Moscow is considering embargoing capped oil supplies from the West

500 Ukrainian towns are deprived of electricity as a result of the Russian strikes

Ukrainians walk along dark streets during a power outage in Kyiv.

Reuters

Yesterday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior announced that 507 towns in eight regions of Ukraine were deprived of electricity after the Russian strikes, which caused great damage to the national electricity grid.

While two civilians were killed and seven others injured in Ukraine as a result of the Russian attacks, Moscow said it would not export oil subject to a price ceiling imposed by the West, even if it was forced to reduce its crude production.

In detail, more than 500 Ukrainian towns were still without electricity yesterday, after the Russian strikes, which in recent weeks caused great damage to the national electricity grid, as stated by an official in the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior.

"Russia continues to attack the country's critical infrastructure," First Deputy Interior Minister Yevgeny Yenin told Ukrainian television.

He added, "Currently, there are 507 towns in eight regions of our country that are deprived of electricity."

He explained that «the Kharkiv region is the most affected and 112 of its villages are isolated, while in the Donetsk and Kherson regions there are more than 90 villages, the Mykolaiv region 82, the Zaporizhia region 76, and Lugansk 43».

The Ukrainian authorities again called on civilians to remain steadfast, despite the deteriorating living conditions.

“We must hold out,” said the governor of the Mykolaiv region, Vitalyich Kem, on television, as power outages several times a day plunge millions of Ukrainians into darkness and cold, with temperatures dropping below zero for several days.

On the other hand, two civilians were killed and seven others were injured in Ukraine as a result of Russian armed attacks throughout the day, according to the Ukrainian national news agency "Ukrinform".

According to information received from the regional military departments, one person died and five people were injured in the Donetsk region, and one person was killed and two others were injured in the Kherson region, according to Ukrinform. ».

In Moscow, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said yesterday that Russia will not export oil subject to a price ceiling imposed by the West, even if Moscow is forced to reduce its crude production.

"We are working on mechanisms to prohibit the use of a price ceiling, regardless of the specified level, because such interference can further destabilize the market," Novak said.

He added that Russia will not operate under a price cap, even if it is forced to cut production.

In London, the British Ministry of Defense said in its daily bulletin issued yesterday that the support of Russian citizens for the war in Ukraine is “declining significantly,” according to recent opinion polls conducted in Russia.

"With Russia likely not to achieve significant battlefield successes over the next few months, maintaining tacit public approval for war is likely to be increasingly difficult for the Kremlin," the bulletin said.

The British Ministry of Defense referred to a report by an independent Russian media, which claimed that access to data collected by the Russian Federal Protection Service is for internal use.

The ministry said - without specifying the Russian media outlet - that "the data indicates that 55% of Russians support holding peace talks with Ukraine, while only 25% said they support the continuation of the war."

In Washington, US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said that the intelligence community expects a continued slowdown in fighting in Ukraine in the next few months, and sees no evidence that Ukraine's willingness to fight back has diminished despite attacks on the power grid and other key infrastructure.

"We're seeing a kind of lower tempo of conflict already, and we expect that's probably what we'll see in the coming months," Haines said at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California.

It said both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries were looking to try to re-equip and re-supply to prepare for post-winter counter-offensives.

And she continued, “We actually have a fair amount of skepticism about whether the Russians would be willing to do that or not.

I think the Ukrainians are more optimistic in that time frame.

In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said he planned to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before holding phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Macron said in an interview with the daily newspaper "Le Parisien": "I waited for the opportunity to discuss everything in detail with US President Joe Biden before speaking with Putin, and I also waited for a conversation with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, with whom I will speak again.. and of course." As always, you must first talk to President Zelensky.

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