Ukraine war latest: Russian attacks risked nuclear ‘catastrophe’, Putin told

Russia’s parliament has today passed a law that bans promoting “LGBT+ propaganda” to people of all ages.

The third and final reading of the law expands an existing ban which previously applied to children only.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has characterised the war with Russia as one of “strength and resilience”.

It comes as repeated missile barrages against power infrastructure across Ukraine over the last few weeks have forced millions of people to go without light, water or heating for hours or days at a time, just as outdoor temperatures fall below freezing.

Mr Zelensky told the FT: ‘It was the kind of incident that hasn’t happened for I don’t know how many years, maybe 80, 90 years: a country on the European continent where there was totally no light.

‘The state superbly fought back. Energy workers, the state emergencies’ ministry, deminers, everyone worked to fix and restore power and provide at least a bit of water.

‘This is a war about strength, about resilience, it is about who stands stronger.’

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia’s strategy to destroy Ukraine’s critical infrastructure will not weaken his country’s resolve to claim back territory captured by Vladimir Putin’s forces.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Zelensky said: “We must return all lands . . . because I believe that the battlefield is the way when there is no diplomacy.

“If you can’t get your land back entirely, the war is simply frozen. It’s a question of time before it resumes.”

A nude effigy of Russian president Vladimir Putin perched on top of an ornate golden toilet has been put up for auction by a group of Czech activists who plan to use the proceeds from the sale to buy and send a combat drone to Ukraine’s forces.

Read our report in full here:

Berlin has made it clear that the Patriot air defence units it offered to Poland are intended for use on Nato territory, countering demands by Warsaw for the system to be sent to Ukraine.

“These Patriots are part of Nato’s integrated air defence, meaning they are intended to be deployed on Nato territory,” German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said in Berlin.

“Any use outside Nato territory would require prior discussions with Nato and the allies,” she added.

Berlin offered Warsaw the Patriot missile defence system to help secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed and killed two people in Poland last week.

Hungary has delayed ratifying Finland and Sweden’s bid for Nato membership – but Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it would be approved early next year.

Orban told a briefing after a meeting of the Visegrad Group in Slovakia that his government had already decided that Hungary would support Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO accession and parliament would set this item on its agenda at its first session next year.

“Hungary will surely give its backing to their accession, after the government had done, also parliament will do so,” Orban said. Parliament normally reconvenes around mid-February.