US, new sanctions against Moscow: Rosneft and Lukoil hit. Zelensky: 'Yes to freezing the front line'

Meanwhile, 'under the leadership of the supreme commander', i.e. President Vladimir Putin, Russia conducted 'an exercise of the strategic nuclear forces with the involvement of their land, naval, and air components', the Kremlin reports. The Ria Novosti news agency reports that during the exercise, a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the northern European region of Archangel towards a range in Kamchatka in the Far East district, and a Sineva ballistic missile from a destroyer sailing in the Barents Sea. Tu-95MS strategic bombers were also airborne, carrying out airborne cruise missile launches.

In Brussels, at the EU Council, a new Orban veto on Kiev is on the way. The part of the conclusions concerning Ukraine, unless there are last-minute changes, will not be signed by Hungary. This was explained by several European sources and also anticipated by Prime Minister Robert Fico, who will represent Viktor Orban in the first part of the summit of the 27. This would be the fourth consecutive veto by Budapest on the conclusions of a formal European Council regarding EU support for Ukraine.

Another critical point is the use of Russian assets. 'On the issue of reparation loans for Ukraine based on immobilised Russian assets, no consensus was reached this morning at ambassadorial level, so the text of the conclusions will go to the leaders in brackets, because it is too important,' says a senior European diplomatic source. The topic is very sensitive because it touches on details that are still open, such as the nature of the guarantees that member states will have to give to cover the loans, the risk analysis to which Belgium, the country that holds most of the assets, will be subjected, and the type of use of the funds granted to Ukraine.

Slovakia decided in the evening to withdraw its veto on the EU's 19th sanctions package against Russia, thus unblocking the process for the approval of the new restrictive measures. Reportedly, a written procedure has been initiated and, if there are no objections, the package will be formally adopted tomorrow by 8 a.m. The new package aims to hit the Kremlin's main sources of revenue, introducing new sanctions in the energy, financial and trade sectors

Sul campo di battaglia, la scorsa notte, fortissime esplosioni sono state udite a Kiev e in diverse altre città. I russi hanno lanciato missili balistici e droni verso l’Ucraina. Lo riferisce l’aeronautica ucraina, citata da Rbc. L’allarme è scattato poco dopo l’una del mattino. Successivamente, si sono udite una serie di forti esplosioni nella capitale. Attacchi sono stati segnalati anche a Zaporizhzhia e a Izmail, nella regione di Odessa. Almeno sei persone, di cui due bambini, sono rimaste uccise da attacchi delle forze armate russe su Kiev. Lo ha reso noto il capo Capo dell’amministrazione militare della città Timur Tkachenko citato dai media ucraini. Una persona è rimasta uccisa nel quartiere Dnipro dove è scoppiato un incendio all’ottavo e nono piano di un edificio residenziale a causa di un attacco russo. Successivamente Tkachenko ha segnalato un secondo decesso.

At least 13 people were wounded in the Russian raids that hit the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia last night, according to local authorities quoted in the Kiev media.

Russian defence forces destroyedthree drones in the Luzhsky district in the Leningrad region. The local governor Alexander Drozdenko, quoted by Russian agencies, reported that "there was no damage or casualties".