Russia Ukraine war: Putin turns to new drone for winter amid Avdiivka bombing

Mike Johnson, a staunch conservative from Louisiana has been unanimously elected House speaker with broad GOP support on Wednesday. The more conservative but lesser known congressman who has backing from Donald Trump, initially supported Ukraine, sharing his support on X, formerly known as Twitter.

However, in May last year he was one of only 57 members of the House to vote against $40 billion of aid to Ukraine.

He released a statement saying: “‘We should not be sending another $40 billion abroad when our own border is in chaos, American mothers are struggling to find baby formula, gas prices are at record highs, and American families are struggling to make ends meet, without sufficient oversight over where the money will go.”

Since the statement, he has consistently voted against aid to Ukraine.

Ukrainian Governor Oleksandr Prokudin has reported that a Russian stirke on Kherson Oblast’s town of Beryslav on Wednesday killed a 13 year old boy.

On his Telegram channel he wrote: “In the evening, the occupiers opened fire against a residential building in the city, as a result of the strike, a 13-year-old boy died.”

Governor Prokudin did not provide further details on potential damage caused by the attack or on the weaponry used by Russian forces.

The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO) report they have inflicted over $25 million damage to Russian equipment in one week. In a message on their Telegram channel, they reported the destruction of heavy equipment including the Zoopark-1 surveillance and fire control radar complex, a prized possession for Russians.

Other equipment included a critical battlefield artillery fire coordination complex that directed Russian artillery and taregetd locations of Ukrainian surface-to-surface and surface-to-air fire.

A spokesperson from Ukrainian intelligence told Bloomberg that a “Siberian battalion” was being made up of entirely Russian citizens in support of Ukraine.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) said Yusov said it was only the beginning and Ukraine would continue to recruit Russian citizens to similar battalions.

On Wednesday the Welsh parliament recognised the 1932-1933 famine as a genocide against the Ukrainian people under Stalin and the Soviet government.

The Embassy of Ukraine said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “We are grateful to the Senedd for recognizing the 1932–1933 Holodomor in Ukraine as genocide committed against Ukrainians. It’s a significant milestone in restoring historical justice and raising awareness about the millions of innocent victims”

The University of Minnesota says between 3.5 million and 7 million Ukrainians died during the genocide.

Speaking in Doha to Sky News, the Foreign Minister of Qatar, Abdulrahman al-Thani, questioned why the cutting off of food and water in Ukraine was seen as a war crime but not in Gaza.

“The children being killed in this war is exceeding the number killed in the other war between Ukraine and Russia, and yet we haven’t seen the same reaction.”

Russian military have reported they shot down two US-made missiles in a “special military operation. The ATACMS long-range missiles were given to Ukraine by the US with Russia stating it was the first downing of its kind.

Reuters were unable to confirm the incident and there has been no response from Kyiv or Washington. Last week, Ukraine reported success using the missiles inflicting heavy damage on two Russian airfields.

President Vladmir Putin said that the US was making a mistake by entering deeper into their conflict with Ukraine and said that the ATACMS missiles would not change the battlefield situation.

A Russian drone strike that hit near a nuclear power station in Khmelnitskyi on Wednesday was likely targeting the station according to Ukraine’s President Zelensky.

In his nightly address, he said the action was evidence stricter sanctions were needed against Russia.

Zelensky said every Russian strike, “especially those daring enough to target nuclear power stations and other critical facilities, serves as an argument that pressure on the terrorist state is insufficient.”

A report by Russian investigative news outlet, The Insider, has revealed that Russian Kh-47M2 Khinzal missiles are being produced using components imported from all across the EU.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion most of Russia’s defence productions has fallen under sanctions. However, company records show that equipment is still being imported via intermediaries in Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, and the U.K.

A single Khinzal missile costs the Russian state $10 million according to the publication.

Leo Varadakar, the Taioseach of Ireland, has downplayed claims of a Cabinet row over the accomodation of refugees.

The Irish Government is looking at moving from the current open-ended arrangements for Ukrainian refugees amid concerns the state will have no accommodation left for new Ukrainian arrivals next year.

When pressed to confirm the tensions, Varadkar said that “the rows in Government are much exaggerated”, but the wider issue was a “serious one”.

Mr Varadkar said he was very “proud” of Ireland’s efforts to house around 100,000 Ukrainians since the war broke out, with 20,000 international protection applicants arriving from elsewhere in the world during the same period.