on the ground in the subway in kyiv, traditionally a tree was installed on sofiyivska square, garlands are also used, although they are energy-saving , the christmas tree is lit by a generator, another tree was installed at the kyiv railway station, here they do without a generator in order for the garlands, the cheerleaders to attach a bicycle to them, if you turn the pedals, electricity is produced, which powers the holiday lights and in mykolaiv near the front, they approached the creation of a christmas tree with creativity, a christmas tree was made of camouflage netting, and that's all for today search for more stories on our website bbc.ua and on our pages in social networks , turn on our program tomorrow exactly at 9:00 in the evening good luck and take care

, let's listen to people suffering from rheumatism but arthritic is impossible to get used to, it doesn't let you move i tried all and at the pharmacy i bought a yellow dolgit cream, it saves me from pain in rheumatism, relieves pain, reduces swelling and improves mobility dolgit is the only yellow cream for pain in the joints and back so that ukrainians do not think about so that they do not speak on the first place still goes to war war and our victory seven days a week from monday to monday seven different spheres of human activity sports culture politics eight presenters espresso journalists experts opinion leaders in real time about the most current events through the prism of war daily author

projects on espresso join communities with a ukrainian view of the world, become a sponsor of the espresso youtube channel, and this is access to exclusive content, personal thanks , pinned comments, special icons, there is an opportunity for personal communication with the team espresso, click to sponsor and become part of the community with a ukrainian perspective . let's listen to people suffering from rheumatism . it's arthritic. it's impossible to get used to it. it doesn't allow you to move. i've tried everything. and at the pharmacy, i bought yellow dolgit cream and it saves me from pain in rheumatism. it reduces swelling and improves joint mobility . with pain in the joints and back glory to ukraine is a program

verdict my name is serhiy rudenko good day and good health to all today is the 299th day of the heroic resistance of the ukrainian people to the russian occupiers almost all night on st. on december 19, an air alert continued in kyiv and in most of the central regions of the regions of ukraine. russia carried out a massive strike with iranian kamikaze drones. explosions rang out in kyiv and the region. the authorities reported the destruction of 18 oh shaheds out of 23 that flew to the capital, in total, ukrainian air defense shot down 30 of 35 drones over ukraine this night , the air force of ukraine reported, meanwhile, the russian army continues to lose manpower and equipment in ukraine , as of the morning of december 19, russia has already lost in ukraine 98,800 people only in the last day

the armed forces of ukraine destroyed 520 orks with the beginning of the great war russia has already lost in ukraine 2988 tanks 5969 armored combat vehicles 1953 artillery systems 410 rocket salvo systems 212 air defense means 281 aircraft 600 264 helicopters 4592 units of automotive equipment 16 ships, boats, 653 cruise missiles, 1,657 drones, 175 units of special equipment, therefore, putin tilts lukashenka, it is like a war, moldova warns of a possible russian offensive in 2023, about this and about we will talk about other things during the next hour, contact us politician, diplomat , ambassador extraordinary plenipotentiary, chairman of the board of the ukrainian crisis media center,

valery chaliy p. a russian delegation led by putin and shiygu arrived in the belarusian capital at the moment, a meeting between putin and lukashenko is taking place, the congratulatory words of two presidents have already been heard, he of another president, another pseudo-president, although apparently they are both pseudo-presidents and what putin said putin says that belarus is not just a neighbor for russia and an ally. as a result of the work of governments and various departments , first of all, in the field of economics, i want to

note that uh, yes, everyone knows it well, but still it is necessary to learn that in belarus it is not only good for our neighbors with whom we work, we consider the interests of a friend throughout the previous decade, belarus is definitely our ally in the truest sense of the word. on the eve of putin's visit to minsk , there was a lot of talk about whether the leader of the russian federation, the pseudo- president of the republic, would encourage belarus to participate widely in the war against ukraine. although it should be recalled that on february 24, 2022, it was from the territory of the republic of belarus that russian troops entered the territory of ukraine, and in fact, since that day, belarus has been a participant in the war.

to say uh, is something radically changing in the arrangement of these forces, or is it just that putin came to show his respect to lukashenko and tell him that we are all together, which means if we are all together, then we are a gang, if we are a gang, then we are all going against ukraine, we will start from the fact that belarus is already participating in russia's war against ukraine. this participation is simply realized through the use of the territory of belarus for uh, well, shelling of the territory of ukraine with the insult of planes from the territory of belarus, and on the 24th, part of the russian troops entered. well, that's all the question remains, it will no longer be for ukraine. by the way, and even for belarus or belarus, there will still be some independent decisions, because in principle, lukashenko has already handed over control over the campfire to russia and putin

through defense security masfers, he still controls small islands, but in he basically already lost control, exchanged it and of course, in principle, he perfectly understands the remnants of sole power that remain in him without putin's control well, putin doesn't go around that easily, of course he will come again for reasons first of all, he is not accepted anywhere so much. there was no traditional annual press conference for the first time, that is, he didn't even go to ice hockey in moscow, as he always did. well, that is, he has nothing to go out with, so at least go to belarus and show that belarus is already russian, that's

basically the goal. i think putin's goal is to show that belarus is russian, and of course they will pressure lukashenka in relation to such a mixed contingent to russia and belarusians, so that they will still cross the ukrainian border because, well, putin wants to mess up in this war not only lukashenko and his entourage, but also belarus - it's a scrap. i think that's the goal which he became putin's secretary, dmitry pyskov, before putin's visit to the belarusian capital, said that the purpose of putin's visit to lukashenka is not to encourage lukashenka to actively participate in the war against ukraine, and that the main thing is the economy the union state, we will hear some joint plans. piskov was exposed as absolutely stupid nonsense without founding ideas. the nature of our relations. belarus has

become an ally. does not force everyone to take such steps, which, again, best correspond to the interests of our peoples and were interesting to our union state, mr. ambassador, we literally during the last for six months, we have been very actively discussing, or at least in the information field, we have heard the topic of whether belarus will go to ukraine or not , whether our northern border is protected from belarus and russia, respectively, or whether it is not protected . in the war of russia against ukraine already well, directly by the troops of the

republic of belarus, well, look, i am not akin to full-scale participation in belarus and military crossing of the border, another attempt to cross the ukrainian-belarusian border, these are different things i will explain why. lukashenko can still really try to get all of belarus involved, not because he doesn't want it, he just understands that then he will lose power in belarus, because the attitude in belarus is still different from russia, although it has been getting closer for a month month, but a lot of people obviously don't want to die, it's not clear why, and on the territory of ukraine, that's why putin doesn't need lukashenko's word, he went another way, they twisted the hands of the belarusian belarusian leader, and you saw this open-minded woman when when they finally signed the document on

joint formations and when osta well, everyone shut their mouths when mccain became mccain's death so suddenly the minister of foreign affairs in belarus died under incomprehensible circumstances, a situation when he was just the person who tried to reconcile with the west some uh other contacts than with putin, so everything is already clear. lukashenko does not control the situation there, the units are mixed with belarus, there are some who will hire the russians for money, there are such people, and only one thing holds back they don't have enough strength for this, and that's why there is a high probability. but i would say a guarantee that they will go back here very quickly, about 200 and in such quantities as now we hear that our armed forces are knocking out the russian invaders 500-600 a day do you understand what this means for belarusians? that is

, i don’t think that the government there will feel strongly about these belarusians who died. but everything will still be more sensitive than in russia . tribunals and to expel them around the world they have not yet they want to be in belarus somehow they want to check now the only question is whether they will still be able to do it we will see, but what are the russian troops or there with a small number of which nationalities in the belarusians will these plans most likely already be clearly formed cross the border of ukraine once again well, although in order to completely take control of belarus with completely annoying wars of aggression in belarus and so on .

i don't know who else will be sent there, well, it will most likely be someone already in the ranks of the fsb-shnik, and they have this, they want to implement it and are preparing for it. it was quite serious, well, advancing all the way to kyiv in the first case. i think categorically not. and i rely on the opinion of our military experts and those people who, in principle, have already done a lot of things around kyiv and not only kyiv, and nuclear plants there and everything else that is from belarus directly the threat was no longer so serious even when crossing the border, the only thing that of course it will cure the distractions were and that's why it's so undesirable for us later. it understands perfectly well and they're still trying to push their own well, we'll see what belarus can do, but

you know we don't care what's there will withstand belarus, belarus, bilashenko, they have already shown us what it is, now we just need to take this factor into account when planning military operations and defense and offensive, and in general , well, the whole country in order to take into account this possible direction - threats or challenges for ukraine the state secretary of the security council of the republic of belarus stated that the command keeps the units and military units of the armed forces in constant readiness. meanwhile, yesterday president zelenskyi stated that one of the permanent priorities of border protection is the protection of the border with the republic of belarus, and we are ready for any what scenarios did the supreme commander of the armed forces of ukraine say, we will hear from zelensky also at the pond, they discussed in detail the border, border protection with both russia and belarus, this too a permanent priority, we are preparing for all

possible defense scenarios. no matter what minsk inclines to, it will not help them either. like all other sick ideas in this war against ukraine and ukrainians, valery, well, obviously the question was and remains relevant, the diplomatic relations of kyiv and minsk, i already i once asked you about this, but since this question can be asked in the development of the situation in ukrainian-belarusian relations, i will ask myself this question again at the end of 2023. what is preventing ukraine should sever diplomatic relations with the republic of belarus because it is an accomplice of russia in the current aggression and what consequences this may have for the ukrainian state in particular.

we may have missed the moment that was... my opinion is nothing. belarus is participating in the war. by the way, iran is supplying, er, well, the aggressor is training on the territory of belarus, so it really should have been done yesterday, that is, i think from the point of view of justice, it should be done moreover, it is necessary to ban the entry of citizens of belarus into ukraine, which means that it can be done simultaneously with the europeans now lithuania latvia estonia in lithuania an initiative has been passed not to sell weapons to belarusians to russians well, they are still looking at whether to extend the ban on entry to belarus in them too for now, there is still entry. i think our partners should look at this issue synchronously, it's not about how we treat belarusians, there are belarusians who fight for the freedom of yanovsky, the freedom of belarus

for ukraine, there are belarusians there, for example cyber parties are belarusians, well, the political position is that they do not fight much there, but somewhere there they make statements, somewhere they drive around the village, but no matter what, we must understand that those belarusians who are now in the territory of belarus are citizens, they can use reversal operations and you do not you will figure out who is good belarus, bad belarus we must ban well, i say this question once again, we must synchronize with our partner, ban entry well, at least well, at least look at the more meticulous procedure for registering such an entry for citizens of conscription age there are men, i know that in our country, in principle, de facto, such measures are taken well, but with a gap, let's look at the statements now. i think it would be the right opportunity if lukashenka's statements are again aggressively contemptuous of the

president of ukraine and the statement that we are here from russia, the further you are from the whole run-up, then you have to tear it immediately, they tear it apart, if only to show that we do not pass these statements on the back of lukashenka's meeting with putin and shoigu. the chairman of the security council of moldova , oleksandr mustya, blamed the russian federation in preparation of aggression against his country for 2023, the question is not what it foresees, uh, well, the new offensive of the russian federation on the territory of moldova, but when it will happen, he said, "mustyasya" and this statement was made today. what do you think, uh, putin already said goodbye to his idea of ​​passing through the southern regions of ukraine and entering moldova. does the current statement of the head of the

security council of moldova indicate that they have some additional data that testify to putin's plans in 2023 to start some military operations from the same transnistria against the republic of moldova, well, let's start with the fact that the military and those who deal with security look at various scenarios and take into account the most difficult scenarios, how to react to them is correct and in this sense, i think that it is absolutely quite probable and even 24, we saw that the russians were planning such and such steps to connect the so-called southern corridor there and go through odesa further to transnistria, that is, the hotel that was and they remain. they did not go anywhere , that is, they still have the desire the scenario is on the table, no one canceled this scenario, whether it will be possible to implement it depends,

obviously, not even on moldova, it is clear that everything depends on ukraine, but all the same, the fact that the moldovans understand more and more that it will not be possible to simply sit through this war, that it is necessary to think after all, despite it, moldova is possible how to take your decisive steps, well , estonia is already big. well, what a huge country. what is estonia doing, how is it helping, what steps is lithuania taking? and thank you for accepting our people, although, to be honest, well, if the situation was different there, but spring is passing through moldova, and european funds are going to compensate moldova, so i am not surprised by the moldovan position because there are difficult processes within society and what he has to

do, as an example. she simply proceeds from the fact that she has a situation. there are a lot of pro-russian petty uh-what forces that can simply and want to change the political situation in moldova, we have to take this into account in ukraine when we invite moldova there, everything works more quickly. i still urge the government of moldova to see where they can contribute. i would say that the key contribution would be theirs because of the current certification of relations with romania as a nato eu country, so that what will happen in the event of such approaches by the russians there to moldova the fact is that it is no longer a question of the fact that it is necessarily a land border, you see, russia uses strategic aviation or sends ships and missiles to ukraine, and whoever stops it will send it to moldova . rockets are already falling there, and with what can they be directed, so yes, this is all a global war, but the other day, the pope finally said that this is

a global war. i just don’t understand why in a global war only ukraine has to hold this resistance, that is, for a global war, there must be global the challenges will begin, let's start with regional answers, these are our neighbors who help us with weapons, but one way or another, if there is a threat to go further, they will be forced to react, take part in the war, this is poland - this is slovakia, this is romania and hungary, as it were there, morgan did not spin like an ear to this in a frying pan in a frying pan, all the same, these are threats that are approaching these borders, so i would still like more decisive decisive action, and then these scenarios of putin's russians will not come true , therefore, there are such scenarios that are already laid out for options for military operations but they will not come true because it is called becoming

ukraine . the states, apparently, in the kremlin, expected until december 30, 2022, well, at least to make some kind of mini-wed or something similar, with the participation of part of ukraine, obviously, moldova, obviously , belarus, and obviously, the fact that vladimir putin does not come out with an annual message like this is connected with this it is provided for by the constitution of the russian federation and he does not go to the annual press conference because he has nothing to say to him. yesterday he gathered children and young people there and gathered some pseudo-organization there. at that time he spoke in front of them. looks like the komsomol members or the yellow boys. i don't

know what. they will probably choose something in the middle , and yet, can it be said that in 2022 , the failure of putin in ukraine and the failure of the blitzkrieg of the russian army put an end to the effort to resuscitate the soviet union and this this 10-month period of large-scale invasion shows that there simply can not be any return to the soviet union. i believe that this is the beginning of such conclusions. as you said, it was still in the 90s in ukraine and gradually it gained momentum. who would i didn't beat him when i was in power. well, then yanukovych tried to hand over the country simply for nothing to the russians, such was the period, but the final point was still, well, not exactly, but the basic one was set in 2014, that is the

13-14th year, it was precisely the struggle of the ukrainian people for this freedom, for not returning to prison the soviet union and this authoritarian dictatorial model, people went to the maidan for it and the orange revolution began. the revolution of dignity is over . let's not forget that people died for it in kyiv and on other maidans . in the 14th year, i think that's when it was done, what is being done now, it's even a different period, it's not a full stop, isn't there such a stake or a stake in the coffin, soviet or from the soviet union, now we kill such a person to the soviet union in order to break with that essence , that spirit, and all that is connected with it, those are the chains from which the russians , belarusians, kazakhstan,

uzbeks , that is, these countries, cannot break free. they will not break out of this slavery until they do anything good they will not be and we are breaking out of this slavery now we have already broken out now we are trying against these armed men more than us but so far these invaders are just so that they will finally leave our land that is, this is already the final stage, that is why i believe that the soviet union is a coffin it has been in the pit for a long time. well, just now, this question is about who will fall there again together. a few weeks ago, mr. valery, the former chancellor of the federal republic of germany, angela merkel, announced that the minsk agreements were concluded between russia and ukraine in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

were a freezing of the conflict, not its solution, and gave ukraine precious time to become stronger, well, to put it simply, i would prepare for war, she said about this in an interview, not in a newspaper, a website, on december 7, and it caused a rather stormy reaction in the kremlin , really yes it is possible to interpret the minsk agreements that the minsk agreements were an attempt to restrain russia and prepare for a large-scale war and that the ukrainian side really did not intend to comply with the minsk agreements . that this is a question, the russians are also using e-e in the dialogue with their partners, and they have already accused merkel of anyone , that she suddenly told the truth, that is, i

will say, yes, the events are very recent, and they can still be just their interpretation used, i will say you have fewer facts like january and february 2015, in these months, more than 290 of our brave soldiers, women and men, died, now the numbers are even more terrible, but at that time , 300 people per month every month, which you can read about on the wall on mykhailivskyi in the cathedral, you can see how long before that and how suddenly, in january, february, the russians obviously went on the offensive in the offensive that is happening now, the same they went then , and a fact that any military officer who will be involved at that time will tell you, the road to kyiv was open we didn't have such an opportunity as it is now to protect the capitals. well, except for the

citizens. i thought everything was a struggle, but what to say about the situation compared to the 22nd year, it's also not the best, but the situation has changed a lot, we have the armed forces, we we have the equipment, we finally got the source, the first defense was a sbu tank, even though there was nothing like that, the way was open, by the way, you can check when even in the 22nd year, how many did we reach, and then it was opened, that's why the purpose of all these minsk meetings and not only on the 15th of the 14th year, it is primarily to stop the offensive of russia , that is, to stop the offensive, and well, no matter what, this goal was achieved in the 15th. and all the other moments, how did it affect the future, or was it possible even then thrown out by russia from the territory ukraine it is already ahead