Ukraine said it had struck a storage and maintenance depot for long-range Shahed drones in Russia’s Oryol region, adding that this had ‘significantly reduced’ Russia’s ability to launch mass drone attacks on Ukraine.
Russia would scrap a moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter-range nuclear-capable missiles because the US had deployed such weapons in various regions around the world, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday.
Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, was sworn in as president of Georgia on Sunday amid a political crisis after the government froze European Union application talks in a move that sparked major protests.
Ukraine strikes drone depot in Russia’s Oryol region
Ukraine said on Saturday it had struck a storage and maintenance depot for long-range Shahed drones in Russia’s Oryol region, adding that this had “significantly reduced” Russia’s ability to launch mass drone attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine military’s general staff said in a statement on Telegram the attack took place on Thursday and was conducted by Ukraine’s air force.
“As a result of the strike, a depot for storage, maintenance and repair of Shahed kamikaze drones, made of several protected concrete structures, was destroyed,” it said.
“This military operation has significantly reduced the enemy’s potential in terms of conducting air raids of strike drones on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.”
Moscow has not made any comment on the attack.
Russia has regularly launched missile and drone attacks on Ukraine throughout its 34-month invasion.
For the past several months, Moscow has launched near-daily barrages of dozens of drones at Ukraine, hoping to damage its infrastructure and wear down air defences, leaving them less able to shoot down missiles.
Ukraine’s air force said earlier on Saturday it had downed 15 out of 16 drones launched by Russia overnight, with the other one disappearing from radars.
Russia to scrap unilateral missile moratorium, says Lavrov
Russia would scrap a moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter-range nuclear-capable missiles because the US had deployed such weapons in various regions around the world, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday.
Russia’s move, long signalled, will kill off all that remains from one of the most significant arms control treaties of the Cold War, amid fears that the world’s two biggest nuclear powers could be entering a new arms race, along with China.
Russia and the US, who both admit their relations are worse than at any time since the depths of the Cold War, have both expressed regret about the disintegration of the tangle of arms control treaties which sought to slow the arms race and reduce the risk of nuclear war.
Asked by state news agency RIA if Russia could withdraw from the New Start treaty before its expiry in February 2026, Lavrov said there were currently “no conditions” for a strategic dialogue with Washington.
“Today it is clear that, for example, our moratorium on the deployment of short- and intermediate-range missiles is no longer practically viable and will have to be abandoned,” said Lavrov.
“The US has arrogantly ignored the warnings of Russia and China and in practice has moved on to the deployment of weapons of this class in various regions of the world.”
The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in 1987, marked the first time the superpowers had agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals, and eliminated a whole category of nuclear weapons.
The US under former President Donald Trump formally withdrew from the INF Treaty in 2019 after saying that Moscow was violating the accord, an accusation the Kremlin repeatedly denied and dismissed as a pretext.
Russia then imposed a moratorium on its own development of missiles previously banned by the INF treaty — ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500km to 5,500km.
Trump, in 2018, said he wanted to terminate the INF Treaty because of what he said were years of Russian violations and his concerns about China’s intermediate-range missile arsenal.
The US publicly blamed Russia’s development of the 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile, known as the SSC-8, as the reason for it leaving the INF Treaty.
In his moratorium proposal, Putin suggested Russia could agree not to deploy the missiles in its Baltic coast exclave of Kaliningrad. Since leaving the pact, the US has tested missiles with a similar profile.
Russia fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik”, or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine on 21 November in what Putin said was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces with US and British missiles.
New Georgian president sworn in; predecessor says he is not legitimate leader
Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, was sworn in as president of Georgia on Sunday amid a political crisis after the government froze European Union application talks in a move that sparked major protests.
Outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU opponent of the ruling party, said in a defiant speech to supporters outside the presidential palace that she was leaving the residence, but that Kavelashvili had no legitimacy as president, which is a mostly ceremonial position.
She said: “I will come out of here and be with you.
“I am taking legitimacy with me, I am taking the flag with me, I am taking your trust with me,” she added, before walking out of the palace to mingle with her supporters.
Zourabichvili says that Kavelashvili was not duly picked, as the legislators who chose him were elected in an October parliamentary election that she says was marked by fraud. Georgia’s opposition parties support her.
The Georgian Dream ruling party and the country’s election commission said that the October election was free and fair. The ruling party says Kavelashvili is the duly elected president.
The presidential standoff is seen as a watershed moment in Georgia, a mountainous country of 3.7 million that had until recently been regarded as among the most democratic and pro-Western of the former Soviet states.
Kavelashvili is a loyalist of Bidzina Ivanishvili, a reclusive billionaire ex-prime minister who is widely seen as Georgia’s de facto leader.
On Friday, the US imposed sanctions on Ivanishvili, saying he was spearheading Georgia’s current anti-Western and pro-Russian turn.
Kavelashvili, a former professional soccer player who briefly played as a striker for Manchester City, has repeatedly accused Western intelligence agencies of plotting to drive Georgia into war with neighbouring Russia.
“The Georgian people have always understood that peace is the main prerequisite for survival and development,” he said after being sworn in on Sunday.
Protesters outside parliament held up red cards in a mocking reference to Kavelashvili’s athletic career.
Local and international election monitors have said the vote was marked by violations that could have affected the results. Western countries have called for an investigation.
Zourabichvili is backed by the country’s four main pro-EU opposition parties, which have boycotted parliament since the election. They say she will remain the legitimate president until fresh elections are held.
The confrontation comes amid a month of protests sparked by Georgian Dream’s suspension of EU accession talks until 2028, abruptly halting a longstanding national goal of joining the bloc that is written into the country’s constitution.
The move touched off widespread anger among Georgians, who polls show are firmly pro-EU, and prompted a police crackdown, with more than 400 people, including senior opposition leaders, detained.
Zourabichvili has accused Georgian Dream of deliberately sinking Georgia’s EU hopes and instead moving towards Russia, from which Georgia gained independence in 1991.
Opposition supporters say that under Zourabichvili, who was elected with Georgian Dream’s support in 2018 before breaking with the party in recent years, the presidency was the only institution in the country not ultimately under the control of ruling party founder Ivanishvili.
They say that with the installation of Kavelashvili, Ivanishvili will have total control over Georgia.
Zelensky hits back at Slovak PM Fico as gas transit dispute deepens
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico on Saturday of opening a “second energy front” against Ukraine on the orders of Russia, as a gas transit dispute between the countries deepened.
Ukraine pumps Russian natural gas through its territory to several European countries including Slovakia, but it is expected to halt the flow when the existing transit deal — signed before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine — expires at the end of the year.
Fico, who visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this week, said on Friday Slovakia would consider reciprocal measures against Ukraine such as halting backup electricity supplies if Kyiv stops the gas transit from 1 January.
“It appears that Putin gave Fico the order to open the second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the Slovak people’s interests,” Zelensky wrote on the X social media platform.
Slovakia wants to maintain Russian gas supplies via Ukraine, saying alternative routes would hike costs and hit its own transit operations, causing it to lose €500-million in fees.
Ukraine has said it will not sign any new deal for gas transit with Moscow due to the invasion launched by Russia in February 2022.
Ukraine has been forced to import electricity from several of its neighbours since Russia began targeting its power grid in late 2022, damaging or destroying much of the country’s non-nuclear generation capacity.
Zelensky said Slovakia currently accounted for 19% of Ukraine’s power imports, and that Ukraine was working with its European Union neighbours to bolster the supply.
“Slovakia is part of the single European energy market and Fico must respect common European rules,” he wrote, adding that cutting power supplies to Ukraine would deprive Slovakia of $200-million a year.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Fico was siding with Putin by making “senseless threats” to cut off Ukraine’s power imports.
Since taking office in 2023, Fico has been one of the EU’s most outspoken opponents of military aid to Ukraine.
After his talks in Moscow, Fico said Putin had confirmed Russia’s willingness to continue to supply gas to Slovakia, although this was “practically impossible” once the transit deal expired.
Russia says it will stop gas exports to Moldova from 1 January
Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Saturday it would suspend gas exports to Moldova from 1 January due to unpaid debt by Moldova, which is bracing for severe power cuts.
It said the company reserved the right to take any action, including terminating the supply contract with Moldova.
Russia supplies Moldova with about two billion cubic metres of gas per year, which is piped via Ukraine to the breakaway region of Transdniestria where it is used to generate cheap power that is sold to government-controlled parts of Moldova.
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean condemned the Russian decision, which is a precursor to a total shutdown of Russian gas exports via Ukraine and to Europe, where it flows further to Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Italy, once a current transit deal with Ukraine expires on 31 December.
Moldova will be hit the hardest by the shutdown.
“This decision confirms once again the intention of the Kremlin to leave the inhabitants of the Transdniestrian region without light and heat in the middle of the winter,” Recean wrote on Facebook, accusing Russia of using energy as a political weapon.
Moscow has repeatedly dismissed those allegations.
Russia, which is critical of Moldova’s West-leaning central government, has said Moldova should pay a debt on past supplies. According to Russian calculations, the debt stands at $709-million. Moldova has put the debt at $8.6-million.
Gazprom has said previously it wants Moldova to pay the debt before it starts to pump gas to the country via alternative routes.
Transdniestria and the government in Chisinau agreed in 2022 that all Russian gas received by Moldova would flow to the breakaway region, which traditionally does not pay for fuel.
Without gas supplies, the power-generating plant could stop working and Moldova and Transdniestria would face hours-long blackouts similar to those experienced by Ukraine due to Russia’s attacks on its energy infrastructure in their war.
The government of Transdniestria told businesses that from Saturday, gas supplies would start to be switched off to commercial entities that were not considered critical.
But it said supplies of gas, heating and hot water to households would continue as usual until 1 January. DM