this year, thanks to western aid, ukrainian air defense was significantly strengthened, american patriots appeared, the number of german arist systems increased, together with the united states, it was possible to adapt soviet anti-aircraft missile systems, which is still the basis of the protection of the ukrainian sky against western missiles, because the soviet reserves are almost exhausted . all this gives cause for optimism, as the president spoke about during the online summit of the group of seven countries. this winter, we have a chance to win the energy battle. last year , russia tried to attack ukraine blackout its missiles and iranian shahedis, which became weapons of russian terror, tried to destroy our energy industry. we are now settling the air force base, particularly with your support. if we continue to do this, if we push this earth energetically, russian terror will suffer one of the biggest losses. at this time last year, ukraine

had already experienced six massive enemy attacks, each with 50-100 rockets, as well as a number of shahed raids. in november, there was even a blackout in the country. as a result of another attack, all nuclear units in the controlled territory were are disconnected, and the power system has lost its integrity. millions of ukrainians were left without electricity. we had to adapt to life with emergency shutdown schedules, a new characteristic sound appeared on the streets of the cities, the noise of being turned on. generator according to the ministry of energy , 50% of the energy infrastructure was damaged by shelling. thermal power plant turbines, distribution networks and deficit transformers. in the spring and summer, the energy industry carried out a large-scale repair campaign, but this winter the energy system met in much worse condition condition than last year. of course, it is impossible to completely restore everything. and, unfortunately,

there are damages and destructions that are not recoverable at all, but conditionally something happens there that does not make it possible to generate the necessary amount of electricity, for this there is import. it is thanks to the import of electricity from the european union, in particular romania and slovakia, that ukrainians have not yet had to remember how to use light according to the schedule, and such a risk exists, and even without massive attacks. a slight decrease in temperature... or an unplanned repair power unit and in the damaged electrical system there is a shortage, it goes through the winter for the first time without power reserves, therefore any russian strike can become especially painful, the partners understand this and help not only with air defense systems, but also with appropriate equipment. one of the vectors of our efforts is to provide ukraine with spare equipment and spare materials, these are high-voltage transformers about... industrial gas generators and

mobile autonomous equipment that will increase stability and prevent heat loss and electricity if russia strikes devastatingly. another area of ​​assistance is the physical protection of critical infrastructure. this, in particular, is taken care of by the state agency for reconstruction and development of infrastructure. the agency assures that, together with ukrenergo , they have developed a three-level system of protection of power facilities, gabions and big bags, special structures, filled. high-explosive materials, should protect against the debris of drones and missiles, concrete structures against the explosion of shaheds, the third level - protection against a direct hit by a missile, the americans provide special protective equipment, including nets and fittings. how effective it will be will become clear in the near future. the morning attack on december 8 may indicate the beginning of russia's winter campaign to destroy the ukrainian energy system. the relatively small number of missiles, some of which, according to defense express, do not have a real

warhead, supports the version that the invaders are only probing the ukrainian air defense system. if there are many times more rockets, there will be a serious disadvantage on the street, a return to the emergency ones blackouts - quite a real scenario - experts say. the ministry of energy has already prepared the corresponding schedules. events events that are happening right now and affect our lives. of course, the news feed reports on them. however, not enough. to know what is happening, you need to understand. antin borkovskii and invited experts soberly assess the events, analyze them, modeling our future. every saturday at 1:10 p.m., with a repeat on sunday at 10:10 a.m. studio zahid with anton borkovsky at espresso.

good evening, on the air news, results of the week, i will conduct this issue for you today, annaeva melnyk, about the main topics, about... i propose to find out in a short announcement. the european union is starting accession negotiations with ukraine, but hungary has blocked financial aid for our country. european politicians see a way out of this situation. without a new package of american aid, ukraine will run out of missiles and shells in a matter of months, which may convince american congressmen not to make such a gift. to putin more than 1,700 civilians were killed by the russians only in the buchanskyi district of the kyiv region, last year in march. how people live with consequences occupation? we learn about our own cultural heritage.

a large-scale project was opened at the national museum of ukrainian folk decorative art: eyes of flowers. an exhibition of the works of the first ukrainian avant-garde artist hanna sobachko-shosak. we are inhaling lord gial - an inhaler this week unfriendly neighbors the russians have increased their rocket attacks on our cities. thus, on the night of december 11, the occupiers attacked ukraine with shakhet drones from the occupied crimea. and also ballistic missiles. our air defense destroyed 18 shock shells and eight rockets. regarding rockets. the attack on kyiv oblast was made by the enemy from the bryansk region at about 4 o'clock in the morning. according to the defense express agency, it was. anti-aircraft missiles 48n6 dm to the s-400 air defense system. the maximum speed of this missile to the s-400 complex is 2.5 km/s, that is, the flight of this missile for 200 km takes only a few minutes. therefore, first there were explosions

of the air defense system, and then the alarm signal sounded. on the night of december 13 , the russians launched a massive ballistic missile attack on kyiv. and in the direction of one of a specific energy facility. all 10 missiles were shot down by our air defense forces. this number of destroyed ballistic missiles is a record. at the same time, some rocket fragments caused disaster to people. more than 50 people were injured. dozens of apartments were destroyed, windows of the capital's school were smashed. in addition, the russian invaders launch iranian shaheds at us almost every night. and the front-line cities of donetsk and zaporizhzhia. kherson and kharkiv regions suffer from ballistic and artillery shelling every day. this week at the front was the most difficult last time every day there are many military clashes. now the enemy is trying to use the advantage in manpower to

crush our defense. the most difficult today is near maryinka avdiyivka, bakhmut and kupyansk. a certain stabilization took place around avdiivka. regarding maryinka, there are many reports that russian troops control about 90% of this settlement . according to military analyst serhiy zgurets, the enemy will operate around ugledar to ensure the functioning of the volnovakha station. the situation near bakhmut remains difficult in the north, the enemy leveled the line of defense, starting from ivanovsky, khromovoy to bohdanivka. it is also difficult today around the tick. despite the active work of our artillery, the enemy is actively using a significant number of personnel there . the armed forces of ukraine say that the artillery is enough, but the enemy has much more mortars, and with the help of fpv drones and mortars, the invaders are trying to influence

our defense line. another step on the way to european integration. ukraine will find itself again. in the spotlight during the eu summit in brussels. due to the lack of consensus before the start of the meeting, the leaders warned that this summit could last several days. on wednesday evening , the prime minister of estonia, kaia kalas, said that representatives of the countries risk spending christmas in brussels if no agreement is reached regarding ukraine. however, the participating countries still managed to vote for the start of negotiations on the accession of our country to the european union. although the joy of such a decision was overshadowed by the head of hungary. he blocked financial aid to our state in the amount of 50 billion euros calculated on four years. what way out of the situation do the representatives of other eu countries see. but what the summit was like in general, our

correspondent natalya starapravo, who attended this event, will tell. we didn't have to wait until christmas. yes, the negotiations were conducted for a very long time. however, on thursday in... ukrainians heard cherished and historically important news: the european union gave the green light for the start of negotiations on ukraine's accession to the european union. we supported the beginning. negotiations, it will be after the european commission's report in march. we want to support ukraine, it is very powerful political signal. this is a historic moment and it demonstrates the confidence and strength of the european union. this happened after viktor orban left the meeting hall. the leaders of european countries do not hide that hungary's intransigence has become a major pain point for the entire european union. viktor orban was offered by chancellor nieme to leave the meeting hall. hall so they unanimously voted for the decision . if you really don't agree, it's better to leave these

26 countries. the prime minister of hungary, viktor orban, remained dissatisfied with such a decision. we established seven conditions that accompanied ukraine's candidate status, and according to the european commission, three out of seven have not been fulfilled. there is no reason to discuss anything, it makes sense to return to it when ukraine fulfills everything. that you have not fulfilled the prerequisites, there is no chance to start negotiations. the decision regarding the 12th package of sanctions for russia was also voted unanimously, because just by coincidence, or ironically, the chancellor of austria was not present in the meeting hall, who voted against accepting the package of sanctions for russia. for the longest time, there was a discussion about the financial package for of ukraine in the amount of 50 billion euros. european leaders. countries sat on this issue all night, but viktor orban did not allow a unanimous vote for this decision, he

blocked financial aid for ukraine and it looks like he will do it until he unblocks the frozen funds from the financial common fund. however, european leaders assure that they will return to this issue from january next year, that is, from 2024, and say that ukraine will not... remain without the help of the european union. eu already is preparing to bypass hungary's veto if necessary, for example, to allow all eu countries except hungary to provide bilateral financing to ukraine in 2024 outside the eu budget. yesterday's decisions show that the european union is keeping its promises. negotiations on joining the european union are the penultimate step for ukraine. next , the leaders should decide on the negotiation framework, before the immediate start of the negotiations, ukraine should implement all

the recommendations of the european commission. ukraine has formally fulfilled all conditions, except for one - that concerns the regulation of lobbying activities. the relevant government bill was only registered in the parliament. ukraine officially began its path to the european union with the start of a full-scale invasion. then the leaders of the european governments. accepted the request, and are now ready to start negotiations on ukraine's accession to the european community. however, a full-scale war continues. russia continues to raid ukrainian cities and kill innocent people. do european leaders realize this? are you ready to accept? ukraine to the european union during a full-scale war? and how they will help ukraine to defeat the russian enemy together. worked on for you. the united states

of america is interested in ukraine winning the war imposed on it by russia, because only in the case of victory will ukraine remain independent now and be able to restrain further possible aggressions of the russian federation in the future. us president joseph biden said this during a press conference with volodymyr zelenskyi at the white house. the two-day visit of the president of ukraine to washington ended on tuesday it was not easy given that the us congress has not yet moved forward in approving military aid to our country in the amount of more than 60 billion dollars. support for ukraine has become a factor in the political confrontation between republicans and democrats, which is moving into the field of us presidential elections. how does this threaten the interests of ukraine and what further developments can be expected, about all this and not only in ours. the following material. fatigue intensifies,

doubts grow. the west is hesitant to support ukraine after its the counter-offensive failed - states the world press. the american congress does not seem to have time to pass a package of military and financial aid before the new year. we are talking about more than 60 billion dollars, critically important, both to train the front line and to pay teachers, doctors and pensioners. apparently, this is exactly what zelensky told president biden, speaker of the lower house johnson and the senate about. during an unannounced visit to the united states this week, but the american establishment was not convinced. republicans and democrats, de facto have already plunged into the maelstrom of the presidential campaign, and ukraine has become its hostage. holding funding for ukraine hostage to try to impose

an extremist republican vision of the border issue. this is not the way to solve the problem. "if we don't stop putin, he will endanger the freedom of everyone and almost everywhere. putin will continue to move, and potential aggressors around the world will take his example and try to take what they can by force. the conflict over migration policy is only the tip pre-election iceberg. according to the latest opinion polls, the presumptive candidate from the republican party, donald trump, was already significantly ahead of "biden, so the trumpists are strengthening their position in congress, despite the fact that they are in an absolute minority. they have long complained that supporting ukraine costs the american budget too much, and they advise zelensky to give territories to putin in exchange for peace, and the reduction of military aid is seen as

a kind of coercion for negotiations. the numbers speak for themselves. according to calculations of kiel. the institute of the world economy, which monitors support for ukraine, the cost of all aid packages in august-november of this year amounted to a little more than 2 billion dollars, and this is the absolute minimum at the beginning of a full-scale war. putin has found accomplices in iran and north korea and receives from them the weapons with which he kills our people, and supplies from dictatorships for russia are, unfortunately, rhythmic. than supplies from many democracies for ukraine. the potential possibility that american leadership in the defense of the free world will become weaker or will be interrupted, inspires dictators even when there is only a potential possibility. it may happen that putin will welcome this new year in a good mood and not through ukraine's fault. this week

, for the first time since february 24, the russian dictator held a so-called direct line with the people. he radiated confidence and optimism, saying that sooner or later the west will get tired and turn away from ukraine. that is when russia will achieve all its goals, and few doubt that it is about the destruction of ukraine as an independent state. many western leaders understand this threat. at the recent party conference of the social democrats, german chancellor olaf scholz announced his intention to increase support for ukraine. berlin will increase next year. russia's war against ukraine will continue, so it is very important that germany supports ukraine. we must be ready to do even more when others begin to doubt. putin should not

count on a decrease in aid from our side, and the borders in europe are not... is europe able to completely replace the usa? the answer is no and it was clearly voiced by the eu high representative for foreign affairs, josep borel. however , europeans can do more to support the ukrainian army and the ukrainian budget. although there are also problems within the european union, one of them even has a name, viktor orban. hungarian leader and longtime admirer. putin this week blocked the adoption of a quadruple aid package worth 50 billion euros for ukraine, although under pressure from germany and france he was unable to block the decision to start accession negotiations. but orban, as well as putin plays long he hopes for trump's victory and sees the extreme right strengthening

its position inside the eu, for example, in the recent elections in the netherlands. however. there is also positive news for kyiv. poland this week finally got a new prime minister, donald tusk, who has already said one of his key priorities will be to convince the world that now is not the time for so-called fatigue. president zelenskyy is trying to convince the world again that there is actually a game going on, that russia's war against ukraine is an attack on all of us. my government will be loud and clear help the full mob. of the free western world in helping ukraine, there is no alternative here, i can no longer listen to politicians who talk about fatigue from the war in ukraine, only unite. the west can help ukraine win the war. tusk and other supporters of ukraine in the west, who believe in its victory, do not have much time. financially, kyiv will be able

to hold on for a few more months, in particular, thanks to the tranche from the imf and the help of japan, which supported ukraine due to the delay of money from the usa and the eu. but with the military help is more difficult. the situation at the front is difficult. according to ... according to the american television company cnn, which refers to representatives of american intelligence, without the adoption of a new package, ukraine will first run out of long-range missiles, then missiles for air defense, anti-tank missiles for javelins and anti-aircraft missiles for stingers, and finally, artillery shells, this will lead to defeat, and the account, according to the publication, goes on for months, so american congressmen, if ... they want to avoid such a scenario, must hurry. an expert is in touch with us foreign policy council, ukrainian prism

oleksandr kraev. mr. oleksandr, i congratulate you. yes, congratulations. ukraine is now anxiously waiting for western aid, especially american aid. in your opinion, what are our chances of getting this support? in fact, the chances are not bad, because after debates and in the congress after the last negotiations with the white house, we see that rather the question is not about whether or not there will be support, the question is about when and in what final volume, that is, now the question is being resolved rather, we will be able to receive this assistance by the end of this year , or it will be more likely the second week of january next year, so i have almost no doubt that this aid will be provided, it's just a matter of two compromises, the first compromise on the final size of this aid, and the second compromise. when exactly they will be able to come to a certain agreement both on the issue of the border and on the issue of support for ukraine. ugh. and if we assume that the congress will not approve the aid

to our country, then what is the probability that lendlis will work and under what conditions, because this is not free aid. lenlis is currently not working. we just need to be clear to ourselves that since september 30 of this year, the law on lend-lease has not been extended, it has not been extended with absolute objectivity. reasons, because at that time there were still debates about the federal budget, and the law on lend-lease was actually considered that it would be adopted without problems if the federal budget passed without problems. right now lendles doesn't work, that's one thing, and two, lendles won't work if there's no money for that lendlease to work with, because the current iteration of lendlease is very different from the one that was in the 40s. modern lenlisk, when it was adopted in the 22nd year, it was adopted so that in the event of... an inadequate position of the congress, in the event that there was a majority of trumpists in the congress, because then there was such a calculation, and the president of the united states could by his

executive decree, without the need to turn to congress, allocate to ukraine from the existing budget the appropriate amounts monthly or there biweekly and so on, that is, now lenlease is not working, because he is not there in principle, he cannot work, because this bill currently not extended, and plus even if it was, it wouldn't... work, because the corresponding budget, which can be drawn up with the help of lendlease as a legal instrument, this budget simply does not exist. and one more clarifying question: in your opinion, the united states of america will allocate money to our country, but how important are the deadlines until the end of this week or already next year, what will this affect? this affects the lives of our defenders, that is, it affects how soon and how much... and how quickly we get this or that type of weaponry, because we are not talking to you only about airplanes, long-range missiles, some unique weapons, we are actually talking about artillery shells

, we are talking about infantry weapons, we are talking about repairing our armored vehicles, we are talking about replacing barrels for our artillery, we are talking about rockets for highmars, that is, a we also say that it is necessary to mention our air defense system, indeed european partners provide a lot, but we demand comprehensiveness in this provision. therefore, every day, every hour of postponement is very, very difficult for us, and it is very, very important that it be adopted as quickly as possible, because after the adoption of the relevant budgets, you understand, a certain time must pass for the order, for the manufacture, or at least for the delivery of the corresponding weapons, usually, bearing in mind the 22- 23, between the allocation of a specific amount of funds and the delivery of this weaponry to ukraine, about two weeks passed, that is, this is what we need to push back against. thank you for your clarifications, we had an expert from the foreign policy council, ukrainian prism, with us. oleksandr kraev. and we go further.

ukraine's losses due to the blockade of the polish-ukrainian border amounted to over uah 9 billion. the state customs service did not receive so much money - said the deputy prime minister yuliya sverdenko. in recent weeks, the governments of ukraine and poland have held a dialogue in an attempt to find compromise solutions regarding the unblocking of the border. and on december 11, the poles unblocked the yagodin dorogusk checkpoint. however, it still hardly happens. traffic of trucks on the sections of krakowiec, korchova, gravaruska, grebene and medika shegen. just security stable exports is one of our priorities next year, but for this we obviously need more anti-missile systems, yes, about air defense, we have done, if you know, we have already started a

military risk insurance program for... for ships, it should work within a few days. more than 20 million subscribers of the kyivstar mobile operator suffered another blow to the russians this week. this cyber attack was called one of the most destructive such operations by the intelligence of great britain in its report on december 16 the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation into ukraine. on december 12, the largest... mobile communications operator in ukraine, kyivstar, which provides more than half of the population with mobile communications and home internet, suffered a devastating external intervention. its effects lasted at least two days. the cyber attack also knocked out air raid sirens, some banks, atms and shopping terminals. almost two years ago , the russian occupiers staged a genocide of ukrainians in the kyiv region. according to

official data, more than 1,700 bodies were found only in... the district tortured and executed civilians. today, after this terrible nightmare , residents of the de-occupied cities and towns of the region are learning to live anew. how the fates of ordinary people who survived the occupation of russian barbarians turned out, see below. butch the name of this city is now worldwide associated with the terrible crimes of the russian occupiers. in 33 days, the invaders executed 461 inhabitants of the city, this is who shot him, these are my daughters, husband, ms. halyna shows photos of killed relatives and friends, at the beginning of the occupation, she and her family hid in the basement, the windows were very many peaceful people were shot, secondly , mine too, and my son left.

defense, he called us, said, get out as you want, but we have to run away from here, then the woman and her family went to poland and could not stay in a foreign country, she returned home, first of all, this is our ukraine, we love it, so why not they weren't, at home it's better, at home it's better, that's all, so ukraine is ukraine, borodyanka was also under occupation for only one month. and for the locals, an eternity, you know, there is such a thing, you want to wake up, but you are stuck somewhere it's the 23rd on the 24th, and it's like you're sleeping, and the dream is a nightmare, and you can't wake up from it. mrs. lilya saw with her own eyes the horrors of the russian invasion. on march 1, the occupiers dropped an aerial bomb on her house. the woman's family miraculously survived, the very next day they all

left the village together, well, you could say they left under bombardments, she was 3 months old, they were driving along the highway with a stroller in the middle, men on the sides, so that in case of anything, it would be possible to protect, and after the deoccupation of kyiv oblast, mrs. lili's family returned to their homeland a bearded woman, and her husband went to the front. my husband is currently at war, he is an officer, he is now a year ago, february 23 will be a year since he left. to fight, the woman herself helps the soldiers as best she can, weaves camouflage nets, a lot will already come, already on august 16 , 48 pieces, this is the 49th, only as of may 2022, more than 300 burials of civilians and another 41 the deceased was found under the rubble of houses, the bodies of the residents of borodyanka killed by rashi and...