Ukraine news – live: Putin says he won’t agree to Christmas ceasefire

Moscow has said that it is not planning any ceasefires in Ukraine over the festive period, either at Christmas or at New Year.

When asked about the possibility of a New Year’s Ceasefire, Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov told a news briefing: “There will be a total ceasefire only when not a single occupier remains on our land.”

The Kremlin’s top spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, also said on Wednesday that there will be no “Christmas ceasefire” in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities have found a cell in recaptured territory of Kherson where Russian forces detained and mistreated children.

"We have documented that the children were not provided with water, were given water every other day. They were practically not given food," Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights, said.

Russian forces used psychological pressure on the children and told them that their parents had abandoned them and would not return, he said.

At least 10 torture chambers have been found by officials in Kherson.

Elsewhere in the war, Volodymyr Zelensky said that there is no calm on the frontline as the conflict’s heaviest battle rages in Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s tactic in its war against Ukraine is “destruction of everything in front of them with artillery, so that only bare ruins and craters in the ground remain”, Mr Zelensky said.

Key Points

• Russian troops detained, mistreated children in Ukraine

• US-sent Patriot missiles will be a legitimate target in Ukraine, says Russia

• Belarus exercises unlikely to present threat to Ukraine - MoD

• Ukrainian general dismisses possibility of New Year ceasefire

Russia wants a ‘long war’ in Ukraine says senior Ukrainian military official

12:28 , Eleanor Sly

Russia is in for a long war in Ukraine and still wants to conquer the entire country, said a senior Ukrainian military official on Thursday.

Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov told a military briefing that although he did not expect Moscow to launch an attack from Belarus, Russian was now training new troops on its neighbour’s soil and that it had moved military aircraft there.

At the same briefing, deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar, warned against allowing complacency to set in following recent Russian military setbacks.

“The Kremlin ... is seeking to turn the conflict into a prolonged armed confrontation,” Mr Gromov said.

Mr Malyar added: “We and the world should not relax, because the ultimate goal of the Russian Federation is to conquer all of Ukraine, and then it can move on.”

Ukrainian refugees feel welcome in Germany

11:48 , Eleanor Sly

The majority of the more than one million Ukrainians who have been living in Germany since the Russian invasion feel welcome there and around 37 per cent would like to settle permanently in the country - or for at least several years - a government-backed survey revealed on Thursday.

A poll of 11,225 refugees was conducted out jointly by several bodies, including the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

It showed that a further 34 per cent of refugees planned to stay until the end of the war. Meanwhile 27 per cent were undecided, while two per cent planned to leave within a year.

Germany has taken in more Ukrainians than any other European Union country except Poland since Russian troops marched into Ukraine in February.

Anastasiia Lapatina: Ukraine reporter named in Teen Vogue’s ‘21 under 21’ list

11:23 , Eleanor Sly

Ukrainian reporter Anastasiia Lapatina was featured by Teen Vogue in its “21 Under 21” list that honours the work of young changemakers, influencers, activists, and artists across the world.

Ms Lapatina is a national reporter at the Kyiv Independent and has previously worked with the Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s oldest and largest English-language publication.

The young war correspondent has written about the horrific events during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, filing stories about bombings, hospitals in towns occupied by Russian soldiers, and cyberattacks.

Read more here:

Anastasiia Lapatina: Ukraine reporter named in Teen Vogue’s ‘21 under 21’ list

Ukrainian general dismisses possibility of New Year ceasefire

10:32 , Eleanor Sly

A Ukrainian general has dismissed the possibility of a ceasefire being agreed with Russia over the festive New Year period.

The Kremlin also said that there will be no Christmas ceasefire in the nearly l0-month-old war in Ukraine.

When asked on Thursday about the possibility of a New Year ceasefire, Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov told a news briefing: “There will be a total ceasefire only when not a single occupier remains on our land.”

Russia warns US that Patriot supplies would be further provocation

10:08 , Eleanor Sly

Russia said on Thursday that the United States’ plans to supply Patriot missile defence systems to Ukraine were a “provocation”.

They went on to add that it was a further expansion of the United States’ military involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow was recommending Washington “draw the right conclusions” from Moscow’s warnings that US-supplied military equipment would become legitimate targets for Russian missile strikes.

Two killed by Russian shelling in Kherson, Kyiv says

09:50 , Eleanor Sly

Two people were killed by Russian shelling on Thursday in the centre of the recently liberated city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said on the Telegram messaging app that the two were killed about 100 metres from the regional administration building, which was hit in shelling on Wednesday.

Ukrainian investigators uncover children’s cell in Russian ‘torture chamber’

09:33 , Eleanor Sly

Ukraine said it has unearthed a cell inside a torture chamber in Kherson where children were allegedly detained and mistreated.

Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights Dmytro Lubinets said the cell was in one of the four torture centres operated by Russian troops in Kherson.

During a media briefing, Mr Lubinets said they found “10 torture chambers in Kherson region, four in the city of Kherson”.

Maroosha Muzaffar reports:

Ukrainian investigators uncover children’s cell in Russian ‘torture chamber’

Russian Foreign Ministry calls western weapons in Ukraine ‘legitimate targets'

08:40 , Eleanor Sly

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that all weapons supplied to Ukraine by the West are legitimate targets for Russia.

She went on to add that they would be either destroyed or seized.

Ukrainian forces shell Russian-controlled Donetsk, officials say

08:20 , Eleanor Sly

Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk overnight in some of the biggest attacks for years, Russian-installed officials in the annexed areas revealed on Thursday.

“At exactly seven o’clock this morning they subjected the center of Donetsk to the most massive attack since 2014,” Alexei Kulemzin, the Russian-backed mayor of the city, said on Telegram.

“Forty rockets from BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers were fired at civilians in our city,” Mr Kulemzin said. He called the attack a war crime.

Home-grown supply operation outfits Ukraine's women soldiers

08:00 , Eleanor Sly

When 25-year-old Anastasia Mokhina donned fatigues and rushed off with her husband to help Ukraine defend itself as Russia invaded on Feb. 24, she quickly realized the military wasn’t well prepared for an influx of women volunteers.

So her elder half-brother Andrii Kolesnyk, who was prevented from doing military service by a childhood disability, and his wife, Kseniia Drahaniuk, mobilized at home to ship her needed items. Word spread fast inside the ranks that amateur quartermasters were focusing on women’s particular needs, and a home-grown supply operation for female soldiers was born.

Now, a volunteer group called “Zemliachky” — roughly translated as “women compatriots” — is serving many of the 57,000 women in the Ukrainian military with boots, uniforms, stand-to-pee tubes, wireless bras, thermal underwear, medicines, right-sized bulletproof plates for their flak jackets, and care packages with items like lotions, shampoo, toothpaste, and feminine hygiene products.

Read more:

Home-grown supply operation outfits Ukraine's women soldiers

Belarus exercises unlikely to present threat to Ukraine - MoD

06:42 , Arpan Rai

Belarusian and Russian troops engaged in military exercises in a northern region of Belarus are unlikely to be building an adept force to attack Ukraine, the British defence ministry said today.

The MoD highlighted the snap combat readiness inspection of Belarusian forces held yesterday, which has raised some alarm among those watching the Ukraine conflict.

“The exercises are reportedly taking place in the north-west of the country, away from the Ukrainian border. In addition, Russia has recently deployed extra units of mobilised reservists to Belarus,” the MoD said.

Belarus played a key enabling role in Russia’s assault towards Kyiv in the first days of the invasion, the ministry said.

“However, the exercising Belarusian troops and Russian units are currently unlikely to constitute a force capable of conducting a successful new assault into northern Ukraine,” the MoD said.

What can the Patriot missile do for Ukraine?

06:01 , Arpan Rai

Patriot missile systems have long been a hot ticket item for the US and allies in areas of the world facing conflict as a coveted shield against incoming missiles. In Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific, they guard against potential strikes from Iran, Somalia and North Korea.

Now, Ukraine could be using them to stop Russian missiles from penetrating its airspace.

The Patriot is a surface-to-air guided missile system that was first deployed in the 1980s and can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles.

Ukraine faces a range of Russian threats, and the Patriot is good against some and not that useful against others.

EXPLAINER: What can the Patriot missile do for Ukraine?

US-sent Patriot missiles will be a legitimate target in Ukraine, says Russia

05:35 , Arpan Rai

The Kremlin has warned that the US Patriot missile defence systems make for a legitimate target for Russian strikes against Ukraine, on the same day reports claimed that Washington will aid the war-hit country with its most advanced anti-missile technology.

Patriots would “definitely” be a target for Russia, Moscow spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said but added that he would not comment on unconfirmed media reports.

The Patriot is among the most advanced US air defence systems, including against aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. It typically includes launchers along with radar and other support vehicles.

If Washington proceeds with the aid, the proposed transfer will be deemed provocative and provoke unpredictable consequences, the Russian embassy said.

“Even without providing Patriots, the United States is getting deeper and deeper into the conflict in the post-Soviet republic,” the mission wrote on its Telegram channel.

“It is the United States that is responsible for the prolongation and escalation of the Ukrainian conflict.”

US planning to send smart bomb kits to Ukraine - report

04:57 , Arpan Rai

The US is set to send electronic equipment that converts unguided aerial munitions into smart bombs to help Ukraine conduct attacks with a high degree of accuracy, officials aware of the matter told The Washington Post.

This comes just a day after the Biden administration was said to be preparing to send its most advanced air defence systems to help Ukraine, finally agreeing to a request made months ago by that nation’s leader.

Reports said that defence secretary Lloyd Austin could approve a directive to transfer at least one Patriot battery unit to Ukraine in an announcement expected today.

Russian troops detained, mistreated children in Ukraine

04:32 , Arpan Rai

Russians detained and mistreated children in their own “cell” at one of the 10 torture chambers found in liberated parts of Ukraine.

“We found 10 torture chambers in Kherson region, four in the city of Kherson,” senior Ukrainian human rights advocate Dmytro Lubinets told journalists at a briefing.

“In one of the torture chambers we found a separate room, a cell where children were kept ... even the occupiers called it that, a children’s cell,” he said.

Ukrainian authorities have documented that the children were not provided with water and were provided with water only every other day. They were practically not given food, Mr Lubinets said.

The cell differed from adjacent rooms only in that occupying forces placed thin mats on the floor, he said.

The top official accused the Russian troops of using psychological pressure on children by telling them that their parents had abandoned them and would not return.”

One 14-year-old boy was detained, he said, for taking pictures of damaged Russian military equipment.

“These were children who, in the eyes of the invaders, were resisting,” Mr Lubinets said.

03:28 , Arpan Rai

Good morning, welcome to our coverage of the Ukraine war on Thursday, 15 December.