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The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EST.
10:09 p.m.: Ukraine should continue to fight Russian troops, the leader of a Ukrainian rights group that won the Nobel Peace Prize said on Friday, adding that any attempt to enter into talks to end the war would be interpreted by Russia as a sign of weakness, Reuters reported.
Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties, Russian rights group Memorial and jailed Belarusian activist Ales Byalyatski won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
Asked whether Ukraine and the West should enter into talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, the leader of the Ukrainian rights group said Kyiv would "never leave our people for torture and death in occupied territories."
"So the West has to help Ukraine to resist and to liberate all temporary occupied territories, including Crimea," Oleksandra Matviichuk told a news conference in Oslo. The award ceremony will be held Saturday.
"The logic of authoritarian leaders is very understandable: they see any attempt (at) dialogue as a sign of weakness."
Founded in 2007, the group aims to document every single war crime committed across Ukraine.
This year's Nobel Peace Prize, the first since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, recognizes the efforts of civil society to stand up against authoritarian states and human rights abuses, the Norwegian Nobel committee has said.
8:40 p.m.: Russia's finance ministry on Friday said the government had spent $4.8 billion from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) in November on financing the budget deficit, as Russia diverts more money to its military campaign in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The ministry had said in October it was drawing down about $16 billion from the NWF, Russia's rainy day fund, with a view to spending it to help cover the budget deficit forecast to reach around 2% of GDP this year and next.
The NWF stood at $186.5 billion as of December 1, equivalent to 8.5% of Russia's projected gross domestic product for this year.
7:35 p.m.:
6:40 p.m.: Russia is expanding and modernizing its nuclear arsenal, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin, faced with setbacks in Ukraine, has repeatedly suggested he could use nuclear weapons, Reuters reported.
Austin's comments are in line with a recent Pentagon policy document on nuclear arms.
Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, with close to 6,000 warheads, according to experts. Together, Russia and the United States hold around 90% of the world's nuclear warheads.
"Russia is also modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal," Austin said at a ceremony for the incoming commander of U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the United States nuclear arsenal.
Russia has said that it will pay special attention to building infrastructure for its nuclear forces in 2023.
Earlier on Friday, Putin vowed at a news conference that any country that dared attack Russia with nuclear weapons would be wiped from the face of the earth.
5:58 p.m.: Ukrainian officials said on Friday the country's energy system was stabilizing after the latest round of Russian airstrikes but warned that a power deficit was likely to last throughout the winter, Reuters reported.
Eight waves of attacks, most recently on Monday, have targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure since mid-October, plunging swaths of the country into darkness as utilities workers have raced to complete repairs.
"We will say it openly that this winter we will be constantly living amid restrictions on electricity consumption," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting.
He added that he was ordering his energy minister to ensure that critical infrastructure, medical facilities and the country's defense industry were prioritized for receiving electricity.
5 p.m.: The White House said on Friday that the United States will work with Russia in an attempt to gain the release of Paul Whelan, a day after Washington traded convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA star Brittney Griner, Reuters reported.
John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, told reporters in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's comment that further prisoners swaps are possible: "We're going to be actively working through those channels to try to bring Paul home." He said "actions, not words" matter.
4:10 p.m.: Ukrainian officials said on Friday the country's energy system was stabilizing after the latest round of Russian air strikes but warned that a power deficit was likely to last throughout the winter, according to Reuters.
Eight waves of attacks, most recently on Monday, have targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure since mid-October, plunging swathes of the country into darkness as utilities workers have raced to complete repairs.
"We will say it openly - that this winter we will be constantly living amid restrictions on electricity consumption," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting.
He added that he was ordering his energy minister to ensure that critical infrastructure, medical facilities and the country's defense industry were prioritized for receiving electricity.
3:27 p.m.: Russia is expanding and modernizing its nuclear arsenal, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin, faced with setbacks in Ukraine, has repeatedly suggested he could use nuclear weapons, Reuters reported.
Austin's comments are in line with a recent Pentagon policy document on nuclear arms.
"Russia is also modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal," Austin said at a ceremony for the incoming commander of U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the United States nuclear arsenal.
"And as the Kremlin continues its cruel and unprovoked war of choice against Ukraine, the whole world has seen Putin engage in deeply irresponsible nuclear saber-rattling," Austin said.
2:30 p.m.:
2:05 p.m.: Tension along the Ukraine-Belarus border has been growing after Minsk and Moscow recently signed a classified protocol on regional security, and after the Belarusian Security Council announced plans to start moving military personnel and equipment to the border area in what it calls "a counter-terrorism exercise."
VOA's Anna Chernikova and Myroslava Gongadze visited one of the locations at the Ukraine-Belarus border Friday to check on the situation, and to speak with Ukrainian forces about their plans.
The situation at the border for the moment is calm and controlled, according to Ukrainian military officials there, who said they are ready to repel any possible actions by Russian or Belarussian forces, and that they are conducting regular trainings and preparations.
The military officials said that the risk for escalation remains low. However, the situation can change at any moment, they cautioned.
1:45 p.m.: In March, Russian forces occupied the Izyum Baking Products Integrated Factory, a leading producer of animal feed in Ukraine. The troops laid waste to the factory complex, stealing or destroying nearly anything they could get their hands on. Locals in the newly liberated city are working to restore the once prosperous factory and the opportunities it once provided them. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has this report.
1:25 p.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement Friday saying that the United States is imposing sanction on Russian entities involved in buying military drones from Iran.
"Today, we are imposing sanctions on three Russian entities connected to Moscow's growing military relationship with Tehran – a relationship that includes the transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from Iran," Blinken said. "The Kremlin is deploying these UAVs against Ukraine, including in large-scale attacks on civilian infrastructure."
"Russia's acquisition and Iran's provision of these certain UAVs are in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and further fuels the conflict in Ukraine," he said. "The United States will continue to use every tool at our disposal to disrupt these transfers and impose consequences on those engaged in this activity," he added.
1:10 p.m.: Russia is attempting to obtain more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles, and offering Tehran an unprecedented level of military and technical support in return, Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said on Friday.
Since August Iran has transferred hundreds of drones - also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - to Russia, which had used them to "kill civilians and illegally target civilian infrastructure" in Ukraine, Woodward said, according to Reuters.
"Russia is now attempting to obtain more weapons, including hundreds of ballistic missiles," Woodward told reporters.
"In return, Russia is offering Iran an unprecedented level of military and technical support. We're concerned that Russia intends to provide Iran with more advanced military components, which will allow Iran to strengthen their weapons capability," she said.
She also said that Britain was "almost certain that Russia is seeking to source weaponry from North Korea (and) other heavily sanctioned states, as their own stocks palpably dwindle."
1:00 p.m.:
12:45 p.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would likely have to reach agreements regarding Ukraine in the future, but felt betrayed by the breakdown of the Minsk agreements, Reuters reported Friday.
Putin said Germany and France - which brokered ceasefire agreements in the Belarusian capital Minsk between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 - had betrayed Russia and were now pumping Ukraine with weapons.
In an interview published in Germany's Zeit magazine on Wednesday, former German chancellor Angela Merkel said that the Minsk agreements had been an attempt to "give Ukraine time" to build up its defenses.
Speaking on Friday at a news conference in Kyrgyzstan, Putin said he was "disappointed" by Merkel's comments.
12:30 p.m.: A day after one of the most high-profile prisoner exchanges between Washington and Moscow in years, Russian authorities have deported U.S. citizen Sarah Krivanek, who spent almost one year in detention on charges of assaulting her Russian partner. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Friday that while he was aware of Krivanek's departure, he did not have any details on her deportation.
12:15 p.m.: Yaroslav Yanushevych, Head of Kherson Regional Military Administration, said Friday that Russian forces shelled a hospital in the city of Kherson on Friday morning, VOA’s Anna Chernikova reported from Ukraine.
Yanushevych said the shelling damaged the children's department of the hospital and the morgue. According to preliminary information, no casualties were reported.
In addition, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, reported that Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson and the Kherson region 68 times with mortars, artillery, tanks, and MLRS on Friday. Russia targeted residential areas, private and apartment buildings, and other city infrastructure, he said.
12:00 p.m.:
11:40 a.m.: France expects to avoid electricity cuts on Monday but faces a difficult week as the first cold snap of the winter tests Europe's resolve to save energy and mitigate the economic impact of the Ukraine war, Reuters reported.
Leaders across the region have said eveyone needs to get serious about using less fuel after unusually mild weather until now had made the task relatively easy.
Although Europe's gas storage is almost 90% full after concerted efforts following the disruption of Russian supplies linked to its invasion of Ukraine, a series of nuclear outages, especially in France, are adding to nervousness of outages.
11:15 a.m.: French energy giant TotalEnergies said Friday that it will walk away from its stake in Russian natural gas producer Novatek and take a $3.7 billion loss, The Associated Press reported.
TotalEnergies, which has come under criticism for pursuing some of its projects in Russia amid the war in Ukraine, said Western sanctions prevent it from selling its 19.4% stake to the Russian company. It said it was withdrawing its representatives from the Novatek board, who have been abstaining from voting because of sanctions, with “immediate effect.”
In line with its “principles of conduct” published on March 22, TotalEnergies “has gradually started to withdraw from its Russian assets while ensuring that it continues to supply gas to Europe.”
11:05 a.m.:
10:50 a.m.: Russia’s war in Ukraine, chaos in Haiti and rising violence by criminal groups in Mexico contributed to a 30% spike in the number of journalists killed doing their work in 2022 over the previous year, according to a new report released Friday, The Associated Press reported.
The International Federation of Journalists says that 67 journalists and media staff have been killed around the world so far this year, up from 47 last year.
More media workers were killed covering the war in Ukraine – 12 in total -- than in any other country this year, according to the IFJ. Most were Ukrainian but also included those of other nationalities such as American documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud. Many deaths occurred in the first chaotic weeks of the war, though threats to journalists continue as the fighting drags on.
10:30 a.m.:
10:10 a.m.: Bulgaria will send its first military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion after parliament on Friday approved a list of arms drawn up by the interim government, Reuters reported.
It had been one of the few EU countries not to send aid after the Russia-friendly Socialist party, a coalition partner in the previous government, blocked a previous proposal in May.
The list of arms is classified, but government officials have said Sofia would mainly send light weaponry and ammunition.
9:50 a.m.:
9:35 a.m.: Ukraine's atomic power agency accused Russian forces on Friday of abducting two senior Ukrainian staff at a Russian-occupied nuclear power station and detaining a third, Reuters reported.
Energoatom said the two who were seized at the Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine were beaten before being driven off in an "unknown direction" on Thursday.
It said the third worker, who was detained, was responsible for safety at the plant, which was captured by Russian troops soon after their February 24 invasion of Ukraine but is still operated by Ukrainian staff. Russia did not immediately comment on the allegations.
Kyiv has accused Russia of putting pressure on Ukrainian employees at the plant to sign contracts with Russia's nuclear energy company. In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree transferring the plant and all Ukrainian employees from Energoatom to a subsidiary of Russia's state nuclear energy corporation, Rosatom. Kyiv said the transfer of assets amounted to theft.
Ukrainian officials have also said Moscow is using the site as a de facto weapons depot. Reuters has been unable to independently verify the allegations.
9:20 a.m.: The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Friday called attention to efforts aimed at preventing gender-based violence in Ukraine.
9:05 a.m.: Diplomats from Russia and the United States met in Istanbul on Friday to discuss a number of technical issues in the bilateral relationship, Russian state news agencies reported Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying, according to Reuters.
The TASS agency said the two sides would discuss “difficult questions” including visas, embassy staffing levels and the work of each side’s institutions and agencies abroad, among other unspecified issues.
Ryabkov said the meeting was between heads of department from the Russian Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department - a relatively low level. He said it was a technical meeting and should not be seen as a sign the two sides were ready to resume discussing “major issues”.
Both the Russian embassy in Washington and the U.S. embassy in Moscow have been cut back significantly in recent years in a series of tit-for-tat expulsions that have seen dozens of Russian and U.S. diplomats sent back to their home countries.
8:55 a.m.: When Ukrainians returned to the village of Snihurivka after it was liberated from Russian forces, they found some unpleasant surprises in their homes. Current Time, a co-production of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and VOA, has this report.
8:40 a.m.: The U.S. is sending an additional $275 million in military aid to Ukraine, including large amounts of ammunition and high-tech systems that can be used to detect and counter drones in its ongoing war with Russia, The Associated Press reported Friday, quoting U.S. officials.
The total aid amount is smaller than most of the recent packages the U.S. has delivered, and it comes as many military officials and experts predict a reduction in attacks during the winter. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia appears to be slowing its military activities to regroup and launch a new offensive when the weather warms.
The officials said the latest package of aid includes 80,000 rounds of ammunition for howitzers and an undisclosed amount of ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS. It also includes systems to counter drones and air defenses, along with more HUMVEES, generators and other combat equipment. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the aid package prior to its public release, which is expected Friday.
8:25 a.m.: Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced in court to eight-and-a-half years in prison on Friday on charges of spreading "false information" about the army. Yashin, 39, was tried over a YouTube video released in April in which he discussed evidence uncovered by Western journalists of Russian atrocities in Ukraine, and cast doubt on the official Moscow version that such reports had been fabricated as a "provocation" against Russia.
8:10 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he believes "mine terror" will be one of the charges against Russia when it is held to account for its invasion of Ukraine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Friday.
"I am sure this will be among the charges against Russia for aggression,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Thursday.
Zelenskyy said the use of mines is even more cruel than the use of missiles because mines cannot be shot out of the air. He said Russian mines are a legacy of terror that Ukraine will have to contend with for years.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said last month that approximately one-third of the territory of Ukraine remains potentially dangerous due to explosive objects.
At the end of October, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy said that, in the territories recently liberated from the Russian Army, mining is twice as dense as in the previously de-occupied part of the Kyiv region or Chernihiv region.
7:55 a.m.:
7:40 a.m.: Ahead of elections next year in Poland, Jaroslaw Kaczynski and the nationalist conservative ruling party that he leads have been lashing out against Germany while seeking to cast their main competitor as loyal to Berlin, The Associated Press reported.
Poland’s ruling party leader claims Germany seeks to dominate Europe. He warns that Poles could end up under the “German heel.” He snubs a German offer of anti-missile systems before Poland eventually accepts them — but gets in an anti-German dig along the way.
Many Poles, like others in central Europe, have been critical of Germany’s stance toward Russia in the years leading up to Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, particularly for gas deals that created dependence on Russian energy and helped Russia build up its war chest.
But critics of the ruling party, Law and Justice, say its anti-German rhetoric is becoming a threat to Poland’s national interests and risks creating a crack between Western allies while Russia wages war in Ukraine.
7:20 a.m.:
7:05 a.m.: The number of oil tankers waiting in the Black Sea to pass through Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait on the way to the Mediterranean rose to 20 on Friday, Tribeca shipping agency said, as Turkey held talks to resolve an insurance dispute behind the build-up, Reuters reported.
Dismissing pressure from abroad over the lengthening queue, Turkey's maritime authority said on Thursday it would continue to block oil tankers that lacked the appropriate insurance letters, and it needed time for checks.
6:55 a.m.:
6:40 a.m.: Russian forces pounded the entire front line in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk and Luhansk, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said on Friday, as U.S. officials said that Washington was preparing to send Ukraine a $275 million military aid package containing new capabilities to defeat drones and strengthen air defenses, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
Ukrainian forces repelled dozens of Russian attacks in the Bilohoryivka area in Luhansk as well as Klishchyivka and Maryinka in the Donetsk region, the General Staff said in its daily update.
The fiercest fighting continued near the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in Donetsk, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a television interview. Artillery slammed into the town of Toretsk southwest of Bakhmut, killing one civilian and damaging 12 buildings, Kyrylenko said.
"The entire front line is being shelled," he said, adding that Russians were also trying to advance near Lyman, which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces last month in one of a number of setbacks suffered by Moscow since invading its neighbor in February.
In Bakhmut and other parts of the Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces countered with barrages from rocket launchers, witnesses said.
6:25 a.m.:
6:10 a.m.: WNBA star Brittney Griner’s 10-month imprisonment in Russia on drug charges came to an end on Thursday, spreading relief and joy across the sports world and beyond, The Associated Press reported.
It’s unknown if and when she might return to a basketball court. But if she does, women’s basketball will get back a generational talent.
On the court, Griner was a dominant force in leading Baylor to the 2012 NCAA championship, then went onto stardom as a lanky anchor for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and as a two-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA.
5:50 a.m.: Brittney Griner returned to the United States early Friday, nearly 10 months after the basketball star’s detention in Russia made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad and set off a political firestorm.
5:35 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said the West's desire to maintain its dominance on the world stage was increasing the risks of conflict, Reuters reported.
"The potential for conflict in the world is growing and this is a direct consequence of the attempts by Western elites to preserve their political, financial, military and ideological dominance by any means," Putin said.
The Russian leader was speaking in a video message to a summit of defence ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and a group of ex-Soviet countries that was published by the Kremlin.
5:26 a.m.:
4:26 a.m.: The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said in its latest Ukraine assessment that Russian forces reinforced positions near Svatove and conducted counterattacks near Kreminna amid continued Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in eastern Ukraine.
Russian forces also continued offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka–Donetsk City areas.
3:26 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said that for the first time in three weeks, there have been reports of attacks by Iran-made drones.
"These events remain to be verified, but it is likely that Russia exhausted its previous stock of several hundred Shahed-131s and 136s and has now received a resupply," the update said.
2:12 a.m.: The U.S. Army awarded two contracts to increase production capacity for the type of artillery shells Ukrainian soldiers have been using in vast quantities, the Army said Thursday, as the United States seeks to replenish munitions sent to support Kyiv, Reuters reported.
A contract to build a new component production line in Texas and another contract for making shell bodies were awarded to two companies in late November, the Army said.
They represent some of the first resources the Army has invested to increase production capacity for 155mm ammunition, a NATO-standard round, after U.S. aid to Ukraine drew from American stocks after Russia invaded its neighbor in February.
1:09 a.m.: One of Turkey's most influential marine biologists is pleading for the creation of an "ecological corridor" to save dolphins and other sea creatures from destruction during Russia's war on Ukraine.
Bayram Ozturk spoke to Agence France-Presse one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of waging an "ecocide" that was devastating marine life across the Black Sea.
Ozturk, the head of the Turkish Marine Research Foundation wants the world to take a closer look at the damage that has been done.
"We need international surveillance. We need to know what is happening exactly," he said in a telephone interview.
His biggest immediate worry is that fighting this winter will interrupt the natural migration period of dolphins across the Black Sea.
"There should be an ecological corridor starting from the Danube River to the Odessa area, where there's a highly concentrated dolphins population," he said of a region near Ukraine's southwestern border with Romania.
12:02 a.m.: South Africa's leading opposition party on Thursday called on the government to explain why a Russian cargo ship that it said was under western sanctions had docked at a Cape Town naval base, Agence France-Presse reported.
The vessel arrived at Simon's Town, South Africa's largest naval base, on Tuesday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) party said, adding it seemed to have turned off its automatic identification system, which provides the ship's position and other information.
At night, cranes had been offloading cargo from it and onto trucks protected by armed personnel, it added.
South Africa has resisted taking sides following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a war that has triggered sweeping Western sanctions.
The South Africa defense ministry and the navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ship, identified by local media as the Lady R, flies a Russian flag and is en route from Cameroon to Tanzania, according to vessel tracking websites.
Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
