Vladimir Putin promises revenge after a raid by Ukrainian drones that targeted the Russian Kazan, a thousand kilometers from the border, and relies on gas to maintain influence on Europe by receiving the Slovak prime minister in the Kremlin Robert Fico, worried by Kiev’s stop to the transit of Russian gas on Ukrainian territory. “We will not extend” the transit agreement towards Europe, “we will not give Moscow the opportunity to earn further billions on our blood and on the skin of Ukrainians”, announced the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the European Council on 19 December. Confirmation then also came from Putin, the following day in the end-of-year press conference: the five-year contract will expire on December 31 and will not be renewed. A decision that was not liked by Hungary and Slovakia, which are heavily dependent on Russian gas. Fico is also on the same line as Viktor Orban, who blames Kiev for the failure to reach an agreement for peace talks, and has stopped aid to Ukraine since the beginning of his new mandate as prime minister, a year ago. Lastly, he also accepted Putin’s invitation to the May ceremonies in Moscow for the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazism. The Bratislava media are betting on reaching an agreement with Putin on gas.
Another leader who wants to meet the Tsar “as soon as possible” is Donald Trump: «One of the things I want to do quickly is to meet President Putin and he also agrees», says the president-elect who reiterates the need to put an end to the war in Ukraine “quickly”. The Tsar meanwhile lashes his military offensive, because time is running out and the beginning of the new Trump era in the White House is around the corner. «No matter who and how he tries to destroy, they will face greater devastation at home and will regret what they try to do. in Russia,” he said warned Putin during a video conference addressing Kiev after the drone attack in Kazan, which caused no casualties but a lot of damage while waiting for the announced retaliation, the Russians have not been idle and in the last 24 hours launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile and 103 drones on Ukraine, continuing to conquer ground: Putin’s army took control of the villages of Lozovaya, in Kharkiv, and Krasnoye, in Donetsk. Pressure then mounts on Kherson, where the roads have reportedly been mined and where concern about a massive Russian incursion has grown in the last few hours. The Russian region of Kursk must then be removed from the table of a possible future negotiation: i Russians managed to regain 40% of the territory that fell into Ukrainian hands after the summer offensive, with a high cost in terms of human lives. So much so that North Koreans were also deployed on the ground to support the 60,000 Russians at the front. But the advance is difficult, complicated by the mud and the powerful defensive strongholds set up by the Ukrainians which target any moving vehicle. So much so that, to outflank their adversaries, Russian soldiers also try to advance with quads, in the hope of not ending up in the crosshairs of Kiev’s infantrymen who have no intention of giving up other pieces of Russian land.