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THE ESSENTIAL

  • The French Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, said on Wednesday, during his first trip to kyiv, that he wanted to work to meet Ukrainian military needs “for the weeks to come”.

  • The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, said he was "convinced" that Russia would achieve its objectives in Ukraine by dint of "patience" and "stubbornness", in particular the recognition of four Ukrainian regions of which Moscow claims the annexation.

  • Russia will ban from February 1 the sale of its oil to foreign countries that use the cap on the price of Russian black gold.

    This ceiling was set at the beginning of December at 60 dollars per barrel by the EU, the G7 and Australia.

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06:34: A new UN coordinator for the Black Sea Grains Initiative

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday appointed a new coordinator for the Black Sea Grains Initiative, an agreement between the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.

The Sudanese Amir Mahmoud Abdulla, in office since August, is replaced by the Kuwaiti Abdullah Abdul Samad Dashti, a retired admiral of the armed forces of his country.

In recent years, he has also been Kuwait's military attaché in Belgium and his country's representative to NATO.

This Black Sea Grain Initiative (the official name of the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports from Ukrainian ports) stems from an agreement sealed on July 22 and has helped alleviate the global food crisis caused by the war.

It was renewed in mid-November for the four winter months.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy, a total of 580 ships so far carrying 15 million tons of grain have left Ukrainian ports since July bound for Asia, Africa and Europe.

06:25: Towards another conflict in Europe?

Kosovo has closed its main border post with Serbia after the Serbs erected barricades there, in one of the worst crises in recent years in this region where Moscow supports Belgrade against NATO.

The United States and the European Union called on Wednesday for "unconditional de-escalation" in this region where Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic ruled last week that the situation was "on the verge of armed conflict".

Conversely, Russia for its part reaffirmed its support for Belgrade.

"We have very close allied, historical and spiritual relations with Serbia," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding that Russia was following "very carefully what is happening and how the rights of Serbs are insured”.

"And, of course, we support Belgrade in the actions it takes."

06h15: Welcome to this new Live

Hello everyone.

On this Thursday, December 29, the editorial staff of

20 Minutes

is mobilized to give you, as every day, the latest information on the conflict.

Diplomatically, yesterday was marked by Sébastien Lecornu's visit to kyiv.

The French Minister for the Armed Forces took advantage of his first trip to the Ukrainian capital to confirm France's lasting aid.

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