Day dawns in Europe and a 1017th day of armed conflict begins in Ukraine after the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
This Thursday, December 5, 2024, after accusing Western countries of not paying attention to Vladimir Putin's warnings, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, declared that Russia intended to be taken seriously
after the firing of its new heavy Orechnik missile on Ukraine at the end of November.
On the front, the Ukrainian army claimed the recapture of a small village located in the Donetsk region, in the east of the country.
We take stock of the events that have marked recent hours.
READ ALSO: Clash at the OSCE, threats from Moscow against the West… Update from Thursday, December 5, 2024
Ukrainian army claims recapture of village near Vougledar
The spokesperson for the Khortytsia force group, in charge of operations in the Vougledar area, in the Donetsk region, indicated this Thursday, December 5 to the Ukrainian media Suspilne that Ukrainian troops have regained control of the village of Novyi Komar.
Located nearly 50 kilometers from the occupied town of Vougledar, the village had a population of 500 inhabitants before the war.
The enemy has been driven out
said Nazar Voloshyn. The village of Novyi Komar is under the control of the (Ukrainian) defense forces.
The day before, the DeepState website, which follows the geographical evolution of the war in Ukraine, had announced the resumption of control of the village by Ukrainian troops. Still according to this site, Russian forces suffered heavy losses in the sector.
Russia ready to defend itself by “all means” says Sergei Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Russia was ready to use all means
possible to defend oneself. Questioned by the controversial American columnist Tucker Carlson, he also explained that Russia intended to be taken seriously
after the firing of the new Orechnik heavy missile on Ukraine at the end of November.
The United States and its allies must understand that we would be ready to use any means to prevent them from achieving what they call the strategic defeat of Russia
he declared. We are sending signals and we hope that the last one, two weeks ago (missile firing) was taken seriously
specified the minister.
According to Russian authorities, this missile launch was in response to bombings carried out by kyiv in Russia using American and British missiles.
Zelensky denounces lack of help to repatriate Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia
President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized this Thursday, December 5, 2024, the lack of help from the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the return of Ukrainian prisoners detained in Russia, during a conference on the rights humans in kyiv.
Are we currently receiving much help from organizations such as the United Nations or the International Committee of the Red Cross to protect and ensure the return of Ukrainian prisoners held in Russia? Actually, no
lamented Volodymyr Zelensky, according to his speech published by the Ukrainian presidency.
We all see, in particular, how weak the world's reaction is to what Russia is doing to Ukrainian prisoners
he continued, also assuring that the most important Russian war crimes are gradually forgotten
at the political level.
Russia holds thousands of soldiers taken prisoner, but also an unknown number of civilians and kyiv demands the return of nearly 20,000 minors deported or forcibly displaced
by Moscow since the invasion began in 2022.
Canada bans assault weapons it will offer to Ukraine
Canada on Thursday banned 324 models of assault weapons that authorities will collect to ship to Ukraine.
Defense Minister Bill Blair said Ottawa would work with distributors and gun stores that may have the weapons in stock in order to get them out of Canada and hand them over to the Ukrainians […] so that they can use them in their fight against Russia
.
Every help we can provide to the Ukrainians is a step towards their victory
he added.
Around 14,500 firearms already in circulation can be returned under an amnesty in force until October 2025 and which provides for compensation for owners.
Vladimir Putin relaxes rules for foreign payments for Russian gas
Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday allowing foreign customers purchasing Russian gas to pay their contract to banks other than Gazprombank, although the only banking establishment authorized to register such transactions since 2022, but now under American sanctions.
On November 21, Washington announced restrictions targeting around fifty Russian banking establishments, including Gazprombank, the financial arm of the gas giant Gazprom, with the idea of limiting Russian budgetary revenues from the sale of hydrocarbons.
In fact, these new sanctions, announced a few weeks before the end of Joe Biden's mandate, prevent Gazprombank from processing any new financial transactions linked to energy contracts abroad involving the American financial system.
However, in April 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree requiring foreign buyers of Russian gas to open an account with Gazprombank and pay in rubles, a means of supporting the national currency in the face of heavy Western sanctions.
The master of the Kremlin therefore relaxed this rule on Thursday in response to the latest sanctions, although it was not immediately clear to which other (non-sanctioned) banking establishments the payments would be made.
