December 27, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

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.  

Meanwhile, 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, Ukrainian 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. 

Here are the latest developments:

• Russian shelling killed at least one person in a southern Ukrainian town and hits maternity ward in Kherson: Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, killed at least one and left five other people injured, Oleshky Mayor Yevhen Ryshchuk said via Facebook. 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. 
• Russia's foreign minister calls on West for maximum restraint: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that the West must show restraint in nuclear questions, in an interview with TASS news agency on Tuesday. "We continue to call on the West to exercise maximum restraint in this extremely sensitive area. In order to minimize nuclear risks, it is important in practice to remain committed to the postulate of the inadmissibility of nuclear war, confirmed by the countries of the nuclear ‘five’ in a joint statement dated January 3, 2022,” he told TASS. 
• US will support Ukraine's energy infrastructure, despite challenges: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed again on Tuesday to “work tirelessly with the G7 and other partners to repair, replace, and defend Ukraine’s energy infrastructure” as it faces a tough winter of Russian attacks. But that effort will not come without challenges. As the US and its partners work to try to supply the capital of Kyiv with the supplies it needs to keep the electricity and heat on this winter, they have had to contend with worldwide supply chain issues, the US official said.
• Ukraine's energy minister fears New Year's Eve attacks: The power situation across Ukraine remains "really difficult" because of the persistent risk of Russian shelling, Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said, warning that New Year's Eve could see "maximum damage to the energy system." Speaking on Ukrainian television on Tuesday, he said Ukraine was trying to use the time between Russian attacks to reduce the energy deficit by increasing electricity production and also to increase the capacity to transmit electricity.

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. 

“My condolences to the dead man. Five people are in a hospital and one woman is unfortunately in the severe condition. Also I've got the information that the occupiers seized the windmill. So I don't know what will happen now to the supply of bread. I guess we will see. Please be careful, we cannot know or predict these days when the shelling may occur. Please stay safe,” Ryshchuk said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed again on Tuesday to “work tirelessly with the G7 and other partners to repair, replace, and defend Ukraine’s energy infrastructure” as it faces a tough winter of Russian attacks.

But that effort will not come without challenges.

An initial tranche of US electrical equipment, which a US official told CNN included big items like circuit breakers, relays, disconnectors, arrived in Ukraine more than a week ago — part of a multimillion dollar pledge by the Biden administration to help to support Ukraine’s electrical system. 

However, as the US and its partners work to try to supply the capital of Kyiv with the supplies it needs to keep the electricity and heat on this winter, they have had to contend with worldwide supply chain issues, the US official said.

There is a global effort to try to deal with this, the official explained, and the US is working with the private sector to try to narrow the gap in equipment, but with the existing supply chain issues, there is not as much extra supply.

Other challenges: Some of the “bigger ticket” items that are used in the United States are not compatible in Ukraine, as they are designed to work on different frequency grids, the official told CNN. 

The US hopes that the provision of air defense systems will help counter the barrage of Russian attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, so that the equipment provided by the US and partners is not destroyed.

By attacking the infrastructure, the Russians have made defense and recovery of the grid much more complicated, the official explained, because there are so many more places the system can go down than if they were to attack a power plant. 

In the short term, the US is trying to locate items the Ukrainians have prioritized, such as large gas generators. These generators would not be used to power individual homes, the US official said, but rather would be used to keep critical utilities such as water and heat on even if the electricity is down.

The official explained that even when the electrical grid is repaired, it cannot immediately be run on full capacity or it risks blowing out, so Ukrainian officials likely will need to keep rolling blackouts until they can ensure the patched electrical grid can sustain itself, the official said. 

 

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. 

“They shelled the place where two children were born today. Before the attack, doctors managed to complete a cesarean section. There are 5 women in the institution after childbirth. Miraculously, no one was injured,” Timoshenko said via the Telegram messaging platform.

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.

 

France and Poland have signed a deal for the sale of two French observation satellites to Poland, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu tweeted on Tuesday.

"This major contract demonstrates Poland's trust in our technology and industry," Lecornu tweeted after meeting with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw.

The French minister went on to say this deal shows the “deep ties that unite France and Poland in the field of defense,” while emphasizing this it would create “500 jobs in France for five years.  

Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak reiterated his French counterpart’s sentiment saying it was “an important day for the Polish Army.”

“This investment in state-of-the-art technology is a significant improvement in the capabilities of the Polish Armed Forces in the key area of reconnaissance data acquisition,” Błaszczak tweeted. 

Tuesday’s announcement comes six weeks after the country was hit by a "Russian-made" missile, causing an explosion outside the rural eastern Polish village of Przewodow, about four miles (6.4 kilometers) west of the Ukrainian border, killing two farmers. 

At the time of the event, Poland’s ambassador to the United Nations Krzysztof Szczerski said the incident “teaches us how close we actually live the potential escalation in the spillover of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine of far-reaching consequences that we all can perceive.”

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. 

“The number of emergency outages is decreasing. This became possible thanks to the heroic work of our power engineers to restore damaged equipment, reduce consumption on weekends and the absence of frosty weather. Today, on December 27, after emergency restoration works, 2 units of thermal power plants were reconnected to the grid,” Shmyhal said.

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

“A well-developed algorithm for the priority of consumers' power supply is in place. First  — the critical infrastructure is being reconnected, then goes the military-industrial complex, thirdly — important production facilities and the fourth turn is for the residential sector,” Shmyhal 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 daily state of readiness for new massive shelling. It can happen at any time: today, tomorrow or even on New Year's Eve. The enemy seeks not only to disable another substation or power line. He primarily aims to sow fear and panic. But he will not succeed. We believe in ourselves, in our army, in our power engineers, in our partners.”

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.  

"Supplies of Russian oil and oil products to foreign legal entities and individuals are prohibited, provided that the contracts for these supplies directly or indirectly provide for the use of a price fixing mechanism. The established ban applies at all stages of supplies to the final buyer," the decree said.

The ban on oil supplies under the price ceiling comes into effect on Feb. 1, 2023 and is valid until July 1, 2023. The date of the ban on the supply of petroleum products will be determined by the government, according to the decree. 

Moreover, the head of state can issue a special permit for the supply of Russian oil and oil products prohibited by the document.

On Dec. 5, Western oil sanctions came into force after the European Union and Australia agreed this month to a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil. 

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told the Russian state news agency TASS on Monday that he expects Russian gas exports and gas output to drop in 2022. 

"As for the gas industry, gas output and exports will forcefully fall. Gas production will decline by 12% compared to 2021 and exports will drop by about 25%, the main reason being the termination of export infrastructure facilities," he told TASS. 

Novak added that the production and export of liquefied natural gas would rise by more than 8.7%.

In the same interview, Novak also said Russia plans to expand port facilities to supply energy resources by sea in three years.

When summing up the results of 2021, Novak said that Russian gas exports had risen by 10% to 763 billion cubic meters and exports had grown by 3% to 250 billion cubic meters.

The deputy prime minister added that Russian exports were being redirected to the Asia-Pacific region, Africa and Latin America.