Ukraine war briefing: US House speaker dumps key Ukraine backer Mike Turner
Mike Johnson removes his fellow Republican as chair of powerful intelligence committee; Poland says Europe must take care of itself. What we know on day 1,058
Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, on Wednesday removed his fellow Republican Mike Turner, a vocal supporter of assistance for Ukraine, as chairman of the powerful House intelligence committee. Johnson, who has aligned himself closely with Trump, said he would soon announce a new chair because the “intelligence community and everything related to [the committee] needs a fresh start”. Turner’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the new administration would seek “bold diplomacy” to end the war. “There will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainians,” he said.
Russia launched missiles and drones at Ukrainian energy facilities on Wednesday, one day after Kyiv said it had carried out its largest aerial attack of the war on Russian army factories and energy hubs hundreds of kilometres from the frontline. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, said: “Another massive Russian attack. It is the middle of winter, and the target for the Russians remains the same: our energy sector.” The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 30 of the missiles and 47 drones, while the prime minister, Denys Shmygal, said the Russian attack had “failed”.
The mayor of the southern city of Kherson said there were power cuts as a result of the barrage. The governor of Ukraine’s western Ivano-Frankivsk region said critical infrastructure facilities had been targeted. In the Lviv region, which borders EU and Nato member Poland, authorities said two such facilities had been hit in the Drogobych and Stryi districts. “There were no casualties, but there was damage,” said the governor, Maksym Kozytsky. Poland said while it scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace, there were no violations. National grid operator Ukrenergo urged Ukrainians to limit their electricity use throughout the day after lifting emergency blackouts in seven regions.
After the barrage, Zelenskyy called on the west to use around US$250bn of unallocated frozen Russian assets to buy Kyiv weapons. He was speaking at a press conference in Warsaw with the Polish president, Andrzej Duda. “Ukraine will take this money, allocate a large amount for domestic production and for the import of exactly those types of weapons that Ukraine does not have,” said Ukraine’s president. The EU last week paid out to Kyiv the first €3bn (US$3.1bn) of a loan backed by the interest earned on the Russian assets.
Europe must “take responsibility” for its own security, Poland has told its fellow EU member states, as Warsaw takes over the rotating presidency of the bloc at a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty. As Shaun Walker writes from Warsaw, Poland has started its six-month presidency as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House having promised to bring a negotiated end to Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine and threatened to seize Greenland using military force. “There is awareness among European countries that the next few months will be a very difficult time … That’s why we think that this particular moment is the right time to say loudly that it’s time to take responsibility for our future and our security,” said Poland’s Europe minister, Adam Szłapka, in an interview with the Guardian at the foreign ministry building in Warsaw.
The US state department on Wednesday announced new sanctions on “more than 150 individuals and entities involved in Russia’s defence industry and supporting its military industrial base”.
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