26.12.2022, Moscow.
We publish a summary of events concerning the situation around Ukraine as of 7 p.m., December 26.
Political situation
Leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States countries gathered in St. Petersburg.
Vladimir Putin appointed Medvedev the first deputy chairman of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission. The commission’s statute was also amended, according to which the first deputy will be in charge of its day-to-day management.
Putin is the chairman of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission. Thus, Medvedev occupies the second position as Putin’s deputy. Earlier, the position of deputy chairman of the Security Council (chaired by Putin) was similarly created under Medvedev.
The South Korean Defense Ministry reported that five North Korean drones invaded the country’s airspace, one of which flew close to Seoul.
South Korea fired warning shots at an invading UAV flying from North Korea – Yonhap news agency.
South Korea’s Ka-1 light attack aircraft crashed while trying to counter North Korean drones – Reuters.
Turkish President Erdogan accused the West of doing nothing to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In his opinion, Western countries were mostly engaged in provocations.
Ukraine
“Ukraine will return Crimea by force and diplomacy,” Chief of the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine Budanov said in an interview with LIGA. According to him, Ukraine is a country recognized within the 1991 borders, and whoever disagrees with this disagrees with the world order that has existed since the end of World War II and with the foundations of the UN.
“Crimea will be returned through a combination of both force and diplomacy. But without force, nothing will happen. Our units will invade this territory with weapons in hand,” Budanov summarized.
In Dnepropetrovsk, they dismantled the monument to Maxim Gorky erected in 1977.
Ukraine officially initiates the exclusion of Russia from UN and UN Security Council – Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba.
Western countries and their supporters
A German Federal Intelligence Service agent previously detained on suspicion of cooperating with Russian intelligence had been passing secret information about the situation in Ukraine to Russia – Tagesschau.
