Day 281: Third Letter-Bomb Discovered in Spain; Nine Killed in Fires Across Ukraine

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Facts

  • On Thursday, Spanish security services discovered a third explosive device hidden in a parcel — this time delivered to an air force base in Torrejon de Ardoz, just outside of Madrid.
  • A day earlier, a letter bomb detonated at Ukraine's embassy in Madrid, leaving a Ukrainian official with minor injuries. A second was discovered at a weapons manufacturer in Zaragoza — a firm that's reportedly made weapons that the Spanish government has delivered to Ukraine. Spain's interior ministry later confirmed that a total of five suspected letter-bombs were being investigated, including to its defense ministry and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
  • Meanwhile, as the start of December marked the beginning of winter in the meteorological calendar, Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that an estimated 6M households remain without electricity. He said Kyiv and its wider region, as well as the regions of Vinnytsia, Lviv, Odesa, Khmelnytskyi, and Cherkasy were the worst affected.
  • On Wednesday, Ukraine's state emergency service said there had been an increase in the amount of fires being reported. The news came as many struggled to keep their homes warm. "Only in the last day, there were 131 fires in Ukraine, 106 of them in the residential sector. Nine people died, eight were injured," the service said.
  • A day earlier, at a meeting between G7 countries and NATO, the US announced a $53M aid package intended to help restore Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The package will include distribution transformers, circuit breakers, surge arresters, disconnectors and vehicles, according to reports.
  • On the ground, renewed Russian attacks were reported in Donetsk, Sumy, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk. Ukrainian officials said one civilian was killed and two more were injured in the Kherson region, while three civilians were injured in Donetsk. One person was injured in Zaporizhzhia.
  • Pro-Russia officials from the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) reported that two civilians were injured in Ukrainian attacks in the last 24 hours, while a further civilian who was injured the day before died of his injuries on Wednesday.

Sources: MSN, Pravda, CBC, MSN, Ukrinform, and Dan News.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by CNBC. Russia's deliberate targeting of energy infrastructure — unnecessarily increasing the suffering of civilians — amounts to war crimes. This continuing Russian barbarity must be confronted.
  • Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Tass. Attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure are a direct consequence of the failure of the country's leadership to meaningfully engage in peace talks and thinking they can defeat Russia on the battlefield. These attacks will stop once a more sober position is reached.

Predictions