Ukraine updates: Fighters hit Russian ship, port in Crimea

The foreign affairs commission at Turkey's parliament approved on Tuesday Sweden's accession into the NATO military alliance, after 19 months of delays where Turkey pressured Stockholm for security-related concessions.

The commission is backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party. The vote followed four hours of debate, where other topics were also discussed. The decision will need to be voted on in the parliament general assembly, where the AK Party also has a ruling majority.

A vote could be held within weeks, paving the way for Sweden's NATO accession.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom welcomed the move in a statement, saying Stockholm looked forward to joining NATO.

Both Sweden and Finland abandoned their neutral stance after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, submitting a joint bid to become NATO members. While Finland was admitted, Sweden's road was blocked by Ankara, which required security concessions it said aimed to combat terrorism.

Russian forces attacked a railway station in the Southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, killing one policeman and injuring four people, Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

The shelling occurred as a train was set to evacuate residents, with some 140 civilians at the station, Klymenko added on the messaging platform Telegram.

"Thanks to the clear actions of the police, everyone was successfully taken to safe places," Klymenko said. "Two more police officers are in the hospital with shrapnel wounds."

Kherson has been under Russian control since the early days of the February 2022 invasion. Ukrainian forces retook it more than a year ago, but it's been the target of frequent Russian attacks since.

 

Ukraine's commander-in-chief said on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops had retreated to the outskirts of the eastern city of Marinka, after Russia claimed it fully controlled it.

"We have now moved to the outskirts of Marinka, and in some places already beyond the boundaries of the settlement," Valeriy Zaluzhny told reporters at a briefing in Kyiv.

On Sunday, Russia claimed that its forces gained full control of the city, whereas Ukraine denied the claim.

"Our assault units (...) have today completely liberated the settlement of Marinka," Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

Putin said that controlling the town would give Russian troops the chance to move enemy combat units away from Donetsk.

"Our troops [now] have the opportunity to reach a wider operational area," he said in a video.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the country's air force for the attack on occupied Crimea that Kyiv claims destroyed a Russian warship.

"I am grateful to our Air Force for the impressive replenishment of the Russian underwater Black Sea fleet with another vessel. The occupiers will not have a single peaceful place in Ukraine," he wrote on the Telegram social media site on Tuesday, implying the ship had been sunk. 

So far, Russian officials have only acknowledged the vessel taking damage. 

But unverified images purporting to show the overnight airstrike showed a large explosion at the scene which Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday they believed to be a munitions explosion on board. 

"We can see how powerful the explosion was, what the detonation was like. After that, it’s very hard for a ship to survive, because this was not a rocket, this is the detonation of munitions," Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Radio Free Europe. 

First photos from the scene released by Russian news agency TASS gave no indication of the extent of damage to the ship, showing the port from the wrong angle and seemingly from behind security cordons, quite far from the scene. Smoke could be seen hovering over the area, though.

Russian officials' accounts of the overnight airstrike on the port of Feodosia in occupied Crimea differed somewhat from the Ukrainian side. 

Rather than saying that the Novocherkassk large landing was destroyed in the attack, Russian news agency Interfax cited the defense ministry as saying it was damaged. 

The defense ministry also claimed that anti-aircraft fire destroyed two Ukrainian fighter jets in the raid, while Ukraine's air force had made no mention of losses. 

Interfax later reported that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had briefed President Vladimir Putin about the attack.

Meanwhile, Russian-installed officials in Feodosia reported one death and comparatively few losses on the ground. 

"Sadly, one person was killed and two others were wounded in an enemy attack on Feodosia," the Russian-installed governor of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram. He added that six buildings had been damaged and their residents evacuated.

Ukraine's air force said in a Telegram post it had destroyed a Russian fleet ship in the Black Sea near Crimea suspected of carrying drones early on Tuesday.

Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram that the amphibious landing ship "Novocherkassk" had been sunk. He posted a social media video of a huge explosion in the harbor.

"People say that it transported Shaheds," a Telegram post by the air force said, referring to Iranian explosive drones used regularly by Russia against Ukraine.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Kremlin-backed head of Crimea said on Telegram, "An enemy attack was carried out in the area of Feodosia. The port area is cordoned off."

"As of now, the detonation has stopped and the fire has been localized. All relevant services are on site. Residents of several houses will be evacuated," he added. 

Loud explosions were reported early Tuesday from the Crimean town of Feodosia on the Black Sea coast, Russian news outlets on the Telegram messaging service reported.

They posted footage on Telegram showing explosions and fires over a port area.

The reports could not be independently verified.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, in a move that has been internationally condemned.

Ukraine plans to lower the age of those who can be mobilized for combat duty to 25 from 27, said a text posted on the website of Ukraine's parliament on Monday.

An explanatory note signed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov added key provisions of the draft law, saying they included the "change of conscription age from 27 to 25 years."

In his end-of-year news conference on December 19, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military had proposed mobilizing 450,000-500,000 more Ukrainians, but that it was a "highly sensitive" issue that the military and government would discuss before the proposal was sent to parliament. 

Zelenskyy said he wanted to hear more arguments for mobilizing additional people.

Ukraine's troop numbers are not known, but some estimates say the country has around 1 million people in the forces. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his country's air force and air defense units for shooting down Russian fighter jets .

"In just one evening yesterday, our warriors shot down almost 30 "Shahed" drones, a few missiles, and two military aircraft. Five in a week. I am grateful to everyone who ensured such a powerful result," Zelenskyy said in a post shared on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

He also warned that Ukrainian air defenses would continue to grow stronger in future once the F-16 fighter jets and other additional systems promised by allies arrived.

On Christmas Eve, Kyiv reported the shooting down of two Russian Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-30CM fighter jets in the Donetsk region and over the Black Sea.

tg/sri (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)