War between Russia and Ukraine: list of key events, day 305

Here is the situation as it looks on Sunday, December 25th.

Struggle

After

According to the Ukrainian authorities, a Russian attack on the recently recaptured city of Kherson killed at least 10 people, injured 58 and left bloody bodies on the street.

The

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack on Kherson and accused Russia of killing “out of intimidation and pleasure.”
Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, accused Kiev of being behind the shelling of the city. “This is a disgusting provocation with the obvious aim of blaming the Russian armed forces,” he said.
Three Ukrainian rescue workers were killed when a mine exploded while demining parts of the Kherson region, the Zhytomyr emergency services said.
Russia could prepare to renew its offensive against the Ukrainian capital Kiev by launching a possible new invasion from the north, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi defended his country’s position on the war in Ukraine and signaled that China would deepen relations with Russia in the coming year.
In an obvious reference to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts, Pope Francis said that greed and hunger for power were so strong that some “even wanted to consume their neighbors.”
In his Christmas speech to the nation, Spain’s King Felipe VI denounced the Russian war against Ukraine and its consequences.

The

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Russia’s war against Ukraine “won’t just end,” despite repeated attempts to arrange peace talks between Kiev and Moscow.

Belarus’s economy is expected to shrink by 4 percent in 2022 after the European Union, the United States and others imposed sanctions over the war in Ukraine, much less than some have predicted, Interfax quoted Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko as saying.
Three Japanese insurance companies will stop insuring ships for war-related damage in all Russian waters, which could impact Japan’s energy imports, including liquefied natural gas.