Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv ‘working with UN to demilitarise Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’

Earlier, we reported that Vladimir Putin has vowed to continue attacking Ukraine’s energy grid and presented the strikes as a response to the explosion on Moscow’s bridge to annexed Crimea in October.

“Yes, we do that,” Putin said of the strikes on the Ukraine grid. “But who started it?”

Here’s a clip of Putin speaking while attending a military awards ceremony in the Kremlin today:

Pope Francis broke down and wept as he prayed for peace in Ukraine during a traditional Christmas visit to the Spanish Steps in Rome.

The pope’s voice began to tremble as he mentioned the suffering of Ukrainians. He said:

I would have liked to have brought you the thanks of the Ukrainian people …

Reuters reports that Francis had to stop speaking and was unable to continue for about 30 seconds, and his head trembled.

The crowd, which included the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, applauded when they realised he was unable to talk and saw him crying.

When he resumed the prayer, his voice was cracking.

He continued:

…the Ukrainian people for the peace we have so long asked the Lord. Instead I must present you with the pleas of children, elderly, mothers and fathers and the young people of that martyred land, that is suffering so much.

He later tweeted that “peace is possible; disarmament is possible”.

It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• Vladimir Putin has vowed to continue attacking Ukrainian energy systems despite global criticism of strikes that have left millions without electricity and water at the start of winter. The Russian leader presented the strikes as a response to a blast on Moscow’s bridge to annexed Crimea and other attacks, accusing Kyiv of blowing up power lines from the Kursk nuclear power plant and not supplying water to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

• Russia is still set on seizing parts of eastern and southern Ukraine that Putin claimed as his own, the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. He added that the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine, which Russia annexed in 2014, was vulnerable to attacks by Ukrainian forces, after officials there said they had shot down a drone near a key naval base.

• Russia has claimed that its proposed safety zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is to “stop Ukrainian shelling”. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, also said the US’s withdrawal from a treaty banning intermediate-range nuclear missiles was a “destructive” act that created a vacuum and stoked additional security risks.

• About 10,000 Ukrainian service personnel and roughly the same number of Ukrainian civilians are believed to be being held in Russian detention facilities, according to a Ukrainian official. Oleksandr Kononenko, who oversees human rights in the security and defence sector on behalf of Ukraine’s parliament, said the civilians were being detained illegally as prisoners of war because of their alleged association with the Ukrainian army or state.

• Explosions have been reported at Berdiansk airbase in the Zaporizhzhia region. Three large explosions were heard, as well as smaller ones, near the city on the coast of the Sea of Azov.

• Russian forces have fired more than 1,000 rockets and missiles at Ukraine’s power grid, which is still working despite taking major damage, a senior official said. Volodymyr Kudrytsky, the chief executive of the grid operator Ukrenergo, also told a meeting arranged by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development that his officials were scouring the world for the complex equipment needed for repairs.

• Ukraine has introduced new emergency power cuts as it tried to repair energy infrastructure damaged in Russian airstrikes, which the national grid operator said had caused significant supply shortages. The grid operator Ukrenergo said the situation was complicated by the weather, with western regions facing frost, rain, snow and strong winds that were causing wires to ice over, but the most difficult situation was in eastern areas, where fighting has been fiercest.

• Russian troops are reportedly taking part in tactical exercises in Belarus, according to the Russian defence ministry. Video clips posted by the ministry showed Russian soldiers in snow gear training near tanks in a winter landscape, firing weapons including artillery.

• Russia freed the jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner on Thursday in a high-level prisoner exchange for the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been held in a US prison for 12 years. Joe Biden, who had made Griner’s release a top priority after she spent almost 10 months in jail on drugs charges, said in an address from the White House that he had spoken with Griner and found her “in good spirits”.

• Biden expressed regret the deal did not include Paul Whelan, an American jailed since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the US government say are baseless. An anonymous US official told CNN that leaving Whelan out of the deal had been “a difficult decision” but “it was a choice to get Brittney or nothing”.

• The EU plans to tighten up sanctions on Russia’s military and industrial complex, pro-Kremlin media and Russian nationalist groups fighting in Ukraine, according to leaked papers. A total of eight individuals are facing personal sanctions, including Russian officials said to be involved in the illegal transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children in Russia, as well as the leaders of rightwing nationalist groups.

Good afternoon from London. I’m Léonie Chao-Fong, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on Russia’s war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.

The commodities trading firm Trafigura is to hand more than $1.7bn to its top traders and shareholders after the energy crisis, fuelled by the war in Ukraine, led to a surge in profits.

Trafigura, one of the world’s largest specialist commodity traders, posted a record $7bn net profit in its last financial year, more than the previous four years combined, after making gains from the market volatility caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Its chief financial officer, Christophe Salmon, hailed an “exceptionally strong year” as profits more than doubled and revenues grew to $318.5bn in the year to 30 September, up from $231.3bn a year earlier.

The $1.71bn payout to its 1,100 shareholders, including top employees, equates to about $1.56m a head if shared equally. That’s an increase of about 35% compared with 2021’s dividend of $1.12bn to about 1,000 top traders and investors.

Oil and gas companies, as well as some electricity generators, have faced windfall taxes as a result of the gains made since the invasion. However, politicians have not moved to curb the profits of commodity traders. Strong trading performances have boosted multinationals including the British oil firms BP and Shell.

Read the full story here:

Speaking earlier, Joe Biden said Russia was treating the case of the detained American Paul Whelan “differently” but that the US “will never give up” on securing his release.

Biden said:

Sadly and for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.

The Biden administration has offered Moscow multiple options to secure Whelan, a US official told journalists today.

From the Washington Post’s John Hudson:

And from Nick Schifrin from PBS:

Explosions have been heard at Berdiansk airbase in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Three large explosions were heard, as well as smaller ones, near the city on the coast of the Sea of Azov.

Emergency services have been reported as making their way to the scene. No casualties have been reported.

Russia has used the 35th anniversary of the historic signing of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) to criticise the US for withdrawing from the agreement in 2019.

At the time, the then US president Donald Trump gave his reason for doing so as “developing our own military response options,” to Russia’s missiles.

Nato allies later backed the US by issuing a statement attributing responsibility for the treaty’s demise to Russia.

When the treaty was signed in 1987, the agreement between the US and the Soviet Union to reduce their nuclear arsenals was hailed by some commentators as a significant step towards a non-nuclear world.

This is how the Guardian reported the historic event.

Vladimir Putin has vowed to continue attacking Ukrainian energy systems despite global criticism of strikes that have left millions without electricity and water at the start of winter.

“There’s a lot of noise about our strikes on the energy infrastructure of a neighbouring country. Yes, we do that. But who started it?” Putin said at an awards ceremony in the Kremlin, according to Agence France-Presse, adding that the criticism would “not interfere with our combat missions”.

He presented the strikes as a response to a blast on Moscow’s bridge to annexed Crimea and other attacks, accusing Kyiv of blowing up power lines from the Kursk nuclear power plant and not supplying water to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

“Not supplying water to a city of more than a million people is an act of genocide,” Putin said.

He accused the west of “complete silence” on this and of bias against Russia.

“As soon as we move and do something in response, there is uproar and clamour spreading through the whole universe,” he said.

Russia has faced claims that its attacks on Ukraine’s energy systems and infrastructure amount to war crimes.

The EU plans to tighten up sanctions on Russia’s military and industrial complex, pro-Kremlin media and Russian nationalist groups fighting in Ukraine, according to leaked papers.

The EU’s ninth set of restrictive measures on Russia since February’s invasion of Ukraine seek to close gaps in previous rounds, with further sanctions on 169 entities “which might contribute to the technological enhancement of Russia’s defence and security sector”, according to a draft text seen by the Guardian. These companies will face restrictions on their ability to buy from Europe so-called dual-use goods – civilian products that can be turned to military purposes.

Previous EU sanctions have already imposed sweeping bans on hi-tech equipment, but this package adds items that were missed off the list such as generators, toy drones, laptops, cameras and lenses.

According to a separate paper, four pro-Kremlin TV companies will lose their licence to broadcast in the EU, including NTV, Rossiya 1, Pervyi Kanal and REN TV, home to some of Russia’s high-profile talkshows featuring strident pro-war commentators.

A total of eight individuals are facing personal sanctions, meaning a travel ban and freeze on any assets held in the EU, including Russian officials said to be involved in the illegal transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children in Russia, as well as the leaders of rightwing nationalist groups.

In a largely symbolic move, six entities will see any EU assets frozen, including nationalist groups such as the Russian Imperial Legion, the Russian Imperial Movement and Taskforce Rusich.

Unlike previous rounds of sanctions, the cost for EU countries is relatively small. Some ideas, such as a ban on the once lucrative trade in Russian diamonds, are conspicuous by their absence.

The measures now have to be agreed by all 27 member states before coming into force.

Speaking at the White House, Joe Biden formally announced the release of Brittney Griner from detention in Russia and pledged to continue working to bring home another American jailed in the country.

“Moments ago, standing together with her wife, Cherelle, in the Oval Office, I spoke with Brittney Griner,” Biden said.

She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances. Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones, and she should have been there all along.

He thanked officials in his administration who had worked for her release, as well as the United Arab Emirates, “because that’s where she landed”. The president said “the past few months have been hell” for Griner, her family and her teammates.

He also mentioned the case of Paul Whelan, another American, whose release from Russia he said he was working on. “We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan, who’s been unjustly detained in Russia for years.”

For live developments on the release of Griner, do follow our US politics live blog with my colleague Chris Stein:

Around 10,000 Ukrainian service personnel and roughly the same number of Ukrainian civilians are believed to be being held in Russian detention facilities, according to Oleksandr Kononenko, who oversees human rights in the security and defence sector on behalf of Ukraine’s parliament.

Konenenko said the civilians were being detained illegally as prisoners of war because of their alleged association with the Ukrainian army or state.

Kononenko said:

These are the total number of confirmed people who are classed as ‘missing under special circumstances’, we do not have the exact figures. Russia has not given the International Committee for the Red Cross access [to the information].

Though the ICRC has not been given full access, it has been able to visit some Ukrainian prisoners. On Thursday, the ICRC made a rare announcement that it had visited one Russian facility and that it planned to visit another this week.

“ICRC teams are reaching out to families of prisoners of war to share updates from their loved ones. Most updates are short notes of love and personal news,” read the ICRC statement.

In July, Oleh Kotenko, who is in charge of wartime missing people within the Ukrainian ministry for the occupied territories, put the total number of Ukrainian service personnel believed to be held by Russia at significantly less – 7,200.

Kotenko said that although Ukraine had not heard from some of those reported missing, they were believed to be alive and in captivity.

After Ukraine pushed Russian forces out of parts of Kharkiv and Kherson region, it has announced several prisoner swaps. The regularity of the swaps probably indicate that Ukraine detained Russian prisoners during their offensives.

The former US marine Paul Whelan is still in Russian custody, his lawyer said, after news that Brittney Griner was released in a prisoner swap with the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Dialogue on a possible prisoner swap for Whelan is ongoing, his lawyer said.

Whelan was convicted by a Russian court in 2020 on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in a Russian high-security prison. He denied the charges.