► Russia announces the arrest of a suspect for the assassination of a general
Russia announced on Wednesday December 18 the arrest of an Uzbek national, suspected of being involved in the assassination of Russian general Igor Kirillov, who died the day before in Moscow in a bomb attack claimed by Ukraine, which accuses officer of “war crimes”.
The commander of the Russian radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, Igor Kirillov, 54, was killed Tuesday morning in the explosion of a booby-trapped electric scooter, while leaving his building on Ryazansky Avenue with his assistant. southeast of Moscow.
“A national of Uzbekistan, born in 1995, was arrested on suspicion of having committed the attack which cost his life” to the general and his collaborator Ilia Polikarpov, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement which did not identify the suspect.
► Russia: twenty years in prison for attempted poisoning
A resident of Barnaul, in the Altai region of Siberia, was sentenced to twenty years in prison for attempting to poison mobilized soldiers and thus support Ukraine, the Russian Security Service (FSB) announced.
A regional military court found him guilty of “attempted attack” and of “attempted high treason” and sentenced him to twenty years in prison, said the regional branch of the FSB in a press release, cited by the RIA Novosti news agency.
“This Russian citizen, born in 1981, came into contact with the Ukrainian special services via social networks”expressing his “willingness to support the Ukrainian armed forces”according to the press release.
► Zelensky and European leaders in Brussels before Trump’s return
The head of NATO brings together Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of the main European powers in Brussels to discuss the war in Ukraine, a few weeks before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
This informal mini-summit, which will take place at the residence of the Secretary General of NATO, will be an opportunity to discuss, at the highest level, the “next steps”after more than a thousand days of conflict in Ukraine, indicated the head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni.
► “Hundreds” of North Korean soldiers dead or injured
Of the “hundreds” North Korean soldiers were killed or injured in the fighting between them and the Ukrainian army in the Russian region of Kursk, a senior American military official said Tuesday evening.
“Several hundred victims, this is our latest estimate of North Korea’s losses”said this official on condition of anonymity. Several thousand North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia in recent weeks to support the Russian army, according to Westerners.
