Live: Paris hosts conference to help Ukraine make it through winter, rebuild

Issued on: 13/12/2022 – 05:12

05:06am: France’s Macron engineers new diplomatic push for Ukraine

Tuesday’s international donors conference in Paris is intended to provide Kyiv with some immediate aid, both in financing and equipment. It comes in response to Russian war operations in recent weeks that have focused on civilian infrastructure and are aimed at “making the civilian population lose hope,” according to Macron.

The French president has been championing tougher sanctions against Moscow Since the war began and has stayed in regular touch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On Sunday, the pair spoke by phone to prepare the Paris conference that will gather the representatives of dozens of countries and focus on priority needs, including access to electricity, heating and water.

Yet Macron has also been criticised in recent months by Ukraine and some other European countries who feel he has not kept sufficient distance from the Kremlin.

Macron is one of the few Western leaders to have maintained contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of a long-term geopolitical strategy.

He has repeatedly said he would talk to Putin whenever it was required to avoid an escalation of the conflict.

11:45pm: EU reaches deal on Ukraine aid

The European Union reached a deal in principle to send an 18 billion euro ($18.93 billion) financial aid package to Ukraine and approve a minimum tax on major corporations in a big move that narrowed a rift between the bloc and recalcitrant member Hungary.

“Megadeal!,” the EU’s Czech presidency said on Twitter. The deal is still tentative because it needs to be signed off on but no major obstacles are expected.

The EU as a whole will be able to present a united front backing Ukraine after unseemly scenes of political brinkmanship had delayed the process for long and left a needy ally in the lurch and facing a major struggle to make financial commitments next year.

10:49pm: Bakhmut ‘destroyed’ as war grinds on in eastern Ukraine

More than 90 percent of the population has left the city of Bakhmut, FRANCE 24’s James André reports from eastern Ukraine. “You’ve got to imagine that you are in the dark, in the cold, with very little food and drink, no running water, and under constant shelling – this why people are making that decision to leave,” André says. Click on the video below to watch his report in full. 

02:17

10:13pm: Power blackouts are Russia’s last hope

Russia has not abandoned its plan of hitting Ukraine with air strikes and sees power blackouts as its last hope, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday.

“We have to be aware that Russia has not abandoned this tactic of terror. Any absence of mass missile strikes simply means that the enemy is readying new attacks. And there could be strikes at any time,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

“Russia is still counting on blackouts. This is the terrorists’ last hope. As long as they have missiles – and they still do – please take seriously the warnings from our military command.”

9:48pm: Ukraine president again presses West for advanced weapons

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pressed Western leaders on Monday to provide more advanced weapons to help his country in its war with Russia, and he repeated his calls for Russian forces to withdraw from occupied areas of Ukraine, suggesting Christmas as a retreat date.

During a video conference, Zelensky told host Germany and other leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers: “It would be right to begin the withdrawal of Russian troops from the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine this Christmas. If Russia withdraws its troops from Ukraine, then a reliable cessation of hostilities will be ensured.”

He added: “The answer from Moscow will show what they really want there: either a further confrontation with the world, or finally an end to aggression.”

9:11pm: Russia likely using unreliable ammo as stocks dwindle

Russia is likely turning to older, less reliable artillery and rocket ammunition as its newer stocks run low for its war in Ukraine, a senior US military official said Monday.

Moscow’s supply of new ammunition is “rapidly dwindling” and would likely only last until early 2023 if its forces continue to fire at current rates, the official told journalists.

This “is probably forcing them to increasingly use ammunition in what we would consider degraded conditions”, the official said.

“In other words, you load the ammunition and you cross your fingers and hope it’s going to fire, or when it lands that it’s going to explode.”

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin highlighted Russian artillery ammunition issues late last month, attributing them to both Moscow’s logistical challenges and Ukrainian strikes on supply depots.

9:08pm: Ukraine needs $1 billion quickly to restore infrastructure

Ukraine needs rapid assistance totalling $1 billion to return its electricity grid and centralised heating system to normal operation, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday.

Shmyhal, in an address to a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, said Russian air attacks in recent weeks had damaged half the country’s key infrastructure facilities.

Restoration work, he said, required a three-stage process.

“But the main priority now is the stage of survival – quickly restоring critical infrastructure and the energy sector to get through the winter,” Shmyhal told the meeting, according to media reports and his own Telegram channel.

“The approximate cost of urgent help for the power sector stands at $500 million,” Shmyhal said.

“The approximate cost of urgent help for the centralised heating sector stands at a further $500 million.”

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)