Shaun
Volodymyr Zelensky has lauded incoming US president Donald Trump saying he could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month-old war with Russia and help stop Vladimir Putin.
“Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” the Ukrainian president said in a televised interview.“His qualities are indeed there,” Mr Zelensky said of Mr Trump.
“He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin. He is able to do this.”
Facing advances by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, Mr Zelenksy said Mr Trump had told him he would be one of the first world leaders to visit Washington after the presidential inauguration this month.
His comments came as the Ukrainian military said it had carried out a precision strike on a Russian command post in Maryino in Russia’s Kursk region as Russian officials confirmed the attack.
“These strikes disrupt the ability of the Russian Federation to conduct terrorism against innocent Ukrainian civilians,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement.
There are several variants of Army Tactical Missile Systems, a long-range missile system that often carries varying amounts of cluster bomblets.
Ukrainian forces used the US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time in October 2023, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the weapons had “proven themselves.”
Ukraine likely has what are known as M39A1 Block IA ATACMS that are guided in part by Global Positioning System and have a range of 40 to 190 miles. They can carry a payload of 300 bomblets. The M39 Block IA were used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Army documents, and were added to the US arsenal in 1997.
Ukrainian families sobbed as they reunited with loved ones in a prisoner of war (POW) swap with Russia on Monday, 30 December. Among them were soldiers captured by Russia from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Snake island and other parts of the front line, as well as two civilians. Volodymyr Zelensky said the two countries exchanged 189 prisoners of war each in an exchange mediated by the United Arab Emirates. It was the 59th POW swap since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022. Mariupol defender Oleksandr Hlyshenko was in captivity for more than two years. He waited for his release “every minute” and called the day of the exchange his “second birthday.”
