Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra priest released on bail for "singing about Russia"

"District Court of Kyiv has released Father Zakharii (secular name: Anatolii Voitenok), a
priest at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (the Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv), on bail until 29 January. Father Zakharii had led a service that involved the glorification of the so-called "Russian world". Pravada

Italy to seize Russian oil refinery

"The Italian government has placed a refinery in Sicily owned by Russia’s largest private oil company Lukoil under state trusteeship, days ahead of an EU embargo on Russian crude oil imports." RT

Fresh Clashes in Guangzhou as China Threatens ‘Crackdown’ on Anti-Communist Uprising

"The uprising is still vigorous enough to push a flood of news and images past China’s censorship firewalls to the outside world, transmitting photos and videos from thousands of smartphones, so the battle that began in Guangzhou on Tuesday night was verified and reported by outlets like the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP):

Security personnel in hazmat suits formed ranks shoulder-to-shoulder, taking cover
under see-through riot shields, to make their way down a street in the southern city’s Haizhu district as glass smashed around them, videos posted on social media showed.

In the footage people could be heard screaming and shouting, as orange and blue barricades were pictured strewn across the ground.

People are seen throwing objects at the police, and later nearly a dozen men are filmed being taken away with their hands bound with cable ties." Breitbart

U.S. Pledges $53 Million To Help Restore Ukraine's Damaged Power Grid

"The latest financial assistance from the United States comes shortly after the U.S. Agency for
International Development in October announced it would grant $55 million in emergency infrastructure support in Ukraine ahead of the winter season.

That funding will support the repairs and maintenance of pipes and other equipment necessary to deliver heating to homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses across Ukraine, officials said. It includes funding for generators, as well as money for alternative fuel sources to hospitals and shelters among others." ZH

Russians once again fire at DTEK enterprise

 "Russian troops once again fired at a building of DTEK energy company. Employees received
the necessary assistance and were taken to the hospital." Pravada

Ukraine's Security Service checks convent of Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, find calls for "awakening of Mother Russia"

"The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has finished a counterintelligence operation within
the St. Cyril and Methodius Convent of the Mukachevo Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate in Zakarpattia Oblast.

It is reported that more than 20 people underwent in-depth counterintelligence interviews, including with the use of a polygraph.

SSU employees found numerous campaigning and propaganda materials. Most of the literature is authored by Russian figures and published by Russian printing houses." Pravada

"It’s hot" in Zaporizhzhia Oblast: Russians move hospital from Polohy to Mariupol

"The Russian occupiers are transferring equipment from a hospital in the front-line town of Polohy to occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast, because "it's getting too hot" on the Zaporizhzhia front." Pravada

Facebook blocks greeting of Ukraine’s Air Force commander to radio-technical troops

"Facebook has blocked a greeting message from Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, the Commander of Ukraine’s Air Force to the soldiers of the radio engineering troops; 30 November marks their official holiday.

Oleshchuk's congratulations were published on the official page of the command, but a few hours later, they were blocked ostensibly because they "violated community standards." Pravada

NATO revisiting idea of supplying Kiev with fighter jets

"NATO leaders are considering a possible a U-turn on providing Ukraine with advanced
fighter jets, James Stavridis, retired supreme allied commander and US Navy admiral, claimed in an op-ed published by Bloomberg." RT

Ukrainian terror plot in Zaporozhye foiled

"Ukrainian authorities had planned to detonate a bomb at a market in the city of Melitopol in
Russia’s Zaporozhye Region, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement on Monday. It added that the suspects have been detained and confessed to the plot." RT

A confession from Putin suggests that the Ukraine conflict could last for years

"Russian President Vladimir Putin commented, during a meeting with soldiers’ mothers, that he now regards the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 as a mistake. This concession was stark in the context of the possibility of peace negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine.

Putin explained to the mothers that at the time, Moscow did not know for sure the
sentiments of the Donbass population affected by the conflict, and hoped that Donetsk and Lugansk could somehow be reunited with Ukraine on the conditions laid down in Minsk. Putin might have added – and his own actions, as well as conversations with then-Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko, confirm it – that he was prepared to give the new Kiev authorities a chance to settle the issue and rebuild a relationship with Moscow. Until rather late in the game, Putin also hoped that he could still work things out with the Germans and the French, and the US leadership. 

Admissions of mistakes are rare among incumbent leaders, but they are important as indicators of lessons they have learned. This experience has apparently made Putin decide not that the decision to launch the special military operation last February was wrong, but that eight years before, Moscow should not have put any faith in Kiev, Berlin, and Paris, and instead should have relied on its own military might to liberate the Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine.

In other words, agreeing to a Minsk-style ceasefire now would be another mistake which would allow Kiev and its backers to better prepare to resume fighting at the time of their choosing." RT

Russian soldiers apparently executed by Ukrainian forces appear genuine, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stated

"Videos showing Russian soldiers apparently executed by Ukrainian forces appear genuine,
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stated. He called on Kiev to fully investigate what Moscow has described as an outright execution. 

The footage, consisting of two clips stitched into one video, surfaced on social media last week. It shows a dozen unarmed Russian servicemen surrendering to Ukrainian troops and lying down on the ground, a separate man apparently opening fire on the Ukrainians, and the first dozen soldiers lying dead in pools of blood.

“Our Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has conducted a preliminary analysis indicating that these disturbing videos are highly likely to be authentic in what they show,” Turk said in a press release. “The analysis…underlines the need for independent and detailed forensic investigations to help establish exactly what happened.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense described the footage as evidence of “the deliberate and methodical murder” of the soldiers, with the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council calling the incident a “demonstrative and audacious crime.”  Newsars

Ukraine’s Armed Forces destroy "important Russian target" in Luhansk Oblast

"Serhii Haidai, Head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, has reported about the
success of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Oblast and a strike at an "important enemy target".

The Russians used TOS-1A Solntsepyok (Sunburn) Multiple Rocket Launchers near this village.

Russian forces also deployed tanks and artillery to fire at the settlements of Nevske, Novoselivske, Makiivka, Ploshchanka and Dibrova in Luhansk Oblast throughout the day." Pravada

 

Largest oil refinery in Siberia on fire

"A fire broke out on the territory of the Angarsk petrochemical plant in the Irkutsk Oblast, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported." Pravada

Russian missile strike on Dnipro: dead man pulled out from under rubble

"Following the Russian missile attack on Dnipro on 26 November, a person was killed;
rescuers have pulled out the body from under the rubble." Pravada