December 14, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

In a further sign of the importance it attaches to its strategic nuclear deterrent, the Russian military has loaded a “Yars” ballistic missile into a silo launcher in the Kaluga region.

The Ministry of Defense released video to mark the event, just ahead of Russia’s “Day of Strategic Missile Forces.”

It said that an “intercontinental ballistic missile of the Yars complex was loaded into a silo launcher at the Kozelsky missile formation in the Kaluga region.”

“The importance of this operation lies in the fact that the missile will be on combat duty as planned. The Motherland will receive another sample of nuclear missile weapons, which will allow us to solve any tasks at the strategic level,” said Alexei Sokolov, commander of the Kozelsky missile formation, in a video shared by the ministry together with the statement.

Patriot defense system: The announcement of Russia’s intercontinental missile installation comes after reports that the Biden administration is finalizing plans to send an advanced long-range air defense system to Ukraine to help counter Moscow’s attacks.

The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send an advanced long-range air defense system to Ukraine to help counter Moscow’s attacks, US officials told CNN.

Here are some of the latest developments:

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said Wednesday it had carried out searches of premises belonging to a branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in nine regions — finding Russian passports, propagandist literature and “passes of the occupiers.”

Part of the church in Ukraine — which split earlier this year — remains loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate (MP). 

“The Security Service completed counter-intelligence (security) measures at UOC (MP) facilities in Zakarpattia, Chernivtsi, Rivne, Volyn, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Lviv, Zhytomyr and Kherson regions,” the SBU said. 

It said it found Russian passports, St. George’s ribbons — which are popular among pro-Russian separatists — symbols of the banned pro-Russian party “Opposition Platform For Life” and “manuals for spreading enemy propaganda through the faithful” on the territory of the dioceses.

In addition, intelligence officers found books by Ivan Ilyin, who is often called “Putin’s philosopher,” it said.

In the village of Chornobaivka in Kherson region, the SBU said it had discovered passes of the pro-Russian occupiers during the inspection of the church premises.

It said photographs of Russian documents “on ensuring cooperation with the military commissariats of the Russian Federation” were found in the diocese of the Lviv region.

The SBU also said it had found a monk with a Russian passport and contacts in the Russian Federation on the territory of one of the monasteries of the Rivne region in western Ukraine.

“His possible involvement in intelligence and subversive activities for the benefit of the Russian special services is currently being investigated,” it said.

The Lviv diocese said in a statement on Facebook that the SBU had inspected premises and that “no anti-Ukrainian items and literature were found.”

The SBU has stepped up a campaign of raids against parts of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in recent weeks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that if US Patriot missiles are sent to Ukraine, they would be legitimate targets for Russian forces.

But he added that the US plan had not been confirmed.

Peskov was asked by CNN if he held the same view as former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who has said that the missiles “would immediately become a legitimate target of our armed forces.”

“Certainly,” Peskov responded, in remarks later picked up by official Russian news agency TASS. But he added, “I would refrain from comment for now, though, because these are just media reports.”

CNN reported exclusively Tuesday that the Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, with a decision possibly announced as soon as this week, according to two US officials and a senior administration official.

The Pentagon’s plan still needs to be approved by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before it is sent to President Joe Biden for his signature. The three officials told CNN that approval is expected.

It is not clear how many missile launchers will be sent, but a typical Patriot battery includes a radar set that detects and tracks targets, computers, power generating equipment, an engagement control station and up to eight launchers, each holding four ready-to-fire missiles. 

Once the plans are finalized, the Patriots are expected to ship quickly in the coming days and Ukrainians will be trained to use them at a US Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany, officials told CNN.

Russian officials have repeatedly said that all Western systems sent to Ukraine — including the HIMARS anti-air defenses — will be targeted.

Ukrainian authorities have been seeking Patriot batteries for months but have not confirmed that the US has agreed to dispatch them. On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said only that a meeting of the military’s General Staff had talked about the “protection of the sky.”

“We are constantly strengthening our air and anti-drone defense. And we are doing everything to get more modern and more powerful systems for Ukraine,” he said.

CNN’s Barbara Starr contributed reporting to this post.

The detention of Russian citizen Vadim Konoshchenok in Estonia at the request of the United States is “unacceptable,” according to Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Ivanov, who vowed that there will be a response.

The US Justice Department released an indictment Tuesday that said Konoshchenok was arrested in Estonia last week after attempting to smuggle 20 cases of US-made sniper rifle ammunition into Russia in late November.

According to the indictment, Konoshchenok was also stopped by police at the Estonian border with thousands of additional US-made bullets, as well as “semiconductors and other electronic components,” some of which were controlled by the US government “for reasons of anti-terrorism.”

Konoshchenok, who the Justice Department believes is an officer for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), is one of a group of seven people indicted, including five Russian citizens and two US citizens. Four of the seven remain at large.

“Konoshchenok – who is suspected to be an FSB officer – would ship or physically smuggle U.S.-origin items from Estonia to Russia, including dual-use electronics, military-grade tactical ammunition and other export-controlled items,” according to the statement published by the US Department of Justice. 

Ivanov told Russian state media RIA Novosti on Wednesday that “we will not tolerate this, this is not the first time this has happened, this is an unacceptable practice — the detention of our citizens abroad, and every time we will respond to this.”

He added the Russian side “so far has no information, except for some statements; so far no papers have been seen.”

According to the 16-count indictment, the defendants were associated with two Moscow companies that worked with the FSB to purchase and smuggle sanctioned items — including semiconductors and other electronic equipment — from the US to the Russian military.

An embassy staff member in Estonia visited Konoshchenok on Wednesday, the Russian diplomatic mission in Tallin told state media RIA Novosti.

According to RIA, the Russian diplomatic mission also said that Konoshchenok has a lawyer and “denies accusations of illegal activity.”

“The Estonian court has to make a decision on his possible deportation to the United States within the next 60 days,” according to the statement.

CNN’s Holmes Lybrand contributed reporting to this post.

US National Security Council special coordinator for communications John Kirby told CNN Wednesday that any discussions on whether it’s time to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin for an end to the war in Ukraine should be left “to President Zelensky, not the United States,” while acknowledging that initial assessments that the war could end by year’s end seem unlikely. 

“We certainly would love to see it end, if not today, then before the end of this year, which is, of course, fast approaching. I think just given what we’re seeing in the air and on the ground in Ukraine, it’s difficult to conclude that this war will be over by year’s end,” Kirby told CNN’s MJ Lee in a virtual gaggle.

He continued: “And both sides are still in violent fighting in the Donbas, particularly in and around Bakhmut – a small area comparatively speaking to some of the other battles of Ukraine over the last nine months, but very intense fighting– and the Russians are in defensive positions all throughout the South, while the Ukrainians continue to try to press. So, there is active fighting going on right now, we would expect that that would continue for some time going forward.”

Kirby said that while military analysts have suggested winter freezes may cause a lull in skirmishes as conditions become less ideal for fighting in the air and on the ground in Ukraine, “we have no expectation that the fighting will stop in the winter months to come.” 

“So, no indications, certainly no expectations that, by the year’s end, there’ll be an end of war — that doesn’t mean, however, after your word, aspiration, that we wouldn’t love to see that, it’s just that none of the indicators are pointing in that direction,” he added.

The Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) said the owner of a fleet of buses in Kherson has been arrested for providing transportation to Russian troops while the region was occupied.

The SBU said in a statement that the man “provided buses to transport occupiers from Crimea to Kherson” in southern Ukraine.

It said more than 50 buses were used to transport occupying troops.

The man had later tried to leave Ukraine for Moldova but was detained as he attempted to cross the border.

“According to the investigation, the suspect is the head of a large transport company specializing in passenger transportation, in particular to the EU states. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion, he supported the invaders and ‘rearranged’ his business in favor of the aggressor state,” the SBU alleged. He had also opened bank accounts in Russia, it said.

“In exchange for cooperation, the enemy promised not to interfere in his business,” it said.

Security Services disclose raids: The SBU also said that it carried out raids on premises of two banned pro-Russian political parties in Ukraine: the Communist Party and “Rus Yedyna.”

The raids took place in Kyiv, Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih. The SBU said that “weapons, St. George ribbons [frequently used by pro-Russian separatists] and flags of the aggressor country were found. In addition, warehouses with pro-Kremlin literature, propaganda leaflets with the symbols of the totalitarian regime of the USSR and ‘manuals’ of Russian propagandists were found.”

The SBU alleged that “Communist Party officials planned to use the whole ‘arsenal’ of propaganda tools to conduct agitation and mass events in support of the enemy in case of capture of Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk region.”

In recent weeks, the SBU has also stepped up raids against parts of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church seen as sympathetic to Russia.

The Russian-appointed head of the occupied city of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine said more than 10,000 customers are without electricity after Ukrainian “saboteurs” blew up a substation.

Alexander Saulenko, the acting head of the administration of Berdyansk, said “the explosion of a transformer substation carried out by Ukrainian saboteurs” had taken place Tuesday night. The official said the explosive device had been planted.

Berdyansk is on the Sea of Azov, in Zaporizhzhia region.

On Monday night, a key bridge for the resupply of Russian armed forces in Melitopol — also in Zaporizhzhia — was targeted according to both Ukrainian and Russian sources. 

The bridge connects the main part of the city of Melitopol to a suburb. 

Ukraine’s strikes in the area: Kyiv’s attacks deep in occupied territory in Zaporizhzhia have grown in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian military reported that Ukrainian strikes destroyed the command post of the Russian 58th Combined Arms Army in Melitopol, and further strikes against Enerhodar, Tokmak, and Hulyaipole cumulatively wounded 150 personnel and destroyed three artillery installations.

The Institute for the Study of War, which follows the conflict closely, notes “increased reports of Ukrainian strikes against Russian military assets near Melitopol within the past few days.”

One Russian military blogger suggested this week that the tactic in Zaporizhzhia is reminiscent of targeting carried out by the Ukrainians against Russian forces in Kherson before the Ukrainian military advanced there last month.

Russian strikes hit the regional administration building in Kherson on Wednesday morning, amid a wave of fatal shelling on the southern Ukrainian region.

The attack took place at 11 a.m. local time and “the Russians fired at the center of the Kherson with multiple rocket launchers,” the deputy head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office said on Telegram.

“The shells hit the building of Kherson Regional Military Administration – two floors were damaged,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko added.

There were no casualties.

Video posted by the Kherson regional military administration shows the damage inside and outside the building.

Another video on social media clearly documents the administration building being struck, with a large plume of grey smoke rising from it.

On Tuesday, Kherson was shelled 42 times, according to Yarsolav Yanushevych, head of the Kherson regional military administration.

The targets on Tuesday included a yacht club, a college, a school and residential buildings. One person was killed and one was injured.

Ukrainian air defense forces warded off Russian strikes aimed at key infrastructure in Kyiv on Wednesday, as the country grapples with heat and electricity supply issues amid a harsh winter season.

Here are the latest developments:

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked by reporters on Wednesday whether Russia is considering a truce for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Peskov said Moscow has not received proposals for a possible ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia for the holiday period, adding that “this topic is not on the agenda.”

His comments were made on a regular briefing call, amid a barrage of fresh Russian strikes on Kyiv.

An American was part of a 65-person prisoner swap in Ukraine on Wednesday, according to the Ukrainian presidential office.

The American was named as 35-year-old Suedi Mureksezi.

“He was captured by the occupiers in June in Kherson city allegedly “for participation in pro-Ukrainian rallies,” Andrii Yermak, head of the Office of the President, said.

Fifty-nine of the prisoners were “representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” while five others were from the territorial defense, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in Ukraine said.

Four were officers and the rest were part of the “rank and file,” it said, adding that the oldest person in the swap was 57 and the youngest was 19.

“The vast majority” of those captured were from frontline areas such as Bakhmut, Soledar, Zaitseve and other places in Donetsk and Luhansk, the Coordination Headquarters added.

Russian strikes on critical infrastructure in Ukraine have put the physical and mental health of “almost every child” in the country “at desperate risk,” UNICEF warned Wednesday.

As the war approaches the ten-month mark, temperatures continue to drop and residents are left without sustained access to electricity, heating and water, the almost seven million children in Ukraine face not only extreme cold, but are also unable to get access to education and healthcare, UNICEF said in a statement.  

“Millions of children are facing a bleak winter huddled in the cold and the dark, with little idea of how or when respite may arrive,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

“Beyond the immediate threats the freezing conditions bring, children are also deprived of the ability to learn or stay connected with friends and family, putting both their physical and their mental health at desperate risk.”  

Damaged health facilities may be unable to provide critical services, while malfunctioning water systems “raise the already extremely high risks of pneumonia, seasonal influenza, waterborne diseases and Covid-19,” UNICEF said.  

Furthermore, a “bleak winter will also likely worsen the psychosocial situation for children, who are already facing a looming mental health crisis,” UNICEF said, with an estimated 1.5 million children at risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorders and other mental conditions.  

“The harsh winter, combined with a loss of income and the energy and socioeconomic crisis triggered by the war are devastating to the well-being of children and families,” UNICEF said. It added that the situation is “especially acute” for the 6.5 million people, including 1.2 million children, who are currently displaced within Ukraine.  

Moscow has unleashed a wave of strikes in recent months that has destroyed about 40% of Ukraine’s power production, “further exposing families to harsh winter conditions, impacting livelihoods, and increasing the likelihood of additional large population movements,” UNICEF said.

“The rules of war are clear – children and the essential civilian infrastructure they rely on to survive must be protected,” said Russell. 

Ukraine’s state energy supplier said none of its power infrastructure in Kyiv was damaged on Wednesday morning, following a wave of drone attacks across the city.

“Thanks to the brilliant work of air defense forces, energy infrastructure facilities were not damaged – all 13 UAVs were shot down,” Ukrenergo said in a statement.

The company also gave a brief update on the energy supply situation nationwide.

In the east of the country repairs are slow and getting more dangerous to undertake “due to almost daily shelling,” it said.

“Energy facilities are constantly damaged. Repair works are slowing down due to the danger to the lives of repairmen.”

Russia has unleashed a barrage of strikes targeting critical infrastructure in Ukraine in recent months, leaving millions of residents without access to heat and electricity amid a harsh winter season.

Pope Francis has suggested buying fewer presents at Christmas this year and donating the proceeds to Ukraine instead, as Russia’s invasion approaches the ten-month mark.

“Let’s have a Christmas with Ukrainians in our hearts,” the Pope said during his general audience at the Vatican Wednesday morning.

“They are suffering so much, so so much,” Francis added, citing the cold weather and the lack of food and medicine.

“It’s good to celebrate this Christmas.

“But let’s spend less, have a more humble Christmas with more humble presents and send what we save to the people in Ukraine.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s air defense shot down “all 13” drones used to strike Kyiv on Wednesday, as Moscow launched a barrage of attacks on the capital.

“This morning terrorists started with 13 Shaheds … All 13 were shot down by our Ukrainian air defense. Well done. I am proud. Dear citizens, we thank the air defense, and do not forget about the sirens,” Zelensky said.

The assaults were “aimed at the critical infrastructure of the region and capital,” according to Oleksii Kuleba, the head of Kyiv regional military administration.

Russia has targeted power facilities across Ukraine in recent months, using missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, in an attempt to wipe out the country’s energy infrastructure amid a grueling winter season.

A drone launched by Russian in assaults on Kyiv Wednesday carried the message “For Ryazan” — an apparent reference to an alleged Ukrainian attack last week on an air base inside Russian territory.

The message was seen in a video posted to Telegram by a Kyiv municipal TV channel.

Last week, Russian officials claimed Ukrainian drones carried out strikes on two air bases and an air field in Russia, with satellite imagery and photographs indicating some damage was done to Russian military planes at one base in the western Ryazan region.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has offered no official comment on the explosions, and the Ukrainian government has not acknowledged adding long-range attack drones to its arsenal. However, a top Ukrainian official last week tweeted a cryptic message hinting at the possibility that Kyiv was indeed behind the attacks.

Kyiv attacks: Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said the number of Russian drones taken out by Ukrainian air defenses over the capital region on Wednesday had climbed to 13.

Popko said “two waves” of drones were launched toward the city, but did not specify the total number of devices.

Fragments of one of the downed drones hit an administrative building and four more residential buildings were “slightly damaged,” he said. No casualties were reported.

The Russian drones that targeted Kyiv in a series of attacks on Wednesday morning were “strike UAVs flying from the east coast of the Sea of Azov,” the Ukrainian Air Force said.

The inland Sea of Azov is located between mainland Ukraine to the north, Crimea to the west and Russia’s Kuban region to the east.

Ukraine’s air defense forces shot down multiple Iranian-made drones as Kyiv came under a barrage of Russian attacks that damaged buildings, the capital’s military administration said earlier.

Attacks from Russian missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, over the past two months have destroyed key infrastructure across Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air defense forces shot down one more Iranian-made “Shahed” drone over the Kyiv region in the early hours of Wednesday, the city’s military administration said on Telegram — taking the total to 11. 

Earlier, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that 10 Russian drones had been taken out. 

Two administrative buildings in the city’s Shevchenkivskiy district and a home in the village of Vyshneve were damaged in the attacks, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian President’s office. 

The majority of Russia’s drone attacks on the Kyiv region early Wednesday were taken down by Ukraine’s air defenses, according to a Ukrainian military official.

Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv regional administration, said on Telegram that the day began with a Russian attack on the capital with Iranian-made Shahed drones. 

According to preliminary information, two administrative buildings in the city’s central Shevchenkivskiy district were damaged, the Kyiv city military administration said. 

Kuleba said air raid warnings remained in effect and advised people to take shelter as the threat is ongoing. 

Some context: Ukraine has come under a barrage of Russian missile and drone attacks over the past two months that have destroyed key infrastructure across the country.

According to US officials, the Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine in a deal that could be announced as soon as this week. Kyiv has repeatedly asked for the advanced long-range air defense system, which is highly effective at intercepting ballistic and cruise missiles.

Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 10 Iranian-made “Shahed” drones over the Kyiv region, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on Telegram Wednesday. 

He did not provide further details. 

It comes after the Kyiv city military administration said “air defense is working in [the] Kyiv region,” following explosions heard in the capital early on Wednesday.

The Kyiv city military administration said “air defense is working in [the] Kyiv region,” after explosions were heard in Ukraine’s capital early on Wednesday.

“Keep calm and take cover!” the administration said on Telegram. 

Earlier Wednesday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that explosions had been heard in the city. 

“Explosions in the Shevchenkiv district of the capital. Response teams are heading to the scene. More updates to come,” Klitschko said.

The explosions were heard by CNN reporters in the city.

This post has been updated with the latest information.

Russia can’t “defeat the NATO bloc” in Ukraine without using nuclear weapons, a Russian commander in the east of the country said on state television Tuesday. 

Commander Alexander Khodakovsky of the Russian militia in the Donetsk region said on Russia-1 that Moscow’s resources are limited.

He also claimed that Russia is now fighting the entire Western world, which is why the next escalation of the Ukraine war can “only be one: nuclear.” 

The Kremlin has not publicly responded to Khodakovsky’s comments. 

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of the “increasing” threat of nuclear war but said he viewed the Russian nuclear arsenal as a deterrent rather than a provocation.

Brittney Griner is “heartbroken” that Paul Whelan is still detained in Russia, her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Tuesday.

“She is heartbroken that Paul Whelan is not home. She is thinking about his family and talked about her intention to call them as soon as she gets home,” Colas said on AC360. “She’s really committed to telling this story and making sure that this population of wrongfully detained Americans, that people know their names.”

Colas told CNN that Griner is making plans and thinking about things she can do to help people detained overseas.

Paul Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage. The Biden administration was unable to secure his release when they brought home Griner last week in a prisoner swap for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. 

Nikita Chibrin says he still remembers his fellow Russian soldiers running away after allegedly raping two Ukrainian women during their deployment northwest of Kyiv in March.

Their commanders, Chibrin said, shrugged when finding out about the rapes. The alleged rapists were beaten, he says, but never fully punished for their crimes.

“They were never jailed. Just fired. Just like that: ‘Go!’ They were simply dismissed from the war. That’s it.”

Chibrin is a former soldier from the Russian city of Yakutsk who says he served in the 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, the notorious Russian military unit accused of committing war crimes during their offensive in Bucha, Borodianka and other towns and villages north of Kyiv.

He deserted from the Russian military in September and fled to Europe via Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Troops from Chibrin’s brigade were labeled war criminals by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense in April after mass graves containing murdered civilians and dead bodies lying in the streets were discovered following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Kyiv region.

Read more here.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the European Union on Tuesday for its $19 billion aid package, as well as an additional $1 billion pledged by dozens of countries during a donor conference in France earlier in the day.

The funding will focus on Ukraine’s embattled energy sector, which has been targeted during the war against Russia, along with other humanitarian support. 

Zelensky also thanked other European countries that provided additional support beyond the EU funding, specifically naming Spain, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.

He added that during a forum that focused on French business relations on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials presented French entrepreneurs with opportunities for investment in Ukraine during and after the war. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday, that Russia’s huge missile attacks against Ukraine have turned the “entire country into a front line”. 

Kuleba added “it doesn’t matter whether you are a soldier or a civilian, you are under attack. And that’s how we feel.”

Speaking to foreign journalists from Kyiv, Kuleba responded to a question about whether he places more value on weapons or energy supplies, saying both are “almost equally important.”

Russia launched its barrage of missile attacks across Ukraine, targeting its energy infrastructure on Oct. 10.

Earlier on Tuesday, CNN reported that the United States is finalizing plans to send Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in Paris Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had been leading a delegation where over $1 billion in aid had been pledged to Ukraine to help it through the tough winter months.

European Union member states have agreed plans to provide a $19 billion aid package for Ukraine in 2023 after Hungary dropped its opposition in return for funding from the EU.

Hungary had initially blocked the package last week, amid a long running standoff over EU aid. Brussels had called for EU funds for Hungary be frozen due to concerns over corruption and insufficient reforms to strengthen the rule of law. 

On Monday evening, the EU struck a deal with Hungary. Under the new agreement, Brussels will give Budapest $6.1 billion in grants to “enable Hungary to foster its economic recovery from the Covid 19 pandemic and finance the green and digital transitions.”

It will still freeze some funds, around $6.9 billion, but that is less than the near $8 billion the EU had previously planned on suspending.

The Czech Presidency of the European Council tweeted about the deal and the aid package for Ukraine Monday evening.

The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine that could be announced as soon as this week, according to two US officials and a senior administration official.

The Pentagon’s plan still needs to be approved by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before it is sent to President Joe Biden for his signature. The three officials told CNN that approval is expected.

Ukraine has been calling for the US to send the advanced long-range air defense system that is highly effective at intercepting ballistic and cruise missiles as it comes under a barrage of Russian missile and drone attacks that have destroyed key infrastructure across the country. It would be the most effective long-range defensive weapons system sent to the country and officials say it will help secure airspace for NATO nations in eastern Europe.

It is not clear how many missile launchers will be sent but a typical Patriot battery includes a radar set that detects and tracks targets, computers, power generating equipment, an engagement control station and up to eight launchers, each holding four ready to fire missiles.

Once the plans are finalized, the Patriots are expected to ship quickly in the coming days and Ukrainians will be trained to use them at a US Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany, officials said.

Ukraine has been asking for the system for months but the logistical challenges of delivering it and operating it are immense. Despite those obstacles, “the reality of what is going on the ground” led the administration to make the decision, the senior administration official told CNN, noting the continuing intense Russian missile barrages.

Read more here.

Russian-installed administrators in the city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine claimed on Tuesday that “two explosive devices” of 15-20 kilograms of TNT were used to blow up a portion of a bridge used for supplying Russian armed forces.

Yevgeny Balitskyi, the Russian-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia region, said on Telegram that “unknown persons blew up two reinforced concrete supports of the road bridge, after which the bridge received a subsidence.”

He stressed that the damage to the bridge “did not affect cargo traffic in anyway” and claimed the bridge “had no strategic significance.” 

He finished his message by saying that the perpetrators are being pursued and they will “be punished to the fullest extent of the law”.

More background: The bridge connects the main part of the city of Melitopol to the suburb of Konstantynivka. 

The bridge is part of the M14 highway that runs along Ukraine’s southern coastline and connects Melitopol to Berdyansk to the east and then on to Mariupol and into the Russian Federation.

More than $1 billion was pledged to support Ukraine during a bleak winter at a conference in Paris Tuesday, France’s foreign minister said.

The money, pledged by 46 countries and 24 international organizations, will be split between restoring Ukraine’s depleted energy network, the food sector, water supply, health and transportation, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna told the conference, adding that $520 million of funding was yet to be allocated. 

It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for $843 million in aid in a virtual address to delegates at the conference, as millions of Ukrainians face a freezing winter under the shadow of Russia’s war, without access to electricity, water and central heating.