WAR IN UKRAINE: December 28, 2022
A funeral ceremony held in Kyiv for Ukrainian serviceman Volodymyr Yezhov, who was killed in a battle near Bakhmut on Dec. 27, 2022. Before the war between Russia and Ukraine, Yezhov was a game designer who took part in the design of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game series. (Photo by Danylo Antoniuk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 308
At least 6,884 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia’s invasion of the country began in February, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said. The figures, compiled up to Dec. 26, include 429 children, according to OHCHR, which added it believed the actual numbers were higher. Nearly 11,000 people have been injured, it said - CNN
An Australian man has died fighting to defend Ukraine from Russia's invasion, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed to CNN on Wednesday. Sage O'Donnell "died in action defending the freedom of the Ukrainian people," his mother said in a statement released by DFAT.
Russia bans oil exports to countries that abide by $60 price cap. The ban on crude oil exports will come into effect on Feb. 1, but the date for the oil products ban will be determined by the Russian government and could be after Feb - Kyiv Independent
This morning, the electricity deficit in Ukraine's system increased. This happened due to the shutdown of some units of power plants as a result of strikes on gas infrastructure in the east, reported @NPCUkrenergo - Hromadske
President’s Office: Russia shells maternity hospital in Kherson. “They shelled a place where two children were born today. Before the attack, doctors managed to complete a caesarean section. There are five women after childbirth at the institution,” he said, adding that “miraculously” there were no casualties.
Russian forces rained artillery fire on Ukrainian positions along the whole contact line in the east, with a focus on Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in Donetsk, where the heaviest fighting has been taking place over the past months, the General Staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said on December 28 - RFE/RL
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised to soon present an annual message to the Ukrainian parliament on the external and internal situation of Ukraine as he told Ukrainians in his nightly video address that the current week will be politically important for the country.
The real estate market in Ukraine fell by 78.4% during the war, said People's Deputy Zheleznyak. From February 24 to December 12, Ukrainians sold 52,600 real estate properties. This is a little more than 1/5 of last year's figures. And the sale of residential real estate decreased by 4.6 times.
The repression of dissent in Russia since the start of its full scale invasion of Ukraine has been brutal. According to independent human rights monitor OVD-Info, there have been more than 19,400 detentions for protesting against the war in Russia and dozens are prosecuted every week under a new law that made it illegal to disseminate "fake" information about the invasion - CNN