Putin mengatakan dia setuju dengan proposal Shoigu untuk perubahan struktural lebih lanjut dalam angkatan bersenjata

Menteri Pertahanan Rusia, Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu dihadapan Presiden Rusia, Vladimir dan Dewan Legislatif Rusia, Duma Negara, menyampaikan bahwa, selama periode operasi khusus, 120 orang menerima gelar Pahlawan Rusia, secara total lebih dari 100 ribu orang dianugerahi penghargaan negara .

Shoigu juga mengatakan, demi kepentingan operasi khusus, pasokan senjata yang paling dibutuhkan tentara ditunda dari 2024-2025 hingga 2023.

Shoigu menjelaskan :"dokter militer di zona operasi khusus memberikan pertolongan pertama kepada yang terluka dalam 10 menit, mengantarkan mereka ke unit medis dalam satu jam".

Grup tentara Bayaran Ukrania dilumpuhkan

Dalam hal perekrutan angkatan bersenjata Shoigu menyampaikan: 'saat merekrut angkatan bersenjata, usia wajib militer warga negara perlu ditingkatkan secara bertahap dari 18 menjadi 21 tahun, dan batasnya harus ditingkatkan menjadi 30 tahun.

Shoigu: transisi ke outsourcing pada 2008-2012 menyebabkan penghancuran praktis organ perbaikan militer, sejak 2012 tindakan telah diambil untuk membuatnya kembali

Shoigu juga mengatakan bahwa jumlah dana tahun ini memungkinkan untuk meningkatkan pasokan senjata ke pasukan sebesar 30%.

"Saya ingin menarik perhatian Menteri Pertahanan, Kepala Staf Umum, semua komandan yang diwakili di sini, kami tidak memiliki batasan pendanaan," kata Putin di dewan Kementerian Pertahanan.

"Negara, pemerintah memberikan semua yang diminta tentara. Semuanya. Saya harap jawabannya dirumuskan dengan benar dan hasil yang sesuai akan tercapai" tambah Vladimir Putin:

Pidato Putin di depan Majlis Duma

Inflasi mingguan di Rusia melambat tajam - menjadi 0,02% dari 0,19%, Rosstat melaporkan. Sayuran terbantu, yang rata-rata naik hanya 1,5% dibandingkan 2,7% seminggu sebelumnya.

Dari produk makanan lainnya, harga makanan bayi tumbuh paling tinggi: daging kaleng +0,86%, buah-buahan dan beri +0,82%, sayuran +0,72%. Dan pemimpin penurunan harga adalah sama: gula (-1,66%) dan soba (-1,2%).

Shoigu menginstruksikan untuk menambah jumlah tentara kontrak menjadi 521 ribu pada akhir tahun, dengan mempertimbangkan penggantian yang dimobilisasi dalam kelompok dan perolehan formasi baru

Pidato Putin di depan Majlis Duma

Di antara tugas-tugas prioritas yang diidentifikasi oleh Shoigu untuk tahun 2023:

• mengenakan tugas tempur di peluncur Pasukan Rudal Strategis 22 dengan rudal balistik antarbenua "Yars", "Avangard" dan "Sarmat".



• terima 3 pembawa rudal strategis Tu-160M ke dalam kekuatan nuklir strategis penerbangan.



• untuk membawa kapal selam nuklir dari proyek Borey-A "Kaisar Alexander III" ke dalam armada, serta 4 kapal selam dan 12 kapal permukaan.



• untuk meningkatkan pasokan sistem misil hipersonik berpresisi tinggi "Belati" dan "Zirkon", untuk terus mengerjakan model lain yang menjanjikan

Dua helikopter Ukrania ditembak jatuh

Shoigu mengusulkan sejumlah tindakan pengamanan:

• membuat pengelompokan pasukan di barat laut Rusia sebagai tanggapan atas keinginan NATO untuk membangun potensi militer di dekat perbatasan Rusia dan mencaplok Finlandia dan Swedia



• untuk secara bertahap meningkatkan usia wajib militer dari 18 menjadi 21 tahun, dan menaikkan batas menjadi 30 tahun



• memberikan kesempatan, atas permintaan warga negara, untuk memasuki dinas militer berdasarkan kontrak sejak hari pertama bergabung dengan dinas tersebut



• buat distrik militer Moskow dan Leningrad



• membentuk 3 divisi senapan bermotor, termasuk sebagai bagian dari formasi senjata gabungan di wilayah Kherson dan Zaporozhye, serta korps tentara di Karelia



• reorganisasi 7 brigade senapan bermotor di distrik militer Barat, Tengah, Timur dan di Armada Utara menjadi divisi senapan bermotor



• di Pasukan Lintas Udara, bentuk tambahan 2 divisi penyerangan lintas udara



• untuk setiap tentara gabungan (tank), pertahankan divisi penerbangan campuran dan brigade penerbangan tentara, berjumlah 80-100 helikopter tempur



• tambahan membentuk 3 direktorat divisi udara, 8 resimen udara pembom, 1 resimen udara tempur, 6 brigade penerbangan tentara








• untuk membuat cadangan artileri dalam arah strategis, membentuk 5 divisi artileri distrik militer dan brigade artileri berkapasitas tinggi.



• di pasukan pesisir TNI AL, berdasarkan brigade marinir yang ada, membentuk 5 divisi marinir



• menambah jumlah angkatan bersenjata menjadi 1,5 juta personel militer, termasuk tentara kontrak - hingga 695 ribu.

Operasi khusus, 22 Desember. Hal utama:

• Putin mengatakan bahwa Rusia akan berusaha untuk mengakhiri konflik di Ukraina, lebih cepat lebih baik;



• Berbicara tentang kecepatan operasi khusus, dia mengatakan bahwa intensifikasi permusuhan menyebabkan kerugian yang tidak dapat dibenarkan;



• Menurut Presiden Federasi Rusia, segala sesuatu yang berkaitan dengan operasi khusus adalah tindakan paksa dan perlu;



• Kepala negara mencatat bahwa Rusia mampu meningkatkan laju produksi senjata tanpa merugikan sektor ekonomi lainnya;








• Putin mengingatkan bahwa semua konflik bersenjata diakhiri dengan negosiasi, dan semakin cepat hal ini menjadi jelas bagi Kyiv, semakin baik;



• Menurut Kementerian Pertahanan, Angkatan Bersenjata Rusia melanjutkan operasi ofensif ke arah Donetsk, menghancurkan hingga 50 personel militer Ukraina dalam sehari, sementara Kyiv kehilangan hingga 35 personel militer ke arah Kupyansk dan Krasnolimansky;



• Kepala Staf Umum RF Armed Forces Gerasimov mengatakan bahwa selama operasi khusus, drone serang Rusia telah menghancurkan lebih dari 600 objek Ukraina, dan penerbangan operasional-taktis dan militer Rusia telah menghancurkan 11.000 unit senjata Ukraina, menghasilkan sekitar 150 sorti satu hari;



• Di Donetsk, mantan kepala Roskosmos Rogozin bersama sekelompok pakar militer diserang oleh Ukraina dan terluka - sepotong amunisi tertancap di tulang punggungnya. Rogozin dipindahkan ke rumah sakit di Rostov-on-Don;



• Peskov mengatakan bahwa pasokan senjata ke Ukraina tidak dapat mencegah Federasi Rusia mencapai tujuannya selama operasi khusus, tetapi mereka mengarah pada fakta bahwa mereka memperpanjang penderitaan rakyat Ukraina lebih lama dari yang seharusnya;



• Biden, pada pertemuan dengan Zelensky, mengatakan bahwa dia siap untuk mencari "perdamaian yang adil" dengan Rusia, Zelensky mengangguk sebagai konfirmasi atas hal ini;



• Duta Besar Rusia untuk Amerika Serikat Antonov mengatakan bahwa negosiasi ini menunjukkan bahwa baik Zelensky maupun kepemimpinan Amerika tidak menginginkan perdamaian dan tidak siap untuk itu, keengganan yang dinyatakan oleh pemerintah Amerika untuk terlibat dalam konflik langsung dengan Federasi Rusia sebenarnya adalah sebuah frase kosong;








• Peskov mengatakan bahwa Kremlin mencatat dengan penyesalan bahwa baik Biden maupun Zelensky tidak berbicara tentang potensi kesiapan untuk mendengarkan keprihatinan Federasi Rusia, serta seruan untuk perdamaian;



• Koordinator Komunikasi Strategis di Dewan Keamanan Nasional AS, John Kirby, mengatakan bahwa topik perdamaian di Ukraina menjadi topik utama selama percakapan ini, sambil mengecualikan kemungkinan membatasi bantuan militer ke Kyiv;



• Kepala IAEA, Grossi, setelah pembicaraan di Moskow, mengatakan bahwa zona perlindungan di sekitar PLTN Zaporozhye diperlukan semata-mata untuk mencegah kecelakaan nuklir;



• Menteri Luar Negeri Jerman Burbock, setelah pertemuan virtual para menteri, mengatakan bahwa G7 bermaksud untuk mengintensifkan upaya untuk menyediakan peralatan militer kepada Ukraina, termasuk sistem pertahanan udara.

Operasi khusus, 23 Desember. Hal utama:

• Putin mengadakan pertemuan di Tula tentang pekerjaan industri pertahanan: dia menetapkan tugas untuk menyediakan semua yang diperlukan unit, mencatat bahwa umpan balik diperlukan antara industri dan militer.



• Shoigu mengunjungi Izhevsk, memeriksa pelaksanaan perintah pertahanan negara di perusahaan Kalashnikov.



• Kementerian Pertahanan Rusia melaporkan bahwa secara total, lebih dari 190 tentara Ukraina dihancurkan ke berbagai arah dalam sehari.








• Balitsky mengatakan bahwa penembakan pembangkit listrik tenaga nuklir Zaporozhye hampir berhenti, IAEA mengatakan bahwa mereka akan melanjutkan konsultasi untuk membuat zona perlindungan di sekitarnya.



• Kementerian Luar Negeri Italia mengatakan bahwa mereka terus-menerus mengajukan proposal untuk negosiasi ke Rusia, dan juga memohon kepada mediator - Turki dan Vatikan.



• Media Amerika melaporkan masalah dengan produksi selongsong 155 mm: negara memproduksi per bulan sebanyak yang dihabiskan Ukraina dalam dua hari.
  
  Industri AS saat ini mampu memproduksi sekitar 14.000 peluru 155 mm per bulan, tulis Washington Post, mengutip komandan angkatan darat.
  
  Pasukan Ukraina menghabiskan jumlah amunisi ini hanya dalam 2 hari, catatan surat kabar itu, mengutip sumber militer yang tidak disebutkan namanya.

Kementerian Pertahanan Rusia telah menunjuk peserta kunci baru dalam proyek biologi militer AS di Ukraina, di antaranya kepala peneliti dan presiden departemen penelitian internasional Pfizer. Pada saat yang sama, semua terdakwa yang teridentifikasi terkait dengan Partai Demokrat AS.

Letnan Jenderal Igor Kirillov, kepala pasukan RCBZ, mencatat bahwa para pemimpin Partai Demokrat AS "bertindak sebagai inspirasi ideologis penelitian biologi militer dan pencipta skema pencucian uang rahasia untuk kepentingan lingkaran sempit perwakilan Amerika. elite."

Kementerian Pertahanan Federasi Rusia juga menerima akses ke versi laporan yang diperluas dari salah satu departemen Pentagon tentang kegiatan di Ukraina, yang mengonfirmasi pelaksanaan latihan dan pelatihan dengan patogen infeksi yang sangat berbahaya di wilayah Ukraina.

Operasi khusus, 24 Desember. Hal utama:

Kementerian Pertahanan Rusia melaporkan bahwa total sekitar 200 tentara Ukraina dihancurkan ke berbagai arah per hari.

• Di wilayah Razdolovka di DPR, selama serangan pasukan Rusia, sekelompok tentara bayaran asing yang terkonsolidasi dihancurkan, Kementerian Pertahanan melaporkan.



• Kepala pasukan Rusia RHBZ Kirillov pada sebuah pengarahan mengatakan bahwa peserta kunci dalam program biologi militer AS di Ukraina terhubung dengan Partai Demokrat AS.



• Wakil Menteri Luar Negeri Galuzin mengatakan bahwa tidak benar membicarakan kemungkinan keterlibatan kelompok gabungan Rusia-Belarusia di Ukraina: kelompok itu dibentuk untuk melawan jika terjadi invasi ke Belarusia.



• Pasukan Ukraina menembaki daerah pemukiman Donetsk di pagi hari, dan rumah sakit kota diserang di malam hari.



• Kyiv meminta masalah Iran untuk menjauh dari "sanksi non-kerja dan beralih ke menangkap pemasok dan menghancurkan produksi."

Operasi khusus, 25 Desember. Hal utama:

• Putin mengatakan bahwa konflik di Ukraina didasarkan pada kebijakan lawan geopolitik Federasi Rusia, yang bertujuan untuk memisahkan Rusia yang bersejarah, kami tidak punya pilihan lain selain melindungi warga negara kami








• Angkatan Bersenjata Rusia di arah Selatan-Donetsk menangkis serangan balik Ukraina ke arah Pavlovka dan Vladimirovka di DPR, musuh kehilangan lebih dari 50 prajurit; lebih dari 80 militer dan tentara bayaran Ukraina dihancurkan ke arah Donetsk;



• di arah Kupyansky dan Krasnolymansky, Kyiv kehilangan sekitar 90 orang per hari;



• Pasukan Rusia di wilayah Artemovsk (DPR) menghantam titik penempatan sementara tentara bayaran asing



• Angkatan Bersenjata Rusia menghancurkan tiga howitzer M777 Amerika dan instalasi Polandia "Crab";



• Erdogan mengatakan bahwa Barat hanya meningkatkan provokasi dan tidak mencoba menengahi krisis di Ukraina;



• Wakil Duma Negara dari wilayah Krimea Sheremet menyebut pernyataan Ukraina tentang Krimea benar-benar tidak masuk akal dan menyarankan sebagai tanggapan kepada otoritas Kyiv untuk menyiapkan rencana untuk memasukkan Kyiv ke dalam Federasi Rusia;



• Sanksi terhadap Rusia sangat mahal untuk Eropa, hanya Amerika Serikat yang diuntungkan darinya, kata Siluanov.

Ramzan Kadyrov mengunjungi tempat pelatihan militer Rusia

Dua Bus Dihentikan Kemenhub Saat Melintas Kawasan Puncak Bogor, Ini Penyebabnya

Kemenhub lakukan pemeriksaan terhadap sejumlah kendaraan di kawasan Puncak Bogor.

Kementerian Perhubungan (Kemenhub) melalui Direktorat Jenderal Perhubungan Darat bersama dengan personil gabungan melakukan rampcheck atau inspeksi keselamatan terhadap bus pariwisata di Rest Area 45 A Ciawi, Bogor pada hari Sabtu, 24/12/2022.

Kementerian Perhubungan (Kemenhub) melakukan pemeriksaan terhadap sejumlah kendaraan yang melintas ke kawasan puncak Bogor.

Hasil ada dua kendaraan yang dihentikan karena tidak memenuhi persyaratan. Bus pertama membawa rombongan wisatawan dan hendak menuju kawasan Puncak. Sementara satu unit bus lainnya diketahui over kapasitas.

Direktur Lalu Lintas Jalan Direktorat Jenderal Perhubungan Darat, Cucu Mulyana menjelaskan bahwa dalam rampcheck kali ini difokuskan pada pemeriksaan bus pariwisata yang sebagian besar digunakan untuk berwisata.

Cucu Mulyana menjelaskan pemeriksan kendaraan ini dilakukan menjaga fungsi mesin, sistem keamanan kendaraan serta kondisi kesehatan pengemudi menjelang libur Natal dan Tahun Baru (Nataru).

“Operasi ramp check untuk memastikan kelaikan operasional bus, truk, dan kendaraan umum lainnya. Ini untuk memastikan masyarakat menggunakan kendaraan yang laik jalan,” kata Cucu Mulyana kepada wartawan.

Dari hasil operasi tersebut diperoleh satu unit bus tidak laik jalan. Bus tersebut diketahui membawa rombongan wisatawan dan hendak menuju kawasan Puncak. Sementara satu unit bus lainnya diketahui over kapasitas.

Hasil pengecekan petugas bahwa bus Bintang Tiga tersebut tidak dilengkapi surat-surat berkendara. Tak hanya itu, rem tangan tidak berfungsi, ban botak, dan selang bocor.

“Pengemudi hanya membawa STNK fotocopy, buku KIR pun tidak ada,” ungkapnya.

Menurutnya, karena secara administrasi maupun secara teknis tidak memenuhi persyaratan sehingga seluruh penumpangnya dipindahkan ke bus pengganti.

Sementara kendaraannya diminta untuk kembali ke poll bus untuk segera diperbaiki dan dilengkapi surat-suratnya.

“Karena kalau tidak dicegah ini sangat membahayakan bagi keselamatan penumpang maupun pengendara lainnya. Apalagi medan di jalur Puncak cukup berat, banyak tikungan tajam dan tanjakan,” terangnya.

Cucu mengimbau kepada masyarakat untuk selektif saat akan menyewa bus. Pilih bus yang memenuhi syarat perjalanan serta memiliki kelengkapan surat-surat berkendara.

“Jangan hanya memilih yang murah tapi tidak aman dan nyaman. Ini sangat berisiko,” pungkasnya.

Sementara itu, Kapolres Bogor AKBP Iman Imanuddin menuturkan, kegiatan tersebut bertujuan untuk memberikan rasa aman bagi para wisatawan

“Hal ini kami lakukan untuk menjamin keselamatan dan kelancaran di dalam perjalanan,” pungkasnya

“Keselamatan bagi para penumpang bagi para pengguna jalan yg akan berwisata ataupun yg akan melalui jalur puncak,” jelasnya

Untuk mencegah terjadinya kecelakaan, petugas akan terus melakukan operasi ramp check sampai dengan tanggal 2 Januari 2023.

Kapolres Bogor AKBP, Iman Imanuddin, menyatakan, dari puluhan bus yang dihentikan petugas secara acak, terdapat dua bus angkutan umum dan satu bus pariwisata yang kedapatan tidak layak operasi karena berbagai alasan.

Dua bus angkutan umum masing masing jurusan Kampung Rambutan - Sukabumi dan jurusan Jakarta - Cianjur, terjaring petugas karena tidak memiliki dokumen kendaraan yang sah. Selain itu kondisi kendaraan juga tidak normal karena ban gundul serta rem tangan tidak berfungsi.

Sementara sebuah bus wisata juga diberhentikan karena sang sopir ternyata tengah sakit serta surat surat ya tidak lengkap. Satu sopir pengganti yang didatangkan juga ternyata belum mengikuti vaksinasi booster.

"Iya, saya sopir pengganti karena sopir aslinya tadi sakit. Ini saya ikut vaksinasi booster," ungkap Setia Darmawan, seorang sopir pengganti bus pariwisata.

Akibat banyaknya bus yang tidak layak operasi ini puluhan penumpang jurusan Sukabumi dan Cianjur akhirnya diturunkan untuk mencari bus pengganti.

"Saya mau ke Cianjur, ini diturunkan karena busnya kena razia," ungkap Ny Yayah.

Iman Imanuddin menyatakan operasi ini akan terus digelar setiap harinya untuk memastikan angkutan umum benar benar aman bagi penumpang. Kendaraan yabg terjaring tidak layak jalan akan dihentikan untuk digantikan dengan bus pengganti.

"Semua angkutan akan kami periksa baik kelayakan kendaraan maupun kesehatan sopirnya. Karena jalur puncak ini cukup berat sehingga membutuhkan kondisi fit," ungkap Kapolres.

Sementara itu Direktur Lalulintas Jalan Kementerian Perhubungan Cucu Mulyana meminta warga yang akan berwisata tak segan segan memeriksa kondisi kendaraan yang akan disewa untuk perjalanan. Warga bisa meminta pihak otobus untuk menunjukan surat KIR dan kelengkapan kendaraan sehingga angkutan yang digunakan benar benar aman.

"Tidak usah ragu untuk menanyakan kepada pengelola bus, surat KIR nya mana, KP nya mana? Untuk memastikan aman. Apabila PO bus berkeberatan, maka sudah tinggalkan saja," tegas Cucu.

Death Toll Climbs From Frigid Monster Storm in US

Fierce blizzard leaves 7 dead in Buffalo by Sunday; more flights cancelled

A lone pedestrian in snow shoes near St. John’s Grace Episcopal Church during a blizzard in Buffalo on Saturday. (Derek Gee/Buffalo News/AP)

Millions of people hunkered down in a deep freeze overnight and early morning to ride out the frigid storm that has killed at least 18 people across the United States, trapping some residents inside homes with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to several hundred thousand homes and businesses.

Officials in Erie County, N.Y., on Sunday reported four additional deaths attributed to the catastrophic snowstorm that has wreaked havoc across much of the country, bringing to seven the number of known fatalities in the hard-hit Buffalo area.

The people who died were found in homes and on the street, said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, warning that additional fatalities could be discovered later. The names of the dead were not released.

Hoak's restaurant is covered in ice from the spray of Lake Erie waves during a winter storm that hit the Buffalo region in Hamburg, New York, U.S. December 24, 2022. Kevin Hoak/ via REUTERS

Heavy snow, wind and whiteout conditions paralyzed Buffalo, despite the city’s extensive winter equipment and experience with heavy snowfalls, and officials said the disaster may go down as the worst in the region’s history. More than 27,000 households in Erie County remained without power early Sunday, officials said.

The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.

Some 1,346 domestic and international flights were canceled as of early Sunday, according to the tracking site FlightAware.

Forecasters said a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — had developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow.

As the snow shifted south and winds subsided Sunday, crews were contending with power substations that are frozen and need specialized equipment for repairs, officials said in a briefing. Some first responders required rescue during the storm, and two warming centers closed after losing power. The operations center that handles 911 calls nearly had to be shut down after its fire-suppression system ruptured, causing flooding.

Vapor rises from the Chicago River as temperatures hover in the negative single-digits on December 23, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Sub-zero temperatures are expected to grip the city for the next couple of days with wind chill temperature dipping as low as -40 degrees.John Normile/Getty Images

Story continues below advertisement Poloncarz said crews reached the home where it had been reported that a 1-year-old baby was being kept alive on a ventilator but found no one there and had not been able to contact members of the family.

The storm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions, paralyzing emergency response efforts — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded — and shutting down the airport through Monday, according to officials. The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 43 inches (109 centimeters) at 7 a.m. Sunday.

Freezing conditions and day-old power outages had Buffalonians scrambling Saturday to get out of their homes to anywhere that had heat. But with city streets under a thick blanket of white, that wasn't an option for people like Jeremy Manahan, who charged his phone in his parked car after almost 29 hours without electricity.

“There’s one warming shelter, but that would be too far for me to get to. I can’t drive, obviously, because I’m stuck,” Manahan said. “And you can’t be outside for more than 10 minutes without getting frostbit.”

Mark Poloncarz, executive of Erie County, home to Buffalo, said ambulances were taking more than three hours to make a single hospital trip and the blizzard may be “the worst storm in our community’s history.”

Two people died in their suburban Cheektowaga, New York, homes Friday when emergency crews could not reach them in time to treat their medical conditions, he said, and another died in Buffalo.

“We can’t just pick up everybody and take you to a warming center. We don’t have the capability of doing that,” Poloncarz said. “Many, many neighborhoods, especially in the city of Buffalo, are still impassable.”

Ice forms by the spray of Lake Erie waves during a winter storm in Silver Creek, New York, U.S., December 24, 2022. REUTERS/Lindsey DeDario

Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was on his way to visit relatives in Hamilton, Ontario, for Christmas with his daughters Friday when their SUV was trapped in Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours with the engine running in the vehicle buffeted by wind and nearly buried in snow.

“It was bad, is the best way to put it. It was as bad as anyone’s ever seen,” Poloncarz said, adding that he has been in touch with the Biden administration as well as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) about obtaining additional resources. “This is a snowstorm that will never be forgotten, due to the ferocity of it.”

Briefing reporters later Sunday morning, Hochul said National Guard members were on the ground in the hardest-hit areas of Erie County, with more on the way, helping doctors and nurses get to hospitals and rescuing people stuck in vehicles.

Story continues below advertisement “This is a war with Mother Nature, and she has been hitting us with everything she has,” said the governor, who served as Erie County Clerk from 2007 to 2011. “This is one for the ages, and we’re still in the middle of it.”

Why this blizzard could be the worst in Buffalo's history

The blast of Arctic air continued to chill much of the eastern United States, according to the National Weather Service, but is expected to weaken as it drifts eastward.

More than 175,000 utility customers across the country remained without power as of Sunday morning, according to poweroutage.us., down from at least 1.5 million on Friday. The storm has snarled traffic and travel plans over the Christmas holiday, with more than 1,400 flights canceled in the United States as of Sunday morning, according to Flight Aware, compared with more than 3,488 canceled on Saturday.

By 4 a.m. Saturday, with their fuel nearly gone, Ilunga made a desperate choice to risk the howling storm to reach a nearby shelter. He carried 6-year-old Destiny on his back while 16-year-old Cindy clutched their Pomeranian puppy, stepping into his footprints as they trudged through drifts.

“If I stay in this car I’m going to die here with my kids,” he recalled thinking, but believing they had to try. He cried when the family walked through the shelter doors. “It’s something I will never forget in my life."

The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle, and a major electricity grid operator warned 65 million people across the eastern U.S. of possible rolling blackouts.

But heat and lights were steadily being restored across the U.S. According to poweroutage.us, less than 300,000 customers were without power at 8 a.m. EDT Sunday - down from a peak of 1.7 million. In North Carolina, less than 6,600 customers had no power - down from a peak of 485,000 or more. Utility officials said rolling blackouts would continue for the next few days.

Across the six New England states, about 121,300 customers remained without power Sunday, with Maine still the hardest hit. Some utilities said electricity may not be restored for days.

Storm-related deaths were reported in recent days all over the country: four dead in an Ohio Turnpike pileup involving some 50 vehicles; four motorists killed in separate crashes in Missouri and Kansas; an Ohio utility worker electrocuted; a Vermont woman struck by a falling branch; an apparently homeless man found amid Colorado's subzero temperatures; a woman who fell through Wisconsin river ice.

In Mexico, migrants camped near the U.S. border were facing unusually cold temperatures as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on pandemic-era restrictions preventing many from seeking asylum.

Along Interstate 71 in Kentucky, Terry Henderson and her husband, Rick, weathered a 34-hour traffic jam in a rig outfitted with a diesel heater, a toilet and a refrigerator after getting stuck trying to drive from Alabama to their Ohio home for Christmas.

“We should have stayed,” Terry Henderson said after they got moving again Saturday.

Poloncarz of Erie County tweeted late Saturday that 34.6 inches (about 88 centimeters) of snow had accumulated at the Buffalo Airport and drifts were well over 6 feet (1.8 meters) in some areas. Blizzard conditions were expected to ease early Sunday, he added, but continuing lake effect snow was forecast.

Vivian Robinson of Spirit of Truth Urban Ministry in Buffalo said she and her husband have been sheltering and cooking for 60 to 70 people, including stranded travelers and locals without power or heat, who were spending Saturday night at the church.

Many arrived with ice and snow plastered to their clothes, crying, their skin reddened by the single-digit temperatures. On Saturday night, they prepared to spend Christmas together.

“It’s emotional just to see the hurt... that they thought they were not going to make it, and to see that we had opened up the church, and it gave them a sense of relief,” Robinson said. “Those who are here are really enjoying themselves. It’s going to be a different Christmas for everyone.”

Story continues below advertisement “This is not the type of system you see every day in terms of intensity,” Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said of the Artic blast that over the last few days stretched from Washington state to Florida. The storm pummeled the Great Lakes region with the heaviest snow, he said, and could still drop additional inches on the Buffalo area even as the cold air drifts to the northeast.

In Erie County, a ban on driving remained in place, and officials called on residents to keep their water running so that pipes would not freeze. Officials said the region, which received several feet of snow in a 48-hour period, is used to shoveling out when that occurs.

But during this blizzard, in addition to frigid temperatures, wind gusts that reached to nearly 80 mph created dangerous drifts and whiteout conditions that blinded drivers. Cook, the meteorologist, said the gusts whipped up the snow for roughly 40 hours.

“It’s like putting in front of you a sheet of white paper and just keeping it,” Poloncarz said.

He pleaded with county employees who have been home for the past two days to report to work and relieve their exhausted colleagues.

“This was not the Christmas that we wanted,” he said. “It will be a Christmas that we remember.”

Turkey Accuses France of Backing PKK as Kurds 'Burning Streets of Paris

Erdogan Aide Blames Paris Unrest After Shooting on PKK 

Participants wearing jerseys with the face of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), gather to take part in a tribute to the three persons killed, in front of the 'Centre democratique du Kurdistan' in Paris, Dec. 24, 2022.

On Saturday, scores of Kurdish activists clashed with police in Paris as they protested the killing of three Kurds in a shooting spree in the heart of the French capital.

The Turkish President's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin has accused France of backing the Kurdistan Workers' Party* (PKK) in Syria, an organization which he said is now setting Parisian streets on fire.

"This is PKK in France. The same terrorist organization you support in Syria," Kalin tweeted, referring to French authorities.

He then referred to the PKK as "the same organization that has killed thousands of Turks, Kurds and security forces over the last 40 years."

This is PKK in France.

The same terrorist organization you support in Syria.

The same PKK that has killed thousands of Turks, Kurds & security forces over the last 40 years.

Now they are burning the streets of Paris.

Will you still remain silent?pic.twitter.com/5Tv72bPnnn

— İbrahim Kalın (@ikalin1) December 25, 2022

"Now they are burning the streets of Paris. Will you still remain silent?" he added.

A 19-second clip attached to the tweet shows a demolished car on fire and a group of what look like Kurdish protesters clashing with police forces in the French capital.

A 19-second clip attached to the tweet shows a demolished car on fire and a group of what look like Kurdish protesters clashing with police forces in the French capital.

Kalin's remarks came after Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told reporters on Saturday that at least eleven Kurdish activists were detained during protests staged by Kurds in the center of the French capital. The unrest was prompted by a shooting rampage near the Paris-based Kurdish cultural center on Friday.

In a separate development, the Paris prosecutor's office said that the shooter, who opened fire near the Kurdish center in Paris, killing three Kurdish activists and wounding three more on Friday, had been transferred to a psychiatric infirmary.

The 69-year-old, reportedly a Frenchman with a record of two assassination attempts in 2016 and 2021, earlier told police that he attacked the Kurdish community out of racial hatred. The prosecutor's office said it was investigating the attack as deliberate murder.

The Turkish government has been combating the PKK, which seeks to create a Kurdish autonomous region in Turkey, since the early 1980s. The PKK and Ankara signed a ceasefire agreement in 2013, but it collapsed just two years later over several terrorist attacks, which Turkey blamed on the Kurds. Since 2016, the Turkish armed forces have been conducting air and ground operations against allegedly PKK-aligned militants in Syria and Iraq.

Who are Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been a thorn in Turkey's side for decades.

The group, which has Marxist-Leninist roots, was formed in the late 1970s and launched an armed struggle against the Turkish government in 1984, calling for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey.

Fighting flared up again after a two-year-old ceasefire ended in July 2015.

Now the PKK is being targeted in a bigger Turkish security crackdown, following the botched July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by mutinous Turkish officers.

What are the PKK's ambitions in Turkey?

In a BBC interview in April, 2016, the PKK's military leader Cemil Bayik said "we don't want to separate from Turkey and set up a state".

"We want to live within the borders of Turkey on our own land freely... The struggle will continue until the Kurds' innate rights are accepted," he said.

Turkey continues to accuse the PKK of "trying to create a separate state in Turkey".

More than 40,000 people have died in the conflict. It reached a peak in the mid-1990s, when thousands of villages were destroyed in the largely Kurdish south-east and east of Turkey. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled to cities in other parts of the country.

In the 1990s, the PKK rolled back on its demands for an independent state, calling instead for more autonomy for the Kurds.

Who are the Kurds?

The spotlight is now on Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition party, People's Democracy (HDP), whose joint leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag were arrested early on 4 November.

The Turkish government said they had failed to appear for questioning about alleged links to the PKK - which they deny. Turkey accuses them of spreading PKK propaganda. Ten other MPs were also arrested.

Acting with emergency powers, introduced after the coup attempt, the Turkish authorities have also detained the joint mayors of Diyarbakir, a mainly Kurdish city. The Kurds' main media outlets have also been shut down.

The HDP, the main pro-Kurdish party, is a broad coalition of groups including liberal and left-wing ethnic Turks. The party denies Turkey's claim that it is allied to the PKK.

It entered parliament for the first time last year, winning 59 seats, making it the second-biggest opposition party.

What is happening in the Turkey-PKK conflict?

South-eastern Turkey has been wracked by violence since the ceasefire with the PKK collapsed.

Hours after the HDP politicians were arrested, a car bomb went off outside a police station in Diyarbakir. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said it had killed eight people, including two policemen - and he blamed the PKK.

The Turkish air force regularly carries out air strikes against PKK bases in mountainous northern Iraq.

The Turkish government has ruled out any negotiations until the group completely disarms.

There have been many PKK attacks on Turkish security forces in the south-east.

In August 2016 a PKK car bomb in Cizre killed 11 policemen and injured 78. Hundreds of people have died in more than a year of clashes in Turkey's Kurdish-majority region.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the EU and US.

Human rights groups say many civilians have died during Turkey's anti-PKK offensive in the south-east. Turkey has imposed curfews and used heavy armour in urban areas in its fight with the rebels.

Tears and destruction amid Turkey PKK crackdown

Cizre is among the places worst-hit by Turkey-PKK clashes

What about the fighting in Iraq and Syria?

Turkey has twin concerns about the Iraqi-Kurdish push to oust so-called Islamic State (IS) from Mosul.

President Erdogan's AK Party, strongly rooted in Sunni Islam, does not want Iraqi Shia forces to spread their influence up to Turkey's borders and beyond.

Nor does Turkey want the armed Kurdish groups to join up along its borders, bolstering the PKK cause.

Turkey retains an army base at Bashiqa, not far from Mosul, and has trained a local militia force - the Ninevah Guards - consisting of Sunni Arabs, Turkmens and Kurds.

In August 2016 Turkish troops helped a Syrian militia to push IS jihadists out of Jarabulus, a border town

In war-torn Syria, Turkey views the Popular Protection Units (YPG) - a Kurdish force fighting IS - as linked to the PKK.

Turkey is allied to the US in Nato - but the US also supports the YPG in its anti-IS struggle.

In July 2015, a suicide bombing blamed on IS killed 32 people in the mainly Kurdish town of Suruc, just inside Turkey, near war-ravaged Kobane in Syria.

Kurdish groups accused the Turkish government of not doing enough to thwart IS operations.

A Turkish military operation in August-September 2016, in support of allied Syrian rebels, ousted IS from border towns.

Are there any peace initiatives?

The PKK suffered a major blow in 1999 when its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was arrested and jailed for treason.

In March 2013, he called a ceasefire and urged PKK forces to withdraw from Turkey. But that ceasefire broke down in July 2015.

PKK leader holds key to Turkish-Kurdish peace.

Abdullah Ocalan - seen here in 1993 - was kidnapped by Turkish commandos in Kenya in 1999

It was not the first time a truce had been declared.

Shortly after Ocalan's arrest, the PKK introduced a five-year unilateral ceasefire and tried to change its image and widen its appeal.

It called for a role in Turkey's politics, more cultural rights for the country's estimated 15 million Kurds and the release of imprisoned PKK members.

Turkey refused to negotiate with it and offered only a limited amnesty to its members.

Between 2009 and 2011, high-level secret talks took place between the PKK and the Turkish government in Oslo, Norway, but they collapsed after a clash in June 2011, in which 14 Turkish soldiers were killed.

Putin: 'Our Geopolitical Opponents Triggered Conflict in Ukraine'

©Sputnik/POOL/Go to the mediabank

Russia is open to a dialogue with all stakeholders on peaceful conflict settlement in Ukraine, but they have so far refused to negotiate, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

"The policies of our geopolitical opponents, aimed at splitting up Russia, are at the roots of Ukrainian conflict', the Russian president stated.

Putin also added that Russia is ready to negotiations with all stakeholder in geopolitical crisis.

"We are ready to negotiate with all participants to this process [the conflict in Ukraine] on some acceptable resolutions, but it is their business. It is them and not us who refuse to negotiate," Putin stated.

The Russian leader also said that the nation is doing the right thing in Ukraine.

"I think we are acting in the right direction: we protect our national interests, interests of our citizens, our people. And we just have no choice but to protect our citizens," Putin noted.

Russia launched its special military operation on February 24, in order to defend the people of Lugansk and Donetsk, who had been suffering from Ukrainian attacks. The Western countries started rolling out sanction packages against Russia and provided Kiev with humanitarian, military and financial aid. Moscow criticized the flow of weapons into Ukraine from Western nations, claiming that it only reinforces the conflict.

At the same time, Kiev launched a series of terrorist attacks on Russian territory, including a fatal explosion on the Crimean bridge, to which Moscow responded with precision strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure targets. As a result, over the past months, air raid sirens have been regularly sounding across Ukraine, with Kiev saying that up to 50% of the country's energy grid was damaged.

Asked if the geopolitical conflict with the West was approaching a dangerous level, Putin said: “I don’t think it’s so dangerous.”

Putin said the West had begun the conflict in Ukraine in 2014 by toppling a pro-Russian president in the Maidan Revolution protests.

Soon after that revolution, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and Russian-backed separatist forces began fighting Ukraine’s armed forces in eastern Ukraine.

"Relations maintained between China and Russia are firm as a monolith. They are not susceptible to interference and provocations; major changes in the state of affairs do not hurt them," the Minister said.

Putin casts what he calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine as a watershed moment when Moscow finally stood up to a Western bloc he says has been seeking to destroy Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

Putin described Russia as a “unique country” and said the vast majority of its people were united in wanting to defend it.

“As for the main part - the 99.9% of our citizens, our people who are ready to give everything for the interests of the Motherland – there is nothing unusual for me here,” Putin said.

“This just once again convinces me that Russia is a unique country and that we have an exceptional people. This has been confirmed throughout the history of Russia’s existence.”

Relations between China and Russia strong as monolith — Foreign Minister

Sino-Russian relations are strong as a monolith and do not change under the influence of the unstable international situation, Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi said on Sunday at a symposium dedicated to the Chinese diplomacy.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi
©Russian Foreign Ministry Press

Cooperation between Beijing and Moscow is not antagonistic and is not aimed against any third party, Wang Yi noted. "China and Russia firmly speak out against hegemony and against a new cold war," he added.

Both countries are proactively promoting bilateral cooperation, addressing mutual strategic interests and resting on mutual confidence, the Minister noted. The trade turnover between China and Russia is moving to the level of $200 bln per year, he said.

Settlements in national currencies in the mutual trade between China and Russia are expanding, Wang Yi noted, having highlighted significance of large-scale bilateral projects implemented by joint efforts.