Live: Soldiers among 16 dead in Donetsk road crash, pro-Russia officials say

Issued on: 07/12/2022 – 11:12

11:05am: Fears of new Ukraine front as Belarus moves military gear

Belarus plans to move military equipment and forces over the next two days in what it labels a counter-terrorism exercise – stoking fears that Russia may mount a new attack on Ukraine from the territory of its Belarusian ally.

“During this period, it is planned to move military equipment and personnel of the national security forces,” the state BelTA news agency cited the country’s Security Council as saying.

“The movement of citizens (transport) along certain public roads and areas would be restricted and the use of imitation weapons for training purposes is planned,” the agency added, without specifying which parts of the country could be affected.

Belarus has said it will not enter the war in neighbouring Ukraine, but President Alexander Lukashenko has in the past ordered troops to deploy with Russian forces near the Ukrainian border, citing threats to Belarus from Kyiv and the West.

10:35am: Soldiers among 16 killed in Donetsk road accident

More than a dozen people have died in a road accident in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly controlled by Russian forces, the Moscow-installed region’s head has said.

 “A tragedy on the T-0517 highway claimed the lives of 16 people, among them were some of our defenders,” the Russia-appointed head of Donetsk Denis Pushilin said on Telegram.

Four other passengers were injured in the accident that took place between Torez and Shakhtarsk, according to Pushilin.

He offered “sincere condolences” and wished a “speedy recovery” to the injured.

8:45am: ‘I thought of Russians as our brothers – how could they commit such an abomination?’

The city of Nikopol in southern Ukraine lies just across the Dnipro river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, exposed to daily Russian bombardment and unable to return fire.

Home to 115,000 people before the war, Nikopol has lost more than half its population since Russian forces took over the nearby nuclear plant in the first days of fighting, placing their artillery units around the facility. 

Ukrainian forces say they cannot return fire for fear of causing a nuclear disaster. And for those left behind in Nikopol, life in the city has become a misery.

FRANCE 24’s Robert Parsons, Pauline Godart and Raid Abu Zaideh spoke to residents of a gutted apartment block days after it was struck by Russian fire. 

02:45

7:55am: Poland to place German Patriot missiles on its territory

Poland is preparing to deploy the German Patriot air defence system on its territory, after Berlin refused to place this system in Ukraine, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Twitter.

Germany last month offered Poland the Patriot system to help secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed and killed two people in Poland. Polish Defence Minister later asked Germany to send the fire units to Ukraine instead.

“After talking to the German Defence Ministry, I was disappointed to accept the decision to reject Ukraine’s support. Deploying the Patriots to the western Ukraine would increase the security of Poles and Ukrainians,” Blaszczak tweeted on Tuesday evening.

“So we proceed to working arrangements for placing the launchers in Poland and connecting them to our command system,” he added.

6:05am: US lawmakers authorise $800 million in additional security assistance for Ukraine

US lawmakers agreed to provide Ukraine at least $800 million in additional security assistance next year, according to a defense policy bill unveiled on Tuesday.

The Fiscal 2023 National Defence Authorisation Act, or NDAA, authorises the additional spending for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, an increase of $500 million over President Joe Biden’s request earlier this year. 

The overall bill authorises $45 billion more in defence spending than Biden requested, as congressional negotiators sought to address the effects of global inflation and provide additional security assistance for Ukraine.

3:10am: Latvia revokes licence for exiled Russian TV channel

Latvia announced Tuesday it was revoking the licence for exiled Russian independent channel Dozhd, or TV Rain, for multiple violations that included showing the annexed Crimean peninsula as part of Russia.

The channel, which moved to Latvia after Russian authorities blocked its broadcasts for critical coverage of the war in Ukraine, dismissed the accusations as “unfair and absurd”, saying that it would remain on YouTube.

The network, which was founded in 2010 as the main opposition channel in Russia, is also accused of supporting Russian soldiers, which the channel denies, and failing to ensure Latvian language translation, the LETA news agency reported.

12:35am: President Zelensky meets troops near eastern front

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited troops close to front lines in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday and expressed thanks to everyone involved in the war effort to mark the country’s Armed Forces Day.

Addressing servicemen later in the presidential palace in Kyiv, Zelensky said he had spent the day with troops in Donbas, theatre of the heaviest battles, and in Kharkiv region, where Ukrainians have retaken swathes of occupied territory from Russian forces who invaded more than nine months ago.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)