⚡️⚡️ Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on December 5

❄️🔴Winter tall
An explosion of a gas cylinder caused an explosion in a five-story house in Nizhnevartovsk, a city in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra in Siberia, killing at least 6 people and injuring 15 others. Seven people are missing, most probably under the debris of the fallen structure. The explosion occurred the day before, on December 4, in one of the apartments of a five-storey building. Rescuers are working on the spot.

Meanwhile, in Yaroslavl, central Russia, a gas explosion occurred early Monday morning in a residential building, leading to the collapse of the attic floors and the roof collapsed. One person was reported injured. Rescuers have started evacuating people from the building.

Gas explosions шт residential buildings occur often in Russia, mainly due to poor maintenance, but the numbers increase with the onset of cold weather, as people use gas in additional to the central heating to warm up the houses. It is -26C in Nizhnevartovsk at the moment.

🇺🇦🇫🇷Kyiv blasts Macron
Ukrainian officials rejected the idea suggested by French President Emmanuel Macron that the West should consider how to address Russia’s demand for security guarantees if Moscow agrees to negotiations, Politico writes.

On Sunday, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, questioned providing security guarantees “to a terrorist and killer state.” “Instead of Nuremberg — to sign an agreement with [Russia] and shake hands?” Danilov tweeted in response to Macron’s interview where he said Europe should discuss “how to give guarantees to Russia the day it returns to the negotiating table” over the war in Ukraine.

⛔️Oil price cap
Oil price-related sanctions against Russia have come into force since today, December 5. The G7-imposed oil price cap comes on top of the EU's embargo on imports of Russian crude by sea and similar pledges by the United States, Canada, Japan and Britain. The G7 price cap will allow non-EU countries to continue importing seaborne Russian crude oil, but it will prohibit shipping, insurance and re-insurance companies from handling cargoes of Russian crude around the globe, unless it is sold for less than $60. That could complicate the shipment of Russian crude priced above the cap, even to countries which are not part of the agreement.

Russia "will not accept" a price cap on its oil and is analysing how to respond, the Kremlin said in comments reported on Saturday, in response to a deal by Western powers that claim that the move will “limiting a key source of funding” for the war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Opec+ responded to surging volatility and growing market uncertainty by keeping its oil production unchanged on Sunday. The outcome of the brief online meeting reflects the unpredictability of supply and demand in the coming months, and the wild gyrations in prices of the past week.

🇹🇷View from Turkey
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict was the beginning of the second Cold War, according to the representative of the Turkish President Ibrahim Kalyn, who said in the interview with Al-Jazeera, that Russia and the West need to conclude a new deal. He noted that Ankara stands for Russia withdrawing from the territories it occupied, for providing security guarantees to Kiev, and for assistance in rebuilding cities and providing defense systems to Kyiv.

"But this is one level of conflict. Another level is what is happening at a higher geopolitical level. And here there is a struggle for hegemony between Russia and the West. We need a different interaction at this geopolitical level. A new deal must be concluded between Russia and the West," Mr. Kalyn said. 

👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics, and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

Heusgen: If Ukraine can take back Crimea, it should be supported

Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the Munich Security Conference and longtime foreign policy adviser to former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, believes that Germany should support Ukraine in its efforts to retake annexed Crimea. He is also convinced that the West needs to strengthen its presence in regions where Russian influence is strong and counter the effects of Russian propaganda. DW interview.

"...Russia is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Just look at Mariupol, the way they destroyed it! They destroyed it just like Grozny. So we have to give full support to the Ukrainians, and if Ukraine can get Crimea back, it has to be supported."

"What is happening to Moldova is very sad. It is also a victim of Russian aggression because so many Ukrainians have sought refuge in Moldova and it has helped them a lot... At the same time Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe. Russia plays its games everywhere and raises gas prices, making life difficult for Moldovans. It tries to blackmail, it tries to return Moldova to its sphere of influence, and that's why we should support Moldova by all means, at this stage, with economic instruments. They need budgetary support, and we must provide it.

💥Source: DW
💥Our channel: Node of Time EN

🤷 The French want their country out of NATO.

That's why they have taken to the streets with banners and slogans.

💥Source
💥Our channel: Node of Time EN

‼️🇺🇦💥 OSCE corrected fire on the LPR and DPR — Lavrov

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the facts of participation of the OSCE in correction of fire on Lugansk and Donetsk were revealed.
"The monitoring mission provided Ukrainian fighters with intelligence and video from surveillance cameras. The OSCE is becoming a marginal entity", Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov summed up.

💥Source
💥Our channel: Node of Time EN

Quite literally.

The Biden administration is getting into that holiday giving spirit. Not for you though.