Here is the situation on Thursday, December 12:

Military

• Ukrainian officials said that the death toll from a Russian missile strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday had climbed to nine.
• Ukraine’s military general staff says it hit an oil depot in western Russia that fuels a key pipeline for Russian military supplies in an overnight attack that caused a “massive fire” at the facility in the Bryansk region.
• Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz acknowledged a production facility had caught fire after a drone attack, but said there were no casualties and that the fire was extinguished.
• Russia’s army said it recaptured two villages in the western Kursk region, where Kyiv has been waging a cross-border offensive since August.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that Ukraine fired six Western-supplied ATACMS missiles at a military airfield in the port city of Taganrog in its southern Rostov region.
• Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists a United States “intelligence assessment” found “it’s possible that Russia could use [an] Oreshnik missile in the coming days”, after a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “Russia has signalled its intent to launch another experimental Oreshnik missile at Ukraine.”
• Videos posted on social media show that a law passed in April to boost army conscription in Ukraine is facing growing resistance while some Ukrainian war veterans say they feel snubbed and forgotten.

Politics and diplomacy

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry said a $20bn loan from the US to Ukraine, backed by frozen Russian assets, was “banal theft” that “will not go unanswered”. The loan is part of a $50bn G7 support package announced in October.
• Ukraine denied having discussed with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban a Christmas ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal with Russia.
• Russia warned its citizens not to travel to the US and other Western countries, claiming they could be “hunted” by the authorities amid worsening relations between Moscow and the West.
• Austrian oil and gas firm OMV announced it had ended its contract with Russian energy giant Gazprom, which had earlier stopped supplying Austria with gas. Some European countries remain highly reliant on Russian gas, funnelled via Ukraine, although the war has seen them reduce imports.

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Pope Francis has cited the Gospel while calling for migrants to be “welcomed, encouraged and integrated” as Europe and the United States struggle to cater to unprecedented levels of global mass migration.

The pontiff, a steadfast advocate for asylum seekers, refugees and economic migrants, said that many migrants are faced with the “drama of forced migration” and make treacherous journeys by sea in search of better lives which can sometimes lead to tragedy. 

Speaking to an Italian pro-immigrant nonprofit called “ResQ” on Wednesday, he said needy migrants are often “exploited, rejected, abused and reduced to slavery” while traveling to the unknown.

POPE FRANCIS SAYS INTENTIONALLY ALLOWING MIGRANTS TO DIE IS A ‘GRAVE SIN’

He praised groups like ResQ which seeks to protect desperate migrants and refugees in danger in the Mediterranean Sea. The group has its own 128-foot long rescue boat that helps save migrants at sea. 

“So we welcome the action of those who do not just observe things, criticizing from afar, but who get involved, offering some of their time, their ingenuity and their resources to alleviate the suffering of migrants, to save them, welcome them and integrate them,” Pope Francis said. 

“The migrant must be welcomed, accompanied, encouraged and integrated. This generosity, this industriousness is in harmony with the Gospel, which invites us to do good to everyone, and in particular the last, the poorest, the most abandoned, the sick, people in danger.”

The crisis has deeply divided opinions in the West as residents and governments often grapple with the cost of housing and feeding migrants against humanitarian concerns. For instance, New York City spent $4.88 billion in the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years combined providing shelter, food and other services to migrants.

“Faced with the vastness and complexity of the migratory phenomenon, the civil authorities do not always succeed in fully meeting their responsibilities,” the Pope added.  

ICE NON-DETAINED DOCKET EXPLODES TO 7.4M CASES

Pope Francis speaking about migrants on Wednesday.  (AP)

“Indeed, the rescue of those in danger of sinking in miserable vessels… is a very necessary task,” the Pope said. “The action pursued by your organization aims to save lives: the lives of people fleeing from places where serious conflicts rage, often triggering humanitarian crises and also involving the violation of fundamental human rights.”

“Dear friends, keep going forward! May Mary, help[er] of migrants, assist you in your work. I bless you and I accompany you with prayer.”

It is difficult to get an exact number of the number of migrants who have left their countries of origin throughout the crisis due to a lack of comparable data in many regions in the world. The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates a record 6.5 million migrant immigrants moved to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in 2023, a jump of 10% compared to 2022.

Total net migration during the Biden administration is likely to exceed 8 million people, a recent New York Times report confirmed, citing Congressional Budget Office data. The crisis has squeezed federal, state and local finances. 

It’s not the first time the pope has called on countries to open their borders to migrants. 

Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 7, 2023, in Lukeville, Arizona.  (John Moore/Getty Images)

At a gathering in the Vatican last year, he praised an initiative that created so-called “humanitarian corridors,” for refugees to travel into Europe safely.  

“Safe, orderly, regular and sustainable migration is in the interest of all countries,” Pope Francis said. 

The Sant’Egidio Catholic charity, the Federation of Evangelical Churches and the Waldensian Church spearheaded the ecumenical humanitarian transfer initiative in Italy, which has brought more than 6,000 people to Europe from 2016 to 2023. 

Under the program, aid workers identify asylum candidates in refugee camps and process initial paperwork to bring them into Italy on humanitarian grounds. Once they arrive, they are then provided with assistance to settle and apply for asylum.

The Catholic Church teaches that secular governments have two obligations to balance when dealing with immigration and outsiders seeking refugee status within their borders.

These duties are outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the definitive document outlining the church’s doctrines on theological and social issues.

The first duty is to “welcome the foreigner out of charity and respect for the human person,” due to the fact that human beings “have the right to immigrate and thus government must accommodate this right to the greatest extent possible, especially financially blessed nations.”

The second duty, based on secular governments’ obligation to care for their citizens and maintain a healthy society, is “to secure one’s border and enforce the law for the sake of the common good.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.