The situation at a glance: Christmas greetings for prisoners in Russia and Ukraine

As a humanitarian gesture this Christmas, Ukraine and Russia exchanged letters and packages for prisoners of war. The ombudsman of the Ukrainian parliament, Dmytro Lubinets, and the Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova met in Belarus. They didn’t name the location. It was the first publicly known meeting of senior state representatives from the warring parties in a long time.

Moskalkowa wrote on Telegram that 1,500 Christmas packages for prisoners of war and letters from relatives were exchanged. Lubinets said that lists of prisoners of war and Ukrainian civilians held in Russia had also been handed over. The campaign also involved the return of more than 500 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers from Russia. This had already been communicated previously.

Both sides mentioned mediation by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Belarus is a close ally of Russia, but served as a venue for negotiations when the war began in 2022. Both sides rejected a ceasefire proposed by Hungary over the holidays. Ukraine has now been resisting the invasion ordered by the Kremlin for almost three years.

Air alert and fighting on the ground

Beyond the Christmas gesture, the fighting continued unabated. Saturday night began with air alert for much of Ukraine because Russian combat drones were located. The capital Kiev was initially excluded, but it was the target of a serious ballistic missile attack on Friday morning. In the city of Kharkiv in the east of the country, six people were injured by a drone hit.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported almost 200 Russian attacks along the front in the east and south on Friday. One quarter occurred in the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, which has been under dispute for months. There the Russian troops advance past the city. “Our soldiers are trying to prevent the enemy from penetrating deeper into Ukrainian territory,” the situation report said. Moscow troops also continued their attacks in the Russian border region of Kursk to drive out Ukrainian units.

Zelenskyj thanks Iris-T from Germany

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj thanked Germany for another state-of-the-art Iris-T air defense system. He called it a response to Ukraine’s request for at least 19 more systems to protect its power plants. Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed the handover of another Iris-T at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. However, this is a delivery that has been announced for a long time.

Several embassies in Kyiv damaged

The rocket attack on Kiev shows how necessary protection is, said Zelensky. “Ballistic missiles hit Kiev, people were injured, unfortunately there is one dead.” In a residential and business district in the center, a Catholic church and an office building with several diplomatic missions were also damaged; Albania, Argentina, Palestine, North Macedonia, Portugal and Montenegro were affected.

“It is clear that the world should not take this Russian madness for granted,” the president said. More international pressure must be exerted on Moscow.

Trump’s Ukraine envoy is coming to Kyiv soon

How international support for Ukraine and efforts to end the war continue depends largely on the future US President Donald Trump. Its designated Ukraine representative, Keith Kellogg, will visit Kiev in the near future. An appointment has been agreed, said Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhij Tychyj in Kiev. “I won’t give the date for security reasons. But I can confirm that we are expecting General Kellogg in Ukraine.”

Kellogg, former security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, is supposed to advance Trump’s plan to quickly end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The ideas he has expressed so far amount to a freeze in fighting along the current front line. He rejects Ukraine’s demand for NATO membership as a security guarantee.

A visit to Russia does not seem to be on the agenda so far. Moscow was not contacted, said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.