Ukraine updates: Kyiv claims downing of Russian SU-34 jets

Polish farmers will suspend a protest at the border crossing with Ukraine at Medyka from Sunday morning until January 2 or 3, PAP news agency reported.

The truckers will continue blockades at three other crossings over Christmas allowing even fewer trucks to pass than earlier..

Truckers have been demanding that an agreement last year between the EU and Ukraine on relaxing rules on moving goods by trucks be scrapped.

They want the older system to be restored whereby Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc, as do European truckers seeking to enter Ukraine.

Truckers were later joined by farmers who demanded government subsidies for corn and no hikes in taxes.

Poland's deputy infrastructure minister said earlier Friday he was hoping the issue on the border with Ukraine could be resolved before the end of the year.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said Germany will continue to support Kyiv for as long it needs help against a Russian invasion, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants to destroy Ukraine." 

"The fact that Putin's original plan of taking Kyiv and murdering more than 40 million people has not succeeded is owing to the unbelievable courage of Ukrainian women and men in defending their country," she told the daily Potsdam Neueste Nachrichten."

"And also because of the support from us (Germany) and so many other countries, who are doing something humane: helping victims and not helping the aggressor by looking away."

She said the situation in Russian-occupied areas and unprotected regions this winter made it apparent what could have threatened Ukraine and neighboring countries like Moldova if the European Union and a global majority had not stood by Ukraine.

She said Putin was attacking power plants, electricity distribution centers and power lines so that the water supply would freeze in the low temperatures, causing people to go thirsty and die of cold.

"He wants to destroy Ukraine, and that is why we will support it as long as it needs us," Baerbock said.

Yekaterina Duntsova, an ex-journalist who said she wanted to run for president on a platform of ending the war in Ukraine and freeing political prisoners, has been barred from the ballot by Russia's electoral officials.

The Central Elections Committee rejected Duntsova's application on the grounds that she had made registration "mistakes."

Kremlin critics have long accused Russia's government of trying to quash any realistic competition to incumbent President Vladimir Putin in March.

With most Russian opposition figures either behind bars, such as high-profile rival Alexei Navalny, or outside of the country, Putin seems almost certain to win a fifth term as head of state, cementing a decadeslong grip on power.

The Austrian newspaper Der Standard on Saturday offered a sobering view of Ukraine's situation at Christmastime, reporting that many in the country were feeling desperate at the human toll of the Russian invasion.

"The counteroffensive by the Ukrainian army that was meant to deal a decisive blow to the Russian aggressors has more or less petered out," it wrote.

"Thousands have died at the frozen front; mothers, fathers, widows and children are grieving for them. And air attacks are still claiming far too many victims," it added.

The newspaper reported that Ukrainian authorities were now facing not just a lack of weapons, but of manpower, leading them to call up men who have fled abroad to avoid the conflict.

"So in Ukraine, there is a lot ,of despair rather than contemplation at Christmas in 2023," it wrote.

The paper said authorities in Kyiv were particularly worried about the growing war fatigue in the West and the consequences of a possible Trump victory in the 2024 US presidential election.

If military and financial aid fails, "leaden darkness could soon follow the Christmas glow," Der Standard wrote.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been roundly praised by Ukraine's ambassador to Berlin, Oleksii Makeiev, for his role in averting a potential veto by Hungary that would have blocked EU accession talks for Kyiv.

Speaking on German radio, Makeiev said Scholz had pulled off a "diplomatic masterstroke" at the recent EU summit by suggesting that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban leave the room during a vote on the talks.

As a result, the 26 remaining EU leaders were able to approve the proposal to start membership talks with Ukraine, a move Hungary has vigorously opposed.

Makeiev also thanked Germany for its ongoing assistance to Ukraine as it defends itself against a Russian invasion. "This government has its head on right," he said.

Berlin is currently the second-largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after Washington.

Makeiev's positive comments about the German chancellor form a strong contrast to those of his predecessor, Andrij Melnyk.

 Melnyk, for example. once called Scholz "eine beleidigte Leberwurst" over the latter's declining to visit Kyiv after  German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was uninvited.

The term, literally meaning "an offended liver sausage," is used in German to denote an overly sensitive person.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and military officials said the country's forces shot down three Russian SU-34 fighter-bomber aircraft on Friday on the southern front, hailing it as a success in the 22-month war.

The Russian military made no mention of the incident. But Russian bloggers acknowledged the loss, and analysts suggested US-supplied Patriot missiles had probably been used.

The reports could not be independently verified.

"Today at noon in the southern sector: minus three Russian SU-34 fighter-bombers!" Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Air Force spokesperson Yuri Ihnat described it on national television as a "brilliantly planned operation."

Zelenskyy in his nightly video address praised the Odesa region anti-aircraft unit for downing the planes in Kherson region.

The German ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, sees no change in Russian President Vladimir Putin's stance on the war in Ukraine.

"Putin has just reaffirmed his war aims," Lambsdorff told the German media outlet Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. "He is not at all willing to negotiate."

There is no indication that Putin will change his stance after the presidential election in March 2024, he added.

According to the diplomat, there are also no signs that Putin could be replaced. Putin's re-election is to be expected, Lambsdorff said. He does not see any cracks in Putin's regime at the moment.

Nor could the German ambassador see "any indication" that the Russian leader's health "might not be good."

Poland's deputy infrastructure minister said he hoped Polish truckers' protests on the border with Ukraine could be resolved before the end of the year.

Polish drivers have been blocking several crossings with Ukraine since November 6, demanding that the European Union reinstate a system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for EU truckers to enter Ukraine.

"We had a long meeting with my (Ukrainian) counterpart. ... Today we are agreeing on the last details that will lead to the final agreement," Polish Deputy Infrastructure Minister Pawel Gancarz said during a press conference in Kyiv.

"We hope that for Christmas, before the end of this year, this problem will be solved," he added.

Ukraine's Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Ministry said in a statement that the meeting produced an "agreement on common positions to unblock the border."

It said the next stage in carrying out a "plan of action" would involve talks between the Polish ministry and the protesting truckers.

dh/sri (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)