Ukraine-Russia war: Rat bite fever strikes Russian troops

Russian soldiers are suffering from an outbreak of rat-bite fever, Ukraine’s defence intelligence (DIU) has said.

Transmitted by dust from rodent excrement, symptoms of the disease include migraines, high temperatures, reduced blood pressure, rashes, vomiting and bleeding from the eyes.

The streptococcal infection is said to have spread rapidly on the Kupyansk front due to complaints initially falling on deaf ears, as Russian commanders believed soldiers were trying to avoid fighting.

The DIU said: “In the Kupyansk direction of the front of the occupiers, rat-bite fever is mowing down en masse.

“As a result, rat-bite fever significantly reduced the fighting ability of the Russian rats.”

03:08 PM GMT

That's all for today

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

03:06 PM GMT

Today's headlines:

• Four children were wounded and a Red Cross storage depot was destroyed in overnight Russian shelling of the southern city of Kherson.

• More than 5,000 lorries remain stuck at Ukraine’s borders, its border force said.

• Ukraine has deployed dragon’s teeth anti-tank defences on the frontline as it pivots to a more defensive posture.

• The EU’s top court threw out an appeal by Roman Abramovich against sanctions.

• Russian soldiers are being hit by an outbreak of rat-bite fever in trenches.

• Russia fined Google £40million for distributing “LGBT propaganda” and not removing “extremist content”.

• The Kremlin claimed Ukraine withdrew from peace negotiations last year “at Britain’s insistence”.

• Ukraine’s army said Russia had lost 200 tanks on the Donetsk front alone in the last two months.

03:02 PM GMT

Russia loses 200 tanks in two months

The Ukrainian military has destroyed 200 Russian tanks in the past two months, a Ukrainian army spokesperson has asserted.

Oleksandr Shtupun said: “In a little over two months, the enemy has lost almost 25,000 people killed and wounded in Donetsk Oblast alone, and about 200 tanks and more than 400 other armoured vehicles have been destroyed.”

He added that 80pc of the losses were near Avdiivka, which has seen bitter fighting take place.

02:54 PM GMT

Putin praises officials in occupied Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has praised officials working in occupied Ukraine, saying that their work was “unsafe” and “not easy”.

Speaking at a meeting with Russia’s parliament on the country’s Security Officers’ Day, Putin said: “Everyone there is strong and reliable and knows what they are doing and why they came to these institutions – for the sake of the people.”

02:49 PM GMT

Ukraine produces 50,000 suicide drones in three weeks

Ukraine has scaled up its production of first-person view (FPV) drones in recent months, Ukraine’s industries minister confirmed.

Oleksandr Kamyshin said 50,000 of the suicide drones have been produced since the start of December.

FPVs, which started out as civilian drones modified for the battlefield, are relatively cheap to manufacture and are flown directly into targets with explosives attached.

It comes as Kyiv announced plans to produce a million FPV drones next year.

02:39 PM GMT

Germany plans to seize £623million in frozen Russian assets

Germany’s Federal Prosecutor General Peter Frank has filed a motion in Frankfurt to confiscate £623million ($787million) in Russian assets currently frozen by Berlin, according to Der Spiegel.

The funds historically belong to an unnamed subsidiary on the Moscow Stock Exchange, which was sanctioned by the EU in June 2022, but would be redirected into Germany’s federal budget if Mr Frank is successful.

A G7 decision to freeze Russian assets immediately after the February 2022 invasion has seen an estimated £236 billion ($300 billion) frozen.

02:24 PM GMT

Ukraine withdrew from negotiations with Russia at 'Britain's insistence', says Kremlin

Ukraine withdrew from negotiations with Russia at “Britain’s insistence” last year, the Kremlin has claimed.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov made the comment after declaring there is no basis at present for de-escalation between Moscow and Kyiv.

Peskov said the UK “forbade” peace negotiations with Russia last year, and confirmed that none of the prerequisites to restart talks are in place.

Ukraine has previously made clear that peace can only be achieved after a full Russian withdrawal from territory seized since the invasion began.

02:07 PM GMT

Russia condemns Germany for plans to send troops to Lithuania

Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has warned the deployment of a German armoured tank brigade to Lithuania from 2027 would lead to “an escalation of military tensions” between Russia and Nato.

In the agreement reached between Germany and Lithuania this week, around 4,800 German soldiers will be permanently stationed in Lithuania, which shares a border with Belarus.

It comes after Denmark became the latest Scandinavian country to permit permanent United States troops on its territory, in a pattern of military deployment that has been seen as antagonistic by Russia.

01:32 PM GMT

Putin pledges severe action against ‘foreign agents’

Vladimir Putin took aim at foreign intelligence services that “directly” support Ukraine and seek to “destabilise the socio-political situation in Russia” in a video address published on the Kremlin’s website.

The Russian president also accused Ukraine of pursuing “state terrorism” by engaging in sabotage and targeted assassinations.

Ukraine occasionally acknowledges involvement in operations within Russia, although it does not take direct responsibility.

The comments came as Putin marked Russia’s Security Officers’ Day.

12:39 PM GMT

Russian shelling destroys Red Cross storage depot

Russian artillery shelling has destroyed a Red Cross storage depot in Kherson city.

“The direct hit and the fire that resulted from this completely destroyed the humanitarian aid supplies for the residents of Kherson region that were stored in the warehouse,” the Ukrainian Red Cross Society said in a statement.

There were no casualties.

12:25 PM GMT

Kyivstar resolves issues

Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile provider, has now resolved issues which took some users offline in southern and western Ukraine this morning, RBC-Ukraine reported.

12:12 PM GMT

Pictured: Ukraine builds dragon's teeth

12:04 PM GMT

Abramovich 'disappointed' as EU appeal fails

Roman Abramovich has said he is “disappointed” that his attempt to overturn European Union (EU) sanctions against him was thrown out by the European Court of Justice.

“Although we are disappointed with today’s ruling, we welcome that the court did not take up several arguments presented by the EU Council and did not include them as a basis for maintaining sanctions,” he said in a statement issued on his behalf.

“Mr Abramovich does not have the ability to influence the decision making of any government, including Russia, and has in no way benefitted from the war.”

11:44 AM GMT

Ukrainians oppose Zaluzhny's dismissal

A majority of Ukrainians would oppose the dismissal of General Valerii Zaluzhny, a poll has found.

The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found 72 per cent of the 1,200 respondents were against the move and just two per cent would support it.

Another poll released earlier this week found 88 per cent of Ukrainians trusted Gen Zaluzhny, compared to Volodymyr Zelensky’s 62 per cent.

Tensions between the pair have broken into the public sphere following the underwhelming summer counter-offensive. The commander-in-chief is seen as a potential eventual successor to Mr Zelensky.

11:27 AM GMT

Russia fines Google £40m for 'fake' Ukraine information

A Russian court has fined Google £40million ($50million) for not deleting information about the war in Ukraine deemed “fake” by the Kremlin.

The RIA news agency said the fine was imposed after Google distributed “LGBT propaganda” and did not remove “extremist content”.

11:08 AM GMT

Russian soldiers hit by rat-bite fever outbreak

Rat-bite fever has broken out in Russian trenches, Ukraine’s defence intelligence (DIU) has said.

The infectious disease is transmitted by dust from mouse excrement and symptoms include migraines, high temperatures, reduced blood pressure, rashes and nausea.

The DIU said the fever has spread widely on the Kupiansk front because Russian commanders initially ignored soldiers’ complaints, believing them to be trying to avoid fighting.

“As a result, rat-bite fever significantly reduced the fighting ability of the Russian rats,” it said.

10:52 AM GMT

In pictures: Ukraine fights blazes after Russian attacks

10:40 AM GMT

Watch: Ukraine builds dragon's teeth defences

Footage has been released showing the Ukrainian army constructing dragon’s teeth anti-tank defences.

10:32 AM GMT

Ukraine to produce 11,000 drones in 2024

Ukraine will produce 11,000 drones in 2024, Ukraine’s strategic industries minister has said.

“All production facilities are ready, and contracting for 2024 begins,” Oleksandr Kamyshin said.

At least 1,000 of the drones will have a range of more than 620 miles (1,000km).

10:13 AM GMT

EU throws out Abramovich appeal against sanctions

The European Union’s (EU) top court has thrown out an appeal by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich against sanctions imposed upon hm.

“The General Court dismisses the action brought by Mr Abramovich, thereby upholding the restrictive measures taken against him,” the European Court of Justice said.

The former Chelsea Football Club owner was one of a host of Russian businessmen who were sanctioned by the EU after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

09:35 AM GMT

Ukraine set for first Christmas using Western dating

Ukrainians are days away from celebrating their first Christmas on 25 December.

The country’s Orthodox church has this year moved away from using the traditional Julian calendar, which is used in Russia and celebrates Christmas on 7 January.

“Everything that was related to Russia, and everything that Russia did the same way we did, provoked disgust among people,” Mykhailo Omelian, an Orthodox priest in Kyiv, told Reuters.

Tetiana, a 25-year-old worshipper outside the city’s golden-domed St Michael’s Monastery, added that it would feel “a little unusual” but was “the right thing to do”.

09:27 AM GMT

Ukraine deploys dragon's teeth defences as war turns

Ukraine is rolling out dragon’s teeth anti-tank defences along the frontline as it adopts a “more defensive posture” against Russia, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

In its latest defence intelligence briefing, the MoD said the armed forces had heeded calls from Volodymyr Zelensky in November for “faster fortifications in key sectors”.

“In one part of the project, Ukraine has worked to improve defences along its border with Belarus with dragon’s teeth, razor wire and anti-tank ditches as of mid-December 2023,” it said.

“A major Russian breakthrough is unlikely and overall, the front is characterised by stasis.”

Ukrainian offensive operations have become much rarer in recent weeks after its underwhelming summer counter-offensive.

Russia is launching attacks across the frontline and making confirmed advances.

09:14 AM GMT

More than 5,000 lorries stuck at Ukraine border

More than 5,000 lorries are stuck at the Ukrainian border, the country’s border force has said.

Spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said 3,600 were stuck at the Polish border, 570 in Slovakia, 250 in Hungary and 800 in Romania.

Polish border crossings remain blocked but the other three countries are technically open. Long backlogs have formed during strike action by disgruntled rival truckers, however.

08:57 AM GMT

Kyivstar mobile network fails again

Ukraine’s largest mobile provider has been hit by a second outage in a fortnight.

Kyivstar which has 24million users, was hacked by a Russian cyber group on 12 December.

Reports of outages were made in cities in the south and west of Ukraine.

“Our network is currently in the stabilisation phase after a large-scale hacker attack, so there may still be short-term difficulties in the operation of services,” a spokesperson said.

08:40 AM GMT

Frozen Russian assets should be given to Ukraine, say US officials

Officials from the United States have proposed handing the Russian central bank’s frozen European assets to Ukraine, the Financial Times reports.

Washington has not publicly supported confiscating Russian assets but made the proposal in discussion documents prepared for the G7.

The officials are reported to back handing the assets over as an “advance” on compensation for war damage which they believe Russia is destined to eventually pay.

08:21 AM GMT

Trump's election is what Putin wants, warns Czech president

The election of Donald Trump could turn the tide of the war in Ukraine in Vladimir Putin’s favour, Czech president Petr Pavel has said.

He told Czech newspaper Seznam Zpravy that the Russian president is banking on the election of Mr Trump to negotiate an advantageous peace.

“We will have elections in Russia, where Vladimir Putin will probably win without much surprise, we will have elections in the United States, where the outcome is far from certain,” he said.

“And it can be assumed that the anticipation of elections will bring certain changes on the battlefield as well.”

He added: “At least on Vladimir Putin’s side, there is an expectation that that in the event of Donald Trump’s success, he would be able to negotiate with him regardless of what Ukraine or the rest of Europe thinks about it.”

07:54 AM GMT

Pictured: Donetsk apartment block burns

07:41 AM GMT

Four children wounded in overnight Russian attacks

Four children aged between two and 13 are among nine civilians who were wounded in overnight Russian shelling of the southern city of Kherson.

Drones were also launched on the cities of Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv. The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 18 of the 19 that were launched.

Two S-300 missiles were also fired on Kharkiv’s Saltivka district. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the target was “purely civilian” and there is no military or government infrastructure nearby.

Moscow has stepped up its nightly attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks as part of an expected winter surge in bombardment.

07:33 AM GMT

US will not approve new Ukraine aid this year

The United States will not approve a new military aid package for Ukraine this year.

Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday that a deal would not be done until after the Christmas break.

“Our negotiators are going to be working very, very diligently over the December and January break period, and our goal is to get something done as soon as we get back,” he said.

Republicans in Congress have refused to vote through a new £48 billion ($61 billion) deal proposed by Joe Biden.

The White House has warned that funding for Ukraine will run out if the new package is not approved.

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