A Ukrainian general said Moscow was preparing for a protracted war and still wanted to conquer all of Ukraine, as Russian forces bombed two strategic cities and Kyiv forces shelled Russian-held Donetsk in the east.

The main thing from Friday, the 296th day of the Ukrainian war, LIVETEXT:

07:29 Russia will double the number of intercontinental ballistic missile tests from four in 2022 to eight in 2023, the commander of its strategic missile forces said on Friday.

Sergey Karakayev told the military newspaper “Krasnaya Zvezda” that eight test launches will be carried out from two bases – one near Murmansk in the north, the other near Volgograd in the south.

According to TASS, Karakayev said that four launches were conducted this year, which “confirmed the high reliability of missile systems.”

06:51 The United States will expand a training program for the Ukrainian military starting in January to train more soldiers and give them broader skills.

01:10 Ukraine is preparing next week for major international events that could bring it more defense support this winter and more military potential, Zelensky announced.

00:23VIDEO A loud explosion rang out in Luhansk region / Ukrainians probably fired at a Russian ammunition warehouse

A quick recap of the latest developments on Friday morning:

• The United States attacked Russia’s financial services sector and Russian businessman Volodymyr Potanin on Thursday, increasing sanctions pressure on Moscow. European Union leaders wrapped up their last summit in 2022 by agreeing on 18 billion euros in funding for Ukraine next year and agreeing to impose additional sanctions on Moscow as the EU bloc prepares to cap gas prices and support its industry.
• Vladimir Putin has said that Russia will expand trade cooperation with new partners, including by dramatically increasing gas exports to China, to combat Western sanctions.
• UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday that the Black Sea grain deal was unlikely to be expanded any time soon to cover more Ukrainian ports or reduce inspection times. To date, more than 14 million tons of grain have been exported from Ukrainian ports.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Thursday that further strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure could lead to a serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation and provoke further displacement of people.
• An announcement about US plans to supply Ukraine with the Patriot anti-missile defense system could be made as early as this week, three US officials told Reuters. What the Patriot system can do for Ukraine
• Russian troops attacked critical infrastructure facilities in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Thursday, causing several explosions, the city’s mayor said.
• Ukrainian officials reported that two people were killed as a result of Russian shelling on Thursday in the center of the recently liberated southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
• Kyiv became the target of the first major drone attack in recent weeks. Two administrative buildings were hit, but air defense equipment mostly repelled the attack. Zelensky reported that 13 drones were shot down.
• The Center for Special Technologies in St. Petersburg, which manufactures Orlan-10 drones, continues to receive Western components for the manufacture of these drones, and intermediaries in the United States, China and Russia help to avoid sanctions.
• The head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhnyi, believes that Russia will try again to seize Kyiv after its previous attack was repelled earlier this year.
• About 20% of Ukraine’s population has left the country since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Dmytro Lubinet, the human rights representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, said on Wednesday.
• The Crimean authorities plan to nationalize the apartment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the peninsula.

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• Thursday’s events were broadcast live on HotNews.ro