adminRussian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday banning oil supplies to countries that have introduced price caps on Russian oil and petroleum products, according to the decree published on the Kremlin’s website.
Meanwhile, the number of outages across Ukraine is decreasing as more parts of the electric grid are restored and consumption is reduced due to favorable weather conditions, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Tuesday.
In the event of no Russian shelling, the New Year holiday will pass without emergency shutdowns, Shmyhal said during a cabinet meeting in Kyiv, according to a government statement.
Here are the latest developments:
- Russian shelling killed at least one person in a southern Ukrainian town and hits maternity ward in Kherson: Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, killed at least one and left five other people injured, Oleshky Mayor Yevhen Ryshchuk said via Facebook. A hospital maternity ward in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was hit by Russian shelling, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine said Tuesday.
- Russia’s foreign minister calls on West for maximum restraint: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that the West must show restraint in nuclear questions, in an interview with TASS news agency on Tuesday. “We continue to call on the West to exercise maximum restraint in this extremely sensitive area. In order to minimize nuclear risks, it is important in practice to remain committed to the postulate of the inadmissibility of nuclear war, confirmed by the countries of the nuclear ‘five’ in a joint statement dated January 3, 2022,” he told TASS.
- US will support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, despite challenges: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed again on Tuesday to “work tirelessly with the G7 and other partners to repair, replace, and defend Ukraine’s energy infrastructure” as it faces a tough winter of Russian attacks. But that effort will not come without challenges. As the US and its partners work to try to supply the capital of Kyiv with the supplies it needs to keep the electricity and heat on this winter, they have had to contend with worldwide supply chain issues, the US official said.
- Ukraine’s energy minister fears New Year’s Eve attacks: The power situation across Ukraine remains “really difficult” because of the persistent risk of Russian shelling, Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said, warning that New Year’s Eve could see “maximum damage to the energy system.” Speaking on Ukrainian television on Tuesday, he said Ukraine was trying to use the time between Russian attacks to reduce the energy deficit by increasing electricity production and also to increase the capacity to transmit electricity.
