Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out her participation in the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.
Asked by Italian weekly Sette whether her role in resolving this crisis is completely out of the question, Merkel said that "the question is not being posed." She also admitted that she does not know exactly how the conflict in Ukraine could end.
"One day it will end with negotiations. Wars end at the negotiating table," the ex-chancellor said. "There is a difference between a forced peace, which I, like many others, do not want, and an open and friendly conversation," she said.
Merkel defended her policy towards Russia and Ukraine, saying: “The talk was about trying to prevent such a war. Just because it didn’t work doesn’t mean the attempt was wrong.”
Merkel expressed her belief that the possible accession of Georgia and Ukraine, which was discussed at the NATO summit in 2008, would be regarded as a “mistake”.
Merkel considered that the reaction of the West to the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014 was “not strong enough and fast enough.”
Earlier, Merkel said in an interview with the German newspaper Zeit that the Minsk agreements were “an attempt to save time for Ukraine” in 2014 and questioned NATO’s ability to provide the same amount of assistance to Ukraine at that time
Presiden Vladimir Putin resmi telah membuat keputusan, bahwa Moskow akan melarang penjualan minyak ke negara-negara yang mematuhi batas harga yang diberlakukan pada 1 Desember.
Pembatasan harga, yang tidak terlihat bahkan di masa Perang Dingin antara Barat dan Uni Soviet, ditujukan untuk melumpuhkan upaya militer Moskow di Ukraina - tanpa mengganggu pasar dengan benar-benar menghalangi pasokan Rusia.
Di bawah batas, pengusaha minyak yang ingin mempertahankan akses penjualan ke Barat untuk aspek penting pengiriman global seperti asuransi harus berjanji untuk tidak membayar di atas $60 per barel untuk minyak lintas laut Rusia.
Itu mendekati harga minyak Rusia saat ini, tetapi jauh di bawah harga di mana Rusia dapat menjualnya hampir sepanjang tahun lalu.
Dekrit Putin, yang dipublikasikan di portal pemerintah dan situs web Kremlin, disajikan sebagai tanggapan langsung terhadap "tindakan yang tidak ramah dan bertentangan dengan hukum internasional oleh Amerika Serikat dan negara asing serta organisasi internasional yang bergabung dengan mereka".
Larangan Kremlin akan menghentikan penjualan minyak mentah ke negara-negara yang berpartisipasi dalam batasan harga mulai 1 Februari 2023 sd 1 Juli 2023.
Larangan terpisah atas produk minyak sulingan seperti bensin dan solar akan berlaku pada tanggal yang akan ditetapkan oleh pemerintah. Putin memiliki wewenang untuk mengesampingkan langkah-langkah tersebut dalam kasus-kasus khusus.
Rusia adalah pengekspor minyak terbesar kedua di dunia setelah Arab Saudi, dan gangguan apa pun terhadap penjualannya akan berdampak luas pada pasokan energi global.
Kota Tak Bertuan
Di tanah di timur dan selatan Ukraina, pasukan Rusia kembali menembaki dan membom kota-kota pada hari Selasa. Setelah sejumlah kemenangan dramatis Ukraina di musim gugur, perang telah memasuki fase yang lambat dan sulit karena cuaca musim dingin yang pahit telah terjadi di garis depan.
Di Bakhmut, rumah bagi 70.000 orang sebelum perang dan sekarang sebagian besar merupakan kota hantu yang dilanda bom, api berkobar di sebuah bangunan tempat tinggal yang besar, sementara puing-puing berserakan di jalanan dan sebagian besar bangunan jendelanya pecah.
Ukrainian soldiers with the 43rd Heavy Artillery Brigade fire a projectile from a 2S7 Pion self propelled cannon, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, during intense shelling on the front line in Bakhmut, Ukraine, December 26, 2022. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Sorotan Reuters
Reuters, BBC, CNN dan media barat lainnya, sejak awal hanya menyoroti serangan balasan Rusia, dan tidak pernah mempublikasikan serangan bertubi - tubi tentara Ukrania dan tentara bayaran Ukrania ke rumah sipil,fasilitas sipil di Donetsk, Kherson. Seperti cuplikan berikut ini yang dipublikasikan
"Bangunan kami hancur. Dulu ada toko di gedung kami, sekarang sudah tidak ada lagi," kata Oleksandr, 85, seraya menambahkan bahwa dia satu-satunya penghuni yang tersisa di sana.
Di dekatnya, Pilaheia yang berusia 73 tahun mengatakan dia sudah lama terbiasa dengan "ledakan konstan".
Di dekatnya, Pilaheia yang berusia 73 tahun mengatakan dia sudah lama terbiasa dengan "ledakan konstan".
Di Kherson, yang ditinggalkan oleh pasukan Rusia bulan lalu, pasukan Rusia menembaki sayap bersalin sebuah rumah sakit, kata Kyrylo Tymoshenko, wakil kepala staf Presiden Ukraina Volodymyr Zelenskiy, di Telegram. Tidak ada yang terluka dan staf serta pasien telah dipindahkan ke tempat penampungan, kata Tymoshenko.
Menurut Reuters, Reuters tidak dapat segera memverifikasi laporan tersebut. Namun belum terverifikasi tapi tetap dipublikasikan apa namanya?
Ini semua adalah kerjasama apik Barat terutama AS dan NATO yang melakukan intervensi ke media Barat untuk melanggengkan kejahatannya sejak 2009 sd hari ini.
Images on social media showed rescue workers helping residents out of chest-deep flood waters caused by two days of moderate to heavy rainfall in the central and southern Philippines
Christmas Day floods in the Philippines forced the evacuation of nearly 46,000 people from their homes, civil defence officials said on Monday (Dec 26).
The death toll of heavy rain and floods triggered by shear line in the Philippines has climbed to 17, said the government's disaster agency Tuesday evening.
At least 27 others are still missing, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in its latest report.
The NDRRMC has tallied five deaths in the Bicol region on the main Luzon island, two in the central Philippines, and 10 in the southern Philippines. The agency did not say the cause of death, but media reports said it was mainly by drowning.
For the missing people, the agency said 12 were in the Bicol region, 12 were in the central Philippines, and three were in the southern Philippines. Eight people were also reported injured.
The agency said the flooding displaced almost 187,000 people in six regions across the Southeast Asian country. Over 46,000 evacuated people are now housed in at least 87 government shelters while the rest stayed with relatives.
The agency added that over 1,100 houses were either totally or partially damaged by heavy rain and flooding. The floods also damaged infrastructures, including at least 116 roads, bridges and crops.
The state weather bureau warned on Tuesday that the shear line will bring "moderate to heavy rains with, at times, intense rains" in the country.
"Flooding and rain-induced landslides are likely," the national weather bureau said
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday that he took responsibility for corruption in the country, while also admitting that the United States was involved in it as well.
"(I take) full responsibility for the corruption and bribes in the delivery of services … But the big contracts, big corruption, in hundreds of millions of dollars or millions of dollars, was clearly a United States of America thing," Karzai told US newspaper.
According to the newspaper, the former president lives in Kabul where he is closely watched by the Taliban* that do not let him leave the Afghan capital.
Karzai, however, said that he had made the right decision to stay in the country even after the Taliban takeover in August 2021
"I was not sure of my own safety (after the Taliban came to power). But I would have never left and I will never leave. This is my country," the former Afghan leader noted.
The newspaper reported that the Taliban see Karzai as their adversary as he was "the first individual who worked with the Americans for the occupation of Afghanistan."
The Taliban came to power in August 2021, toppling the US-backed government as foreign troops were leaving the country, with the political crisis exacerbating the economic disarray and food shortages that have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis.
Karzai was Afghanistan's president from December 2004 to September 2014. He was the first leader of the country after the US toppled the Taliban government in 2001 following their military operation in response to September 11 attacks, the deadliest terrorist attacks on US soil.
The US newspaper said the former president lives in Kabul where he is closely watched by the Taliban which does not let him leave the Afghan capital . Karzai, however, said he had made the right decision to stay in the country even after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
"I was not sure of my own safety. But I would have never left and I will never leave. This is my country," the former Afghan leader said.
The Washington Post reported that the Taliban see Karzai as their adversary as he was "the first individual who worked with the Americans for the occupation of Afghanistan".
Karzai claimed that the United States bears ultimate responsibility for the fate of Afghanistan.
"The war in Afghanistan was not our war," Karzai told The Washington Post, adding, "I was not a partner of the United States in that war against Afghan villages and homes. I changed from the moment I recognized that this war that is fought in the name of defeating terrorism is actually a war against the Afghan people."
"I called the Taliban 'brothers' for that reason," he said.
The Taliban came to power in August 2021, toppling the US-backed government as foreign troops were leaving the country.
The political crisis has exacerbated the economic disarray and food shortages that have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis.
Russia is no longer planning to initiate joint projects with the European Union given that the West has been effectively waging a hybrid war against Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with TASS.
According to Russia’s chief diplomat, relations between Moscow and the EU are "at historic lows" for what he said were well-known reasons. "Soon after the special military operation was launched, the EU's Brussels followed in the footsteps of the US and NATO to wage a hybrid war against us. The EU’s diplomacy chief Josep Borrell was one of the first to call for Russia’s defeat on the battlefield," Lavrov recounted.
"Naturally, there will be no more ‘business as usual’ with such counterparties. We do not intend either to knock on closed doors or initiate any joint projects," Russia’s top diplomat emphasized. "Thank God, the world is not just the European Union for us and we have lots of friends and like-minded nations elsewhere," he pointed out.
Lavrov blasted the ruling elites in the EU for harming the vital interests and well-being of their citizens. "They have been following the anti-Russian lead of the hegemon across the ocean almost in full obedience and sometimes even outdoing [the US]," he said as he pointed to the ban Washington imposed on European countries to maintain energy dialogue with Russia which, he said, had guaranteed Europeans unprecedented prosperity for decades.
Kremlin spokesman refutes allegations Russia pushing Armenia to join Union State
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has slammed as provocative Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan’s allegations that Moscow is forcing Yerevan to join the Union State.
On top of that, Grigoryan alleged that Russia was exerting pressure on Armenia on the issue of the Lachin corridor.
"Such statements can be seen as provocative. They are not true. No Russian official has ever said this or informed the Armenian side via anyone," he said in an interview with the News.am portal.
Special operations, December 26. The main thing:
Russian troops inflicted fire damage on the Ukrainian military in the Kupyansk, Krasno-Limansky and Yuzhno-Donetsk directions, as well as on the territory of the villages of Terny and Torskoye in the DPR;
In the area of Stelmakhovka and Chervona Dibrova (LPR), Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups and mortar crews were destroyed;
In the Kramatorsk region (DPR), the command post of the Kyiv 80th Airborne Assault Brigade was destroyed, as well as a weapons repair point, where there were two US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system combat vehicles;
In the Georgievka region (DPR), the US-made M777 artillery system, where Donetsk was shelled, was destroyed;
During the day, the air defense systems destroyed seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, intercepted two rockets from the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, as well as two HARM anti-radar missiles;
On Monday, an air defense system shot down a Ukrainian drone as it approached the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region. As a result of the fall of the wreckage, 3 Russian soldiers who were at the airfield were seriously injured;
FSB: Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group was liquidated on the border, 4 saboteurs were destroyed, who tried to penetrate from Ukraine to the Bryansk region.
Russian troops destroyed a US-made M777 howitzer used by the Ukrainian military to shell Donetsk residential areas, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Monday.
"In the area of the settlement of Georgiyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a position was uncovered and a US-made M777 artillery system that shelled Donetsk residential areas was destroyed," the spokesman told a briefing on the special military operation in Ukraine.
In the counter-battery warfare, Russian forces destroyed two Ukrainian Grad multiple rocket launchers in areas near the settlements of Pervomaiskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Kamyshevakha in the Zaporozhye Region, the general specified.
Russian forces delivered a strike on amassed Ukrainian manpower and equipment in the Kharkov Region, eliminating about 20 militants in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Kupyansk area, a concentrated strike on amassed Ukrainian manpower and equipment in the area of the settlement of Kislovka in the Kharkov Region eliminated as many as 20 Ukrainian troops, an infantry fighting vehicle and two motor vehicles," the spokesman said.
Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian subversive/reconnaissance group and a mortar team in the Lugansk People’s Republic in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Krasny Liman area, Russian artillery fire inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Makeyevka and Nevskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic. In addition, near the communities of Stelmakhovka and Chervonaya Dibrova, a Ukrainian subversive/reconnaissance group and a mortar team were eliminated," the spokesman said.
During the last 24-hour period, the enemy lost over 30 troops, two combat armored vehicles and two pickup trucks in that area, the general specified.
Russian troops delivered a strike on the command post of the Ukrainian army’s 80th air assault brigade near Kramatorsk, inflicting about 100 casualties on the enemy in the Donetsk area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
Russian forces continued their advance in the Donetsk area, taking advantageous positions, the spokesman said.
"The enemy’s total losses in that area in the past 24 hours amounted to 100 servicemen, four infantry fighting vehicles and eight motor vehicles," the general specified.
In particular, "the strikes against the command post of the Ukrainian army’s 80th air assault brigade in the area of the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic eliminated over 35 Ukrainian servicemen, including five senior officers," Konashenkov reported.
Russian forces delivered an artillery strike on Ukrainian army units in the southern Donetsk area, eliminating over 40 militants in the past day, he said.
"In the southern Donetsk area, artillery fire and active operations of Russian forces inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army units near the settlements of Vladimirovka, Ugledar, Novodonetskoye and Novosyolka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
Russian forces destroyed over 40 Ukrainian troops, two combat armored vehicles and three pickup trucks in that area in the past day, the general specified.
Russian missile troops and artillery delivered strikes on the deployment sites of the Ukrainian army’s 72nd mechanized brigade and foreign mercenaries in the Donetsk People’s Republic in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"Missile troops and artillery struck 63 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 79 areas. In the areas of the settlements of Yelizavetovka and Slavyansk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the temporary deployment sites of the Ukrainian army’s 72nd mechanized brigade and also foreign mercenaries were struck," the spokesman said.
Russian troops wiped out a Ukrainian armament repair base with two HIMARS rocket launchers, two Gvozdika and five D-30 howitzers near Kramatorsk in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the area of the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a Ukrainian armament repair and recovery point with two US-made HIMARS rocket launchers, two self-propelled Gvozdika and five D-30 howitzers and three special motor vehicles was destroyed," the spokesman said.
Russian air defense forces intercepted two HIMARS rockets in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities intercepted two rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system in areas near the settlements of Rubezhnoye and Krasnorechenskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic, and also two HARM anti-radar missiles near the community of Bairak in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
In addition, Russian air defense systems destroyed seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Kremennaya in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Chervonoye, Kuteinikovo and Kropovnitskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Zmiyevka in the Kherson Region, the general added.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 352 Ukrainian warplanes, 192 helicopters, 2,731 unmanned aerial vehicles, 399 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,249 tanks and other combat armored vehicles, 944 multiple rocket launchers, 3,719 field artillery guns and mortars and 7,765 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.
Air mancur membeku saat suhu melayang di pertengahan tahun 20-an di Rumah Duka Jacob Schoen & Son di New Orleans, Sabtu, 24 Desember 2022. Jutaan orang Amerika menghadapi badai salju yang membutakan, hujan yang membekukan, banjir, dan dingin yang mengancam jiwa selama Natal sebagai badai musim dingin dengan ruang lingkup yang belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya menghancurkan jalan yang sangat dingin di sebagian besar negara. (David Grunfeld / The Advocate via AP)
Para kru petugas darurat di New York bergegas pada hari Senin untuk menyelamatkan penduduk yang terdampar dari apa yang oleh pihak berwenang disebut "badai salju abad ini", badai tanpa henti yang telah menewaskan sedikitnya 28 orang di negara bagian itu dan menyebabkan kekacauan perjalanan Natal di AS.
Kondisi badai salju terus terjadi di beberapa bagian Timur Laut AS, sisa-sisa cuaca ekstrem yang membandel yang melanda negara itu selama beberapa hari, menyebabkan pemadaman listrik yang meluas, penundaan perjalanan, dan setidaknya 47 kematian di sembilan negara bagian.
Di negara bagian New York, pihak berwenang telah menggambarkan kondisi yang ganas, terutama di Buffalo, dengan pemadaman listrik selama berjam-jam, mayat ditemukan di dalam kendaraan dan di bawah gundukan salju, dan personel darurat pergi "mobil ke mobil" mencari lebih banyak pengendara - hidup atau mati.
A loader clears snow on December 26, 2022 in West Seneca, New York. The historic winter storm Elliott dumped up to four feet of snow on the area leaving thousands without power and twenty five confirmed dead in the city of Buffalo.
Badai sempurna dari badai salju yang ganas, angin menderu dan suhu di bawah nol memaksa pembatalan lebih dari 15.000 penerbangan AS dalam beberapa hari terakhir, termasuk setidaknya 2.600 pada hari Senin, menurut situs pelacakan Flightaware.com.
Buffalo, sebuah kota di Erie County yang tidak asing dengan cuaca musim dingin yang buruk adalah pusat krisis, terkubur di bawah salju yang sangat banyak.
"Tentu saja ini adalah badai salju abad ini," kata Gubernur Kathy Hochul kepada wartawan, menambahkan "terlalu dini untuk mengatakan ini sudah selesai."
Kathy Hochul mengatakan beberapa kota di New York bagian barat dilanda "30 hingga 40 inci (0,75 hingga 1 meter) salju dalam semalam."
Pada Senin malam, Hochul berbicara dengan Presiden Joe Biden, yang menawarkan "kekuatan penuh pemerintah federal" untuk mendukung negara bagian New York, dan mengatakan dia dan Ibu Negara Jill Biden sedang berdoa bagi mereka yang kehilangan orang yang dicintai dalam badai, menurut a pernyataan Gedung Putih.
Layanan Cuaca Nasional memperkirakan hingga 14 inci lagi pada hari Senin di samping beberapa kaki yang telah membuat kota terkubur salju, dengan para pejabat berjuang untuk membuat layanan darurat kembali online.
Kepala daerah Erie, Mark Poloncarz mengatakan dalam jumpa pers bahwa dia "sangat merasa pilu" saat melaporkan jumlah kematian terkait badai salju telah meningkat menjadi 25 di seluruh wilayah.
Poloncarz mengatakan jumlah kematian di Erie kemungkinan akan melampaui badai salju Buffalo yang terkenal pada tahun 1977, ketika hampir 30 orang meninggal.
"Kami memperkirakan akan ada lebih banyak" kematian akibat badai yang sedang berlangsung, tambahnya.
Dengan perkiraan lebih banyak salju dan sebagian besar Buffalo "tidak dapat dilewati", dia bergabung dengan Hochul untuk memperingatkan penduduk agar bersembunyi dan tetap di tempat.
'Memilukan'
Anggota Garda Nasional dan tim lain telah menyelamatkan ratusan orang dari mobil yang tertutup salju dan rumah tanpa listrik, tetapi pihak berwenang mengatakan masih banyak orang yang terjebak.
Sheriff Erie County, John Garcia, menyebutkan, badai itu "yang terburuk" yang pernah dia lihat, dengan periode jarak pandang nol dan pihak berwenang tidak dapat menanggapi panggilan darurat.
"Sungguh memilukan ketika Anda mendapat telepon di mana keluarga bersama anak-anak mereka dan mereka mengatakan mereka kedinginan," katanya kepada CNN.
Hochul, penduduk asli Buffalo, mengatakan dia terkejut dengan apa yang dilihatnya selama tur pengintaian kota.
"Ini (seperti) pergi ke zona perang, dan kendaraan di sepanjang sisi jalan mengejutkan," kata Hochul, menggambarkan arus setinggi delapan kaki (2,4 meter) terhadap rumah serta bajak salju dan kendaraan penyelamat "terkubur "di salju.
"Ini adalah perang dengan alam," katanya.
Cuaca ekstrem membuat suhu di bawah titik beku di 48 negara bagian AS yang berdekatan selama akhir pekan, termasuk di komunitas Texas di sepanjang perbatasan Meksiko di mana beberapa migran yang baru tiba berjuang untuk menemukan tempat berlindung.
Seseorang berjalan di jalan saat badai musim dingin melanda New York Barat Sabtu, 24 Desember 2022, di Amherst N.Y. Badai musim dingin yang melanda telah mematikan listrik ke ratusan ribu rumah, rumah, dan bisnis di seluruh Amerika Serikat pada hari Sabtu. Itu membuat jutaan lebih khawatir tentang prospek pemadaman lebih lanjut dan melumpuhkan polisi dan pemadam kebakaran. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
Menyapu pemadaman listrik
Pada satu titik pada hari Sabtu, hampir 1,7 juta pelanggan tanpa listrik dalam cuaca dingin yang menggigit, menurut pelacak poweroutage.us.
Jumlah itu turun secara substansial, meski masih ada sekitar 50.000 tanpa listrik Senin tengah hari di pantai timur AS.
Karena gardu listrik yang membeku, beberapa penduduk Kabupaten Erie diperkirakan tidak akan mendapatkan kembali listrik sampai Selasa, dengan satu gardu dilaporkan terkubur di bawah salju setinggi 18 kaki, kata seorang pejabat senior daerah.
Bandara internasional Buffalo tetap ditutup hingga Selasa dan larangan mengemudi tetap berlaku untuk kota dan sebagian besar Erie County.
Kondisi jalan yang tertutup es dan whiteout juga menyebabkan penutupan sementara beberapa rute transportasi tersibuk di negara itu, termasuk bagian dari jalan raya Interstate 70 lintas negara.
Drivers were being warned not to take to the roads -- even as the nation reached what is usually its busiest time of year for travel.
