is considering a bill that would ban that branch of the church, which has lost many of its parishioners since Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022. The church says it severed all links to Moscow in May 2022.
Ukraine’s SBU security service issued a document last month saying Kirill “infringed Ukrainian sovereignty” by virtue of his position as “part of the closest entourage of Russia’s military and political leadership”.
Security forces have launched dozens of criminal cases, including accusations of treason, against priests and officials linked to the branch of the church associated with Moscow.
Kirill has denounced those actions and appealed to clerical leaders worldwide to stop Ukraine’s moves against the church.
A senior official in the Russian church told Russia’s RIA news agency that placing Kirill on a wanted list was “a step that is as ridiculous as it is predictable”.
Vladimir Legoida, responsible for ties with other churches, told RIA that Ukrainian authorities were guilty of “lawlessness and attempting to intimidate parishioners”.
Opening summary
Hello and thanks for joining the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s interior ministry has placed the head of Russia’s Orthodox church, a backer of the Kremlin’s 21-month war against Kyiv, on a wanted list after security services accused him of abetting the conflict.
The measure is purely symbolic as Patriarch Kirill is in Russia and under no threat of arrest, but it represents the latest step in Ukraine’s campaign to uproot the influence of priests it alleges maintain close links to Russia and subvert Ukrainian society.
A post on the Ukrainian ministry’s wanted list identified Kirill by name, showed him in his clerical robes and described him as “an individual in hiding from the bodies of pre-trial investigation”. It said he had been “missing” since 11 November.
Orthodox Christianity is the dominant faith in Ukraine and authorities in Kyiv have launched criminal cases against clergy linked to a branch of the Orthodox church once directly linked to the Russian church and Kirill.
In other developments:
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Ukraine expressed confidence it would receive a €50bn aid package from the EU, despite Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, vetoing the funding at a summit in Brussels. In a statement, the foreign ministry in Kyiv shrugged off Orbán’s blocking tactics. It said it expected all necessary legal procedures to be completed at an EU summit in January, with the aid delivered as soon as possible.
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Emmanuel Macron said Orbán must not be allowed to take the EU “hostage” after blocking the aid package. As leaders of the European Union start working on the details of plan B to raise the money through cash and loans, the French president said Orbán was being dishonest to the public about his reasons for vetoing the financial package and would ultimately come around.
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Russia congratulates Hungary for blocking the aid to Ukraine. “Hungary, in contrast to many European countries, firmly defends its interests, which impresses us,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow.
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The European Commission will release a further €1.5bn for Ukraine in coming days under existing arrangements, the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said at a news conference at the end of an EU summit. A new summit to discuss financial support for Ukraine is planned for early new year, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, added.
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Orbán said on Friday that his country would have plenty of future opportunities to interrupt Ukraine’s process of joining the EU, a day after the rightwing leader’s turnaround allowed EU leaders to move forward on bringing Kyiv into the bloc. In an interview with Hungarian state radio, Orbán said EU leaders had told him he would “lose nothing” by dropping his veto because he would have chances in the future to block Ukraine’s accession if he chose to. “Their decisive argument was that Hungary loses nothing, given that the final word on Ukraine’s membership has to be given by the national parliaments, 27 parliaments, including the Hungarian one,” he said.
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A council member of the western Ukrainian village of Keretsky detonated three hand grenades during a meeting Friday, critically injuring himself and at least 25 other people, authorities said. The motive of the man, who was initially identified as Serhii Batryn, a council member belonging to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party, was unclear.
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Ukraine’s biggest mobile operator, hit by a mass cyber-attack this week, said on Friday that it had restored mobile internet throughout Ukraine and international roaming. In a statement on Facebook, Kyivstar said it was working on restoring SMS messaging. The network was operating on all standards, including 4G, it said.
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Russia’s central bank on Friday raised its key interest rate to 16%, announcing a fifth hike since summer in an effort to rein in accelerating inflation. The central bank has been grappling with the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine that includes western sanctions, a surge in government military spending and the call-up of hundreds of thousands of men.
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Japan announced expanded sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, revealing dozens of newly sanctioned firms and other organisations, including export bans against some outside Russia and its ally Belarus. Tokyo added to its sanctions list 57 organisations in Russia and six others in countries including the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, Syria and Uzbekistan, the trade ministry said in a statement.
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Russian anti-aircraft units destroyed 26 Ukrainian drones over the Crimean peninsula on Friday, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram. Separately, the Russia-installed governor of part of the southern Kherson region held by Moscow, Vladimir Saldo, reported on Telegram that Russian anti-aircraft units had downed at least 15 aerial targets near the town of Henichesk and the defence ministry said Russian forces shot down six Ukrainian drones in the border region of Kursk.
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Ukraine has agreed dozens of contracts for joint production or technology exchanges with western partners, Kyiv said on Friday, as it strives to reduce its dependence on military supplies from the west and to boost domestic output.
“We have dozens of new contracts between companies on joint production or technology exchange,” the defence minister Rustem Umerov said in a Facebook post. -
Polish hauliers on Friday said they expected to resume a month-long blockade at the largest freight crossing point with Ukraine, as their Slovak counterparts announced the end of their protest. Truckers from both countries are demanding the reintroduction of permits to enter the European Union for their Ukrainian competitors, which the 27-nation bloc had waived after Russia invaded Ukraine.
