Author: DW

Ukraine says it has shot down 14 of 15 Russian drones launched at the south of the country overnight.”As a result of air combat, Ukraine’s Air Force and defence forces destroyed 14 shaheds in Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Khmelnytskyi regions,” the Ukrainian Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app. The drones were launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov in Russia, it said.There was no immediate comment from Russia and Reuters could not independently verify the report.In a separate wave of attacks on Saturday, one person was killed and seven injured when Russian shelling struck…

Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova has been barred from running in March’s presidential election because of “mistakes” in her application for registration as a candidate, Russian television reported. A video posted by a Russian news channel showed a meeting of the Central Elections Committee (CEC) where the members voted unanimously to reject Duntsova’s candidacy. Duntsova’s campaign team also confirmed the rejection on its Telegram channel and showed screenshots of documents the CEC had highlighted as lacking the proper signatures.Meet the woman who wants to run against Putin in RussiaTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser…

China’s capital has broken its record for the number of hours with temperatures below freezing point in December, after a cold wave hit much of the country with blizzards and prolonged low temperatures.  Northern and northeastern China experienced particularly cold temperatures over the last roughly two weeks, caused by biting cold air blowing south from the Arctic, with some areas hitting lows of negative 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit).In Rongchen, east of Beijing at a very similar latitude, police officers helped out shoveling snowImage: Li Xinjun/Xinhua News Agency via picture alliance As of Sunday, a Beijing weather observatory had…

Ukraine is officially marking Christmas on 25 December for the first time today – after it continued to fend off Russian drone attacks overnight.Traditionally, Ukrainians have celebrated on 7 January, in line with the Russian Orthodox Church. But in July, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed legislation moving the Christmas holiday to 25 December.On Sunday, Mr Zelenskyy addressed the nation in a video clip filmed outside St Sophia Cathedral in central Kyiv.He said: “Step by step, day by day, the darkness is losing”. “Today, this is our common goal, our common dream. And this is precisely what our common prayer is for…