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The Russian invasion of Ukraine

The long-range Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, has been near the top of Ukraine’s weaponry wish list since last year. The U.S. said a small number of the missiles will be sent to Ukraine in coming weeks and more could be provided later.
Source: WSJ
 
Russian air strikes and shelling killed six people in Ukraine and caused "significant damage" to infrastructure at the Black Sea port of Odesa and to grain storage facilities, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.

The air attacks were part of a campaign that has made it harder for major grain producer Ukraine to export its products since Moscow quit a deal in mid-July that had enabled Black Sea shipments and helped combat a global food crisis.

The strikes have intensified as Kyiv presses on with a counteroffensive in the south and east that has made slow gains but could be boosted by the delivery of U.S.-made Abrams tanks, announced on Monday by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"Another massive attack on Odesa!", Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X. "The attack resulted in the destruction of grain storage facilities and significant damage to the seaport."


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Russian air strikes on Ukraine kill four, damage grain and port facilities

Russian air strikes and shelling killed six people in Ukraine and caused "significant damage" to infrastructure at...
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The future of US aid for Ukraine hangs in the balance after a last-gasp deal to avoid a government shutdown, despite President Joe Biden's attempts to reassure Kyiv it will get what it needs to fight Russia.

Barely a week after President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Washington appealing for more funds, the compromise struck in Congress late Sunday dropped new funding for Ukraine amid opposition from hardline Republicans.

Biden and his Democratic party say America has a duty to help Ukraine stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion, warning that a failure to do so could embolden other autocrats in the future.

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Ukraine left out in cold by US shutdown deal

WASHINGTON: The future of US aid for Ukraine hangs in the balance after a last-gasp deal to avoid a government...
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bones said:
Ukraine are getting really desperate. They are ordering the mobilisation of women. But as usual they spin it as a sign of strength.

Ukrainian women to be conscripted as the country faces Russian forces | SecurityWomen

Ukraine’s MoD has expanded the pool of Ukrainian women who are required to register for possible military conscription in the event of a major war.
www.securitywomen.org www.securitywomen.org
Click to expand...

Nato is also becoming very desperate. The British def sec, arrongantly suggested British troops would be sent into Ukraine to help with 'training' but Rasheed Sanook has suggested otherwise now.

www.reuters.com

UK PM Sunak says there are no plans for now to send British troops to Ukraine

There are no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday, rowing back from comments by his defence minister who had suggested troops could carry out training in the country.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com

Imo it was going to be covert, as there are Yanks already in Ukraine but the Def Sec opened his mouth.

I wonder how our friend @cpleigh seees the current situation now? There were many war cries of Ukraine defeating Russia etc but its all gone rather quiet.
 
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday evening it had shot down a Ukrainian missile off the Crimea coast, and the local Russia-appointed governor reported damage to dwellings from debris from a downed drone.

The ministry statement said Russian air defence systems had downed a Ukrainian Neptun missile over the northwestern part of the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russia-appointed governor of the port of Sevastopol, said debris from the drone had landed on the roof of an apartment building, though there were no injuries. Some windows had been blown out.

Razvozhayev, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said emergency services were determining how to remove explosive materials from the site.

"Specialists from the Sevastopol emergency services are now on site and a decision will be taken on moving explosive materials," Razvozhayev wrote. "All forces and services remain on full combat alert."

Ukraine has in recent weeks stepped up attacks on Crimea, which was occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014.


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Russia says it downed Ukrainian missile off Crimea coast, governor reports drone

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday evening it had shot down a Ukrainian missile off the Crimea coast, and...
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said Kyiv was doing "everything" to make sure the war-torn country receives more air defence systems in the next few months.

"We are doing everything to provide Ukraine with more air defence systems before winter," Zelensky said in a traditional evening address.

"And now we are waiting for certain decisions from our partners, by the way," he said without providing any details.

Zelensky added that Ukrainian regions should take care of protecting critical facilities and carry out necessary reconstruction work "as soon as possible."

Kyiv has warned that Moscow is restarting a campaign of aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure that last year left millions without heating and water for long periods.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock this week called for the creation of a strategy to insulate Ukraine from the fallout of a campaign of Russian strikes on its energy grid.

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Ukraine doing 'everything' to obtain more air defence systems before winter: Zelensky

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said Kyiv was doing "everything" to make sure the war-torn...
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Ukraine war: US gives 1.1 million rounds of ammunition seized from Iran to Kyiv

The US has sent roughly 1.1 million bullets seized from Iran last year to Ukraine, its military has said.

The US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees operations in the Middle East, says the rounds were confiscated from a ship bound for Yemen in December.

Ukraine's Western allies recently warned that their production lines were struggling to keep up with the rate at which Ukraine was using ammunition.

Centcom says the Iranian rounds were transferred to Ukraine on Monday.

The munitions were originally seized by US naval forces from a stateless ship named MARWAN 1 on 9 December, it said.

The US government gained ownership of them in July through a process known as civil forfeiture, by which an asset can be seized if its owner is thought to be involved in criminal activity.

In this case, the claim was brought against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian armed forces tasked with preserving the country's government.

On Monday, in a discussion about the West's supply of ammunition to Ukraine at the Warsaw Security Forum, Adm Rob Bauer, chair of Nato's Military Committee, said that the "bottom of the barrel is now visible".

He said decades of underinvestment meant that, even at the start of the war, Nato countries' ammunition stocks had been half-full or even emptier.

BBC
 
"The US government gained ownership of them in July through a process known as civil forfeiture, by which an asset can be seized if its owner is thought to be involved in criminal activity."

The US using this excuse is a bit like calling the kettle black
 
bones said:
Ukraine are getting really desperate. They are ordering the mobilisation of women. But as usual they spin it as a sign of strength.

Ukrainian women to be conscripted as the country faces Russian forces | SecurityWomen

Ukraine’s MoD has expanded the pool of Ukrainian women who are required to register for possible military conscription in the event of a major war.
www.securitywomen.org www.securitywomen.org
Click to expand...
The numbers just don't lie. There are only so many men you can throw in the meat grinder.
 
Russian missile strike on Ukraine cafe kills 51, rescue workers comb rubble

A Russian missile slammed into a cafe and grocery store in a village in northeastern Ukraine on Thursday, reducing the building to rubble and killing 51 people during a memorial service, Ukrainian officials said.

Large piles of bricks and shattered metal and building materials remained where the cafe and shop were hit early in the afternoon in Hroza village in Kharkiv region.

The attack was the deadliest in the Kharkiv region since Russia's invasion more than 19 months ago, a regional official told public broadcaster Suspilne. It also appeared to be one of the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian strike.


www.reuters.com

Russian missile strike on Ukraine cafe kills 51, rescue workers comb rubble

A Russian missile slammed into a cafe and grocery store in a village in northeastern Ukraine on Thursday, reducing the building to rubble and killing 51 people during a memorial service, Ukrainian officials said.
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Some sickening horrendous images coming out from that missile attack in ukraine.
 
Russia decision 'hints it is preparing for possible war with NATO' - as Moscow prepares to revoke nuclear treaty after Putin comments

Russian parliamentary bosses will today discuss revoking ratification of a treaty banning nuclear tests - a development that could trigger a new arms race between major world powers. Satellite images reveal a "dramatic" increase in Russia-North Korea rail traffic.


Sky News
 
Russia mounts major attack on key city in eastern Ukraine

Intense fighting raged around the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka for a third day, local officials said Thursday, after Russian forces launched a major attack on the city, mobilizing thousands of troops and columns of armored vehicles.

“The battles around the city do not abate; the shelling does not abate both on the positions and on the city itself,” the head of the local military administration, Vitaliy Barabash, said on Ukrainian television.

Barabash said that “two dozen missiles” hit the area Wednesday. “There are dead, wounded, people under the rubble,” he said.

Barabash said Russian forces on Tuesday began “perhaps the largest Russian offensive on the city” since Moscow initiated its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.



 
Putin is set to make some next gen moves. While all eye are what's happening in Isreal, this will be the opportunity for Putin to strike.

Zelensky has already been snubbed because events is Isreal have taken priority!
 
Ukraine’s armed forces said they launched a series of missile strikes on Russian airfields in the occupied Luhansk and Berdyansk areas overnight, hitting two helicopters, an ammunition depot and an artillery vehicle. Russia’s military hasn’t commented.

Ukraine intercepted six Shahed drones and a missile launched by Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram. The drones were intercepted in the southern Odesa region, Governor Oleh Kiper said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto late Monday about a new military aid package as well as nuclear safety and security challenges in Middle East.

In his evening video address Monday, Zelenskiy said we are working as hard as we can to give our warriors more air defense.


Source: Bloomberg
 
Multiple crises won't affect French, EU support to Ukraine: Macron to Zelensky

French President Emmanuel Macron assured his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday that the conflict between Israel and Hamas would not distract France and Europe from its commitments to Ukraine.

"The multiplication of crises will in no way weaken French and European support for Ukraine, which will remain as long as necessary," Macron told Zelensky by phone, according to the presidency.

The two leaders also discussed the strengthening of Ukraine's military capabilities ahead of an anticipated Russian bombing campaign this winter.

Ukraine is expecting attacks on its critical infrastructure in the coming months, similar to last winter when Russian strikes regularly plunged millions of people into darkness.

Macron and Zelensky also discussed plans to create a Black Sea corridor for grain exports that Ukraine wants to put in place despite a Russian blockade.


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Multiple crises won't affect French, EU support to Ukraine: Macron to Zelensky

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron assured his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday that the...
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Russia-Ukraine war: UN probe finds new evidence of Russian war crimes; Zelenskiy ‘grateful’ to Biden for support – as it happened​

UN investigation finds new evidence of Russian war crimes​

A United Nations commission of inquiry on Ukraine found additional evidence that Russian forces had committed “indiscriminate attacks” and war crimes in Ukraine, including rape and the deportation of children to Russia, Reuters reports.

“The commission has found new evidence that Russian authorities have committed violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, and corresponding crimes, in areas that came under their control in Ukraine,” it said in a report submitted to the UN general assembly that highlighted attacks in the cities of Uman and Kherson, among others.

“The commission has recently documented attacks that affected civilian objects, such as residential buildings, a railway station, shops, and a warehouse for civilian use, leading to numerous casualties.”

Though Russia has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians, the commission said it had documented cases of rape “with the use of force or psychological coercion”.

“Most of the incidents occurred after the perpetrators broke into the victims’ homes,” it said. “Victims reported rapes at gunpoint and threats of killing or of inflicting other serious harm to the victims or their relatives.”

The commission also documented the transfer of 31 children from Ukraine to Russia in May and “concluded that it was an unlawful deportation and a war crime”. Moscow has repeatedly denied forcibly taking Ukrainian children.

The Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
 
Russia claims destruction of three Ukrainian boats off Crimea

Russia’s Ministry of Defence says its naval forces have destroyed three unmanned Ukrainian boats in the northern part of the Black Sea off the Crimean Peninsula, the latest in a series of attacks around the contested waterway that is crucial to Russia’s offensive against Kyiv.

“Anti-sabotage missiles and bombs hit the area where the unmanned boats were detected,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday.

It added that an anti-mining and an “anti-sabotage” operation was being conducted off the port of Sevastopol in the Black Sea, where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based. Moscow has used that fleet, comprised of some 30 warships, to try to blockade Ukraine’s coastline and fire missiles at Ukrainian cities.

It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties from the latest Black Sea attack — and Kyiv issued no immediate comment.



www.aljazeera.com

Russia claims destruction of three Ukrainian boats off Crimea

The Black Sea, which Ukraine needs to export its grain, has been a key battleground in the ongoing war.
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Its important for the west to continue this war for one main reason, they believe it will weaken Russia to the point it won't help Iran if they go to war with Israel.

Zionist intelligence, troops and volunteers have been fighting on the side of the Ukrainians. Israelis always jump to the Holocaust , which is now an industry but fail to mention they have been supporting and fighting with Nazis in Ukraine.

The Nazi and Zionist connection is the key to understanding what world affairs has been for the last 100 years.

For this reason, Putin has been smart not to throw too many eggs into this basket. If he wanted, he could have taken all of Ukraine but the cost not just in lives of his soldiers but also supplies would mean they would be open to an attack by Nato in the future.

Ukraine conflict was the start of the worst period humanity will ever see. Scary but reality.
 
US Plans $425 Million Ukraine Weapons Aid Announcement

The Biden administration plans to announce a $425 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday including counter drone rockets and munitions, two U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The package is not expected to include additional ATACMS missiles. Senior congressional Republicans have urged President Joe Biden to send longer-range missiles to Ukraine, despite pushback from some conservative lawmakers against more aid.

The planned aid package for Ukraine includes about $300 million worth of laser-guided munitions to shoot down Russian drones, according to a document seen by Reuters and one of the officials. The funds for those munitions come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program, which allows the Biden administration to buy weapons from industry rather than pull from U.S. weapons stocks.

The remainder of the $125 million worth of weapons pledges include additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) air defenses, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 105 and 155 millimeter artillery, TOW anti-tank weapons, Claymore anti-personnel mines, small arms, and a dozen trucks, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Those weapons pledges are made possible by utilizing Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which authorizes Biden to transfer articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval during an emergency. The material will come from excess U.S. inventory.

The Biden administration still has about $5 billion of congressionally granted presidential drawdown authority, after the Pentagon found in June it had overestimated the value of arms shipped to Ukraine due to a $6.2 billion accounting error.

The package was still being finalized and could change, the officials said.



www.ndtv.com

US Plans $425 Million Ukraine Weapons Aid Announcement

The Biden administration plans to announce a $425 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday including counter drone rockets and munitions, two U.S. officials said on Thursday.
www.ndtv.com www.ndtv.com
 

Ukrainian troops battle exhaustion as war drags into second winter​


NEAR KREMINNA, Ukraine, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Istoryk, a 26-year-old soldier in eastern Ukraine, finally managed to fall asleep one morning, exhausted from the relentless battles against Russian forces in the pinewood forests near Kreminna.

His rest was cut short just an hour later when a fresh firefight broke out, forcing the senior combat medic back into action in a fierce and lengthy exchange.

"We had a firefight for over 20 hours," said Istoryk, identified by his military call sign. "Non-stop fighting, assaults, evacuations, and you know, I managed it," he told a Reuters reporter visiting his position on Thursday.

"And we all managed it. We aren't very fresh, and right now we need to find strength."

His description of recent clashes, and the fatigue that he and his unit are experiencing, underscore the huge strain that the war, now in its 21st month, is putting on Ukraine's limited resources and on its troops.

The soldiers also know that Russia has a far bigger army and more weapons and ammunition, raising the uncomfortable question of how Ukraine can ever repel the invaders once and for all in Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two.
Ukraine's commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhnyi, described a "stalemate" on the battlefield in an interview published this week, adding that a protracted, attritional war would favour Russia and could threaten the very state.

Only new capabilities, including more supplies from Western allies as well as locally produced drones, would tip the balance back in Kyiv's favour, Zaluzhnyi said.

The highly respected general's stark assessment coincides with the advent of seasonal rains, which makes it harder to advance over muddy ground, and follows a summer counteroffensive which has liberated far less territory than Kyiv had hoped.

For those in the trenches, while exhaustion is unavoidable, motivation remains strong.

Istoryk, speaking in a broad west Ukrainian accent, recounts his grim experiences with a winning smile.

Asked whether he could continue to fight for another year, or even two, he replied: "I think so. For sure."

www.reuters.com

Ukrainian troops battle exhaustion as war drags into second winter

Istoryk, a 26-year-old soldier in eastern Ukraine, finally managed to fall asleep one morning, exhausted from the relentless battles against Russian forces in the pinewood forests near Kreminna.
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Ukraine war: Zelensky says Israel-Gaza conflict taking focus away from fighting​

The Israel-Gaza war is "taking away the focus" from the conflict in Ukraine, the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted.

He said this was "one of the goals" of Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

And he denied that fighting in Ukraine had reached a stalemate, despite a recent assessment to this effect by the country's top military general.

Ukraine's counter-offensive in the south has so far made little headway.

This has prompted fears of war fatigue among Kyiv's Western allies, with suggestions of growing reluctance in some capitals to continue giving Ukraine advanced weapons and funds.

Speaking at Saturday's briefing in Kyiv with visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Mr Zelensky said: "It's clear that the war in the Middle East is taking away the focus" from Ukraine.

He said Russia wanted this focus to be "weakened", but stressed that "everything is in our powers".

Mr Zelensky was also asked to comment on this week's assessment by Ukraine's chief military commander Valery Zaluzhny that the war was now moving to a "positional" or static stage, and this would benefit Moscow by "allowing it to rebuild its military power".

"Everyone is getting tired and there are different opinions," Mr Zelensky replied, adding: "But this is not a stalemate."

He admitted that Russia was "controlling the skies" and that Ukraine urgently needed US-made F-16 warplanes and advanced anti-aircraft defences to change the situation.

The Ukrainian leader recalled that last year, there had also been a lot of talk about a stalemate on the vast battlefield in Ukraine - but he pointed to Kyiv's subsequent major military victories in the north-eastern Kharkiv region and Kherson in the south.

Mr Zelensky also rejected media reports that he was coming under growing pressure to consider negotiations with Russia.

"Today, no-one among EU, US leaders and others - our partners - is putting pressure for us to now sit down to negotiate with Russia, and give away something to it. This will not happen."

Moscow on Thursday also commented on Mr Zaluzhny's assessment, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman saying the current battlefield situation was not a "stalemate".

"All the [war] goals that were set must be achieved," Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Ukraine must realise that "even talking about any prospects for the Kyiv regime's victory on the battlefield is absurd".

President Putin has repeatedly claimed that Ukraine's counter-offensive had failed, while his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said this week that Kyiv was losing the war despite supplies of new weapons from Nato allies.

Meanwhile, the UK defence intelligence said in its latest report on Saturday that Russia "has likely lost around 200 armoured vehicles during its assaults on the Donbas town of Avdiivka" in eastern Ukraine.

"It is plausible that Russia has suffered several thousand personnel casualties around the town since the start of October 2023.

"Russia's leadership continues to demonstrate a willingness to accept heavy personnel losses for marginal territorial gains," the report said.

Moscow has in recent weeks been trying to advance in eastern and north-eastern Ukraine - but Ukraine's military says all the attacks have been rebuffed.

The claims by the two warring sides have not been independently verified.

www.bbc.com

Ukraine war: Zelensky says Israel-Gaza conflict taking focus away from fighting

One of Russia's goals is to draw global attention away from the war in Europe, says Ukraine's president.
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Close advisor to army commander killed in explosion in Ukraine: statement

A close advisor to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, General Valery Zaluzhny, was killed in an explosion on Monday, the military official said on Telegram.

"Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and close friend, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, was killed... on his birthday," Zaluzhny wrote, saying that an "unknown explosive device detonated in one of his gifts."



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Close advisor to army commander killed in explosion in Ukraine: statement

KYIV: A close advisor to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, General Valery Zaluzhny, was killed in an...
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Ukraine says Russia struck civilian ship entering port in Odesa region

Ukraine said Wednesday Russia fired a missile at a civilian ship entering a port in the Black Sea region of Odesa, injuring the ship's crew and killing a harbour pilot.

Since a UN-brokered deal guaranteeing safe passage for civilian ships collapsed in July, both Kyiv and Moscow have ramped up military activity and attacks in the Black Sea.

"Continuing the terror of civilian shipping, the enemy insidiously fired an Kh-31P anti-radar missile in the direction of one of the ports of Odesa region from tactical aircraft in the Black Sea," the Ukrainian army said.

"The missile hit the structure of a civilian vessel flying the Liberian flag as it was entering the port," it added.

It said a harbour pilot was killed, while another port worker was injured.

"Three crew members, citizens of the Philippines, were injured, one of them was hospitalised," it added.

The collapse of the UN-backed grain export deal in July prompted Moscow to warn that any ships entering Ukrainian ports could be viewed as potential military targets.

Ukraine subsequently announced the launch of a new "humanitarian corridor" -- a sea route for civilian ships -- that avoids international waters.

But Russia has continued to attack Ukraine's grain-exporting ports and infrastructure.



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Ukraine says Russia struck civilian ship entering port in Odesa region

KYIV: Ukraine said Wednesday Russia fired a missile at a civilian ship entering a port in the Black Sea region of...
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Russian shelling kills three, damages gas, power lines in Ukraine's south

Russian artillery and drone attacks on Friday killed three people and damaged an unspecified infrastructure facility, power lines and a gas pipeline in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions of Ukraine, local officials said.

Both regions have come under regular shelling by Russian troops in occupied territory on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. Locals usually face numerous air alerts throughout the day.

In Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region, a 67-year-old woman was killed in an afternoon drone attack, Serhiy Lysak, the governor, said on the Telegram messaging service.

"A 68-year-old man received shrapnel wounds. He's hospitalized," he added on Telegram.

An infrastructure facility, a gas pipeline and power lines, as well as 11 private houses, had been damaged. Images from the site shared by Lysak showed buildings with shattered windows, huge holes in the walls, and a burnt car.

In Kindiyka, Kherson region, shelling in the morning killed a 69-year old man and injured another 63-year-old, governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram.

He later added that a 61-year-old man was killed and five more injured in a separate shelling in Novoraysk.



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Russian shelling kills three, damages gas, power lines in Ukraine's south

Russian artillery and drone attacks on Friday killed three people and damaged an unspecified infrastructure ...
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After two-month hiatus, Moscow hits Kyiv again

KYIV: Ending nearly two months of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital, a missile targeted Kyiv on Saturday without causing casualties, as frontline regions fended off waves of drone attacks overnight.

“Just between yesterday evening and this morning, (Russia launched) almost 40 drones and rockets… Ballistic attacks against Kyiv, drones, and rockets against Odesa, the Kharkiv region,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

A missile targeted Kyiv “after a long pause of 52 days,” said the head of the Kyiv city military administration Sergiy Popko.

AFP journalists in central Kyiv had heard two strong explosions and saw trails in the sky at dawn. Air sirens sounded soon after that.

The air force said it destroyed a missile approaching Kyiv — either an Iskander ballistic missile or an S-400 anti-aircraft missile — without reporting casualties.

Air defences last downed a missile in Kyiv on September 21. The falling debris wounded seven people, including a child.

Two missiles hit a field between two settlements in the wider Kyiv region, damaging five private homes, said regional military administration chief Ruslan Kravchenko said.

The air force said it downed 19 of the 31 drones launched by Moscow between Friday evening and early hours of Saturday morning.

“The Russian occupants sent most of the attack UAVs to the frontline areas,” it said.

It claimed that Russia fired several missiles overnight, but did not specify if any were downed. Two missiles hit Odesa, wounding three people.

Ukrainian officials say Russia may pick up its campaign of strikes on energy infrastructures, but warn that Kyiv would strike back on Russian oil and gas infrastructure.

Energy Minister German Galushchenko, in an interview with Politico, said it “would be fair” to target Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure if Ukraine’s power grid came under sustained attacks.

Earlier on Tuesday, Zelensky said Ukraine had deployed more defence systems to prepare for possible attacks on energy facilities.

Meanwhile, in a message on the anniversary of Kherson’s recapture by Ukrainian forces, Zelen-sky praised resilience of residents and soldiers. “Ukraine always comes back — always!” Zelensky said, adding, “when we are united. And when we unite others.”
​
DAWN
 
Ukraine's capital Kyiv has been hit by the first Russian air attack in 52 days, according to city officials.

Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko said "strong explosions were heard" in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Preliminary information suggests air defence systems were able to intercept the missiles, Mr Klitschko said.

Residents have been ordered to take refuge in air raid shelters.

There have been no initial reports of casualties following the air attack, according to news agency Reuters.

The strikes came as President Volodomyr Zelensky marked the first anniversary of the liberation of Kherson from Russia.

Speaking to the city's residents, he praised them for "inspiring the world with their resistance".

In Odesa, the coastal district some 275 miles (442 km) from Kyiv, there were reports of at least two missile attacks.

According to the region's head of administration, Oleg Kiper, three people were injured and a 96-year-old woman was hospitalised. Her condition is understood to be stable.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said at least one person had been killed after a Russian missile struck a civilian ship entering Odesa.

A 43-year-old harbour pilot died, while three Filipino crewmembers and a port worker were injured.

At a G7 meeting in Japan this week, foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US - as well as EU representatives, said they recognised that Russia is prepared for a long war in Ukraine.

They also said the Israel-Gaza war should not distract from support for Ukraine and reiterated that they would continue to support Kyiv economically and militarily.

Kyiv is increasingly concerned about "Ukraine fatigue" among Western countries eroding its ability to hold off Russian forces.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC's Europe Editor, Katya Adler, French President Emmanuel Macron said it was his country's "duty" to help Ukraine.

He said if Russia were allowed to win its war, "you will have a new imperial power" in Europe, that could threaten other former Soviet states like Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as the whole continent.

"Because, definitely, it's imperialism and colonialism that Russia is doing [in Ukraine]," he said.

However, Mr Macron did suggest there may come a time for "fair and good negotiations" with Moscow.

Source: BBC

www.bbc.com

Ukraine war: Kyiv hit by first air attack in 52 days, say authorities

Elsewhere, near the Black Sea port of Odesa, there were reports of at least two missile attacks.
www.bbc.com
 
Ukrainian teen returns to Ukraine after being taken to Russia from occupied Mariupol

A Ukrainian teenager who was taken to Russia from the occupied city of Mariupol during the war and prevented from leaving the country earlier this year returned to Ukraine on Sunday.

Bohdan Yermokhin, who turned 18 on Sunday, appealed to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this month to help bring him back to Ukraine. In March, he tried to leave Russia for Ukraine via Belarus, but was stopped and sent back.

"I believed I would be in Ukraine, but not on this day," Yermokhin told Reuters while eating at a petrol station after crossing into 0Ukraine.

"This is a very pleasant gift, to put it in the right way. The emotions are overwhelming, all good, with the notion that Ukraine needs me."

Ukraine says 20,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia since the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, with some being put up for adoption. Kyiv says this is a war crime, an allegation denied by Russia, which says it was protecting children in a war zone.

Yermokhin, an orphan from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol that was captured by Moscow's troops during the first year of the war, was taken to Russia and placed in a foster family in the Moscow region.

On Sunday, Reuters correspondents at Kortelisy, a Ukrainian village near the border with Belarus, saw Yermokhin driven into Ukraine from the border in a van. Asked if he was glad to be back in Ukraine, Yermokhin said "yes".

"We were in constant contact with Bohdan and he's already in Ukraine with his cousin," Andriy Yermak, head of the president's office, wrote on Telegram messenger, announcing his return.

Mariam Lambert of the Dutch NGO Orphans Feeding Foundation told Reuters they have been working with Ukraine's human rights ombudsman and Zelenskiy's office on the return of children deported to Russia, including Yermokhin, since August.

His lawyer, Kateryna Bobrovska, has said Yermokhin had been told to report to a draft office near Moscow next month and warned he could be conscripted into the Russian army.

In a statement, Russia's children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, said he had been summoned to update his military registration and that "all Russian citizens of his age receive a summons of that kind".

Lvova-Belova said Yermokhin left Russia on Saturday on a plane to Minsk on his way to Ukraine and that he had met a cousin in the Belarusian capital. She acknowledged Yermokhin had wanted to be reunited with his relative.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March, accusing him and Lvova-Belova of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

The Kremlin says Moscow does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC and has rejected the allegations


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Ukrainian teen returns to Ukraine after being taken to Russia from occupied Mariupol

KORTELISY: A Ukrainian teenager who was taken to Russia from the occupied city of Mariupol during the war and...
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Russian actress killed in Ukrainian strike while performing to soldiers​

A Russian actress has been killed in a Ukrainian strike while giving a performance to troops, according to her theatre.

A dance hall in occupied Ukraine where Polina Menshikh was performing was hit by Ukrainian shelling on 19 November.

The actress was reportedly giving a show to celebrate a Russian military holiday.

Ukraine said about 20 Russian soldiers were killed in the strike, but Russian authorities have not commented on this.

Ms Menshikh was giving a performance in a local dance hall capable of seating around 150 people, according to local reporting.

A video purporting to show the moment of the strike was uploaded to social media. A woman, apparently Ms Menshikh, is seen on stage singing and playing guitar, before an explosion is heard and the hall's lights go out.

Ms Menshikh died in hospital of her injuries.

Speaking to the BBC's Ukrainian service, a Ukrainian army spokesperson confirmed media reporting of the strike.

Portal, a theatre studio based in St Petersburg associated with Ms Menshikh said an upcoming performance of a play she had previously directed would be dedicated to her memory.

The strike took place around 60km (37 miles) from the front line, in the village of Kumachove.

Kumachove is located in the Donetsk region, in the area of eastern Ukraine occupied by Russia since 2014. Other areas in the Donetsk region have been hotpots of vicious fighting in recent months, particularly the cities of Avdiika and Bakhmut.

Russian pro-war bloggers criticised the organisation of the show. A performance concentrating dozens of soldiers in one place made it an obvious target for a Ukrainian strike, they wrote.

Source: BBC
 
Russia silent on Tehran arms claim as Ukraine downs Iran-built drone

Russia has declined to comment on US claims that Iran could supply it with ballistic missiles. Ukraine said it shot down a “rare” Iran-built drone amid a barrage of attacks overnight.

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Wednesday that it had downed more than a dozen attack drones and a cruise missile. The overnight assault followed a report by authorities in the southern region of Odesa that a rare Iranian-designed attack and reconnaissance drone had been destroyed.

The air force said the overnight barrage was launched from southeast Russia and that a combination of air defence units in several central regions had “destroyed all 14 enemy Shahed-131/136 drones”.

“The X-22 cruise missile failed to reach its target and landed in Zaporizhia region in an open area, and the blast wave damaged private homes. There were no casualties,” it added in a statement.

Ukraine has been bracing for an increase in Russian attacks on critical infrastructure – particularly energy facilities – as subzero temperatures set in.

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure last winter left many in the cold and dark for long periods. Kyiv has since received more air defence systems from its allies.



www.aljazeera.com

Russia silent on Tehran arms claim as Ukraine downs Iran-built drone

The Kremlin says only that it is ‘developing military relations’ with Iran as Ukraine reports ‘rare’ drone.
www.aljazeera.com www.aljazeera.com
 
Ukraine prepares army mobilisation reforms as war drags on: Zelenskiy

Ukraine is drawing up reforms to its programme for mobilising troops as the war with Russia rages on with no end in sight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday.

Kyiv does not disclose its troop losses or the workings of its mobilisation programme which has been under way since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Zelenskiy said he had ordered senior officials to draft proposals.

“The plan will be worked out and all the answers will be there - next week I will see this plan,” he told a news conference.

Zelenskiy did not reveal details of the reforms. He said issues at military medical commissions and recruitment centres would be addressed.

Ukraine is facing increasing pressure on its recruitment effort as it fights a larger Russian army.

Recruitment offices have been occasionally rocked by scandals involving graft or heavy-handed recruitment tactics.

Earlier this week, several Ukrainian lawmakers said they had been preparing a multifaceted legal bill to improve the mobilisation process.

In August, Zelenskiy dismissed all the heads of Ukraine’s regional army recruitment centres as numerous cases of corruption and involvement in draft evasion were reported.


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Ukraine prepares army mobilisation reforms as war drags on: Zelenskiy

Ukraine is drawing up reforms to its programme for mobilising troops as the war with Russia rages on with no end in...
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Russia has launched its biggest drone attack on Kyiv since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began last year, officials say.

Residents were woken by explosions before dawn on Saturday, and for more than six hours, the booms of Kyiv's air defences echoed through the city.

There was wave after wave of attacks from the north and east.

Officials said that more than 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones were fired at the capital, and 74 were shot down.

With Russia's dwindling missile stocks, Shahed drones are seen as a cheap alternative. They are slower than ballistic missiles and have a distinctive wingspan.

It has been a night where the whines of their engines has blended with the booms of the city's air defences.

As ever, even if a missile or drone is intercepted, the falling debris can be lethal too. This time, only five people have been reportedly injured. A kindergarten was among the buildings damaged.

For several quiet weeks, Moscow had been suspected of stockpiling missiles. That abruptly ended this morning.

In response to the strikes, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country will "continue to work to unite the world in defence against Russian terror".

He is trying to secure continued Western support as well as negotiate Ukraine's path to being a possible member of the European Union.

President Zelensky also noted that the attack - which he called an act of "wilful terror" - came on the same day that Ukraine commemorates the Holodomor famine in 1932-1933 - brought on by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin - which killed several million Ukrainians.

As winter continues to bite, it had been feared that Russia would resume its tactic of targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure. With 16,000 homes being left without power in the central Kyiv region, this appears to be the case.

However, if the aim of Moscow's strategy last year was to deprive Ukrainians of much-needed power and water, it ultimately failed as authorities learnt to quickly repair damaged pipes and powerlines.

Ukraine's air defences also kept improving.

That's not to say strikes like this aren't felt.

They still kill, destroy homes, spread fear and disrupt lives.

Source: BBC

www.bbc.com

Ukraine war: Kyiv hit by biggest drone attack since war began

Thousands of homes are without power after Russia bombarded the capital over six hours.
www.bbc.com
 
Ukraine needs more air defences to protect grain exports: Zelenskiy

Ukraine needs more air defences to protect its grain export routes as well regions bordering Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, as he addressed an international summit on food security in Kyiv.

“There is a deficit of air defence - that is no secret,” Zelenskiy told the Grain from Ukraine summit, which was attended by senior officials from European countries, including Swiss President Alain Berset and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.

Zelenskiy was speaking after Russia attacked Ukraine with 75 drones overnight, the biggest drone assault of the war. The joint press conference of the three leaders was cut short by another air raid siren.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine would be supplied by its foreign partners with vessels to accompany convoys of cargo ships from Ukraine’s ports to guarantee their security.

“I have agreements with several countries about powerful accompaniment of convoys by Ukrainians, but using (foreign) equipment,” he said.

The Ukrainian president also said Kyiv hoped to solve its air defence shortage through new supplies from partners and increasing its own production capacity, something on which he said there had been progress.

“As of today, I can’t say details what we are making and where, but there is progress,” he said.

Ukraine, a major exporter of grain, has been exporting grain via unilateral corridors through the Black sea, after Russia withdrew in July from a UN-brokered deal to allow grain ships through its blockade.

Ukraine’s current Black sea grain export corridors all start from ports in Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa.

“There are certain air defence systems… we are asking for them,” Zelenskiy said. “We’ve already got an answer when those systems will start to guard that region. Because there, both the corridor and the people are important.”

Asked about the protests by Polish and Slovak truckers which have blocked much of Ukraine’s road-based cargo supply in recent days, Zelenskiy blamed the problem on the internal politics of those countries.

“I believe that there are difficulties on the border first and foremost because of certain political steps by our neighbours,” he told a press conference after the summit.

Zelenskiy said he was confident the issue would be solved if Ukraine’s neighbours were given “a bit of time” to deal with the dispute.



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Ukraine needs more air defences to protect grain exports: Zelenskiy

KYIV: Ukraine needs more air defences to protect its grain export routes as well regions bordering Russia, President...
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Russia downs dozens of drones headed for Moscow

Ukraine overnight tried to attack Moscow with dozens of drones, Russian authorities said Sunday, just a day after Ukrainian officials reported that Russia had launched its most intense drone attack on Kyiv since the beginning of its full-scale war in 2022.

Russian air defenses brought down at least 24 drones over the Moscow region — which surrounds but does not include the capital — and four other provinces to the south and west, the Russian Defense Ministry and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported in a series of Telegram updates. Neither referenced any casualties.

Andrei Vorobyev, governor of the Moscow region, wrote on Telegram that the drone strikes damaged three unspecified buildings there, adding that no one was hurt.

One drone crashed into a 12-story apartment block in the western Russian city of Tula, about 180 kilometers south of Moscow, lightly wounding one resident and causing limited damage, local Gov. Aleksei Dyumin wrote on Telegram on Sunday morning.

Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports also briefly shut down because of the drone attack, according to Russia’s state-run news agency Tass.

Both appeared to have resumed normal operation, according to data from international flight tracking portals.

Russian Telegram channels speculated that Ukrainian forces had deployed a previously unseen type of drone in the purported strike, pointing out some similarities to the Iranian-made weapons Moscow routinely employs in its attacks on Ukraine.

The Russian capital has come under attack from drones regularly since May, with Russian officials blaming Ukraine. Military analysts commented at the time that the early attacks deployed Ukrainian locally made drones which could not carry as heavy a payload as the Iranian-made Shaheds used by Russia.

As of late morning Sunday, Ukrainian officials did not acknowledge or comment on the strikes, which came a day after Russia targeted the Ukrainian capital with over 60 Shahed drones. At least five civilians were wounded in the hourslong assault, which saw several buildings damaged by falling debris from downed drones, including a kindergarten. The wounded included an 11-year-old child, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

The Ukrainian air force early on Sunday said it had brought down eight of nine Shahed drones fired overnight by Russian forces.

Also on Sunday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that two Soviet-made S-200 rockets fired by Kyiv were shot down over the sea of Azov, which stretches between Crimea and Ukraine’s Russian-occupied southeastern coast.

According to local news sources, air raid sirens sounded earlier in Russian-annexed Crimea, which on Friday came under what Russian officials called a major drone attack. Road traffic was also briefly halted on Sunday morning across the 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge that connects Crimea to the Russian mainland.

There were no reports of casualties, and no comment from officials in Kyiv.



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Russia downs dozens of drones headed for Moscow

MOSCOW: Ukraine overnight tried to attack Moscow with dozens of drones, Russian authorities said Sunday, just a day after Ukrainian officials reported that Russia had launched its most intense drone attack on Kyiv since the beginning of its full-scale war in 2022. Russian air defenses brought...
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Russia ramping up attacks in eastern Ukraine

As the hostilities continue to grow on both sides of the border, Kyiv and Moscow's forces said that Russia geared up its "artillery fire and airstrikes" on the eastern part of Ukraine, eyeing considerable gains as the end of the year nears.

As both sides have not yet made any substantial gain, the warring parties were locked in fierce fighting throughout the year.

Reports indicated that the battle is concentrated on the industrial town of Avdiivka the latest major flashpoint.

Russian forces attempted to gain control of the town in October securing gains, however, at a considerable human cost.

Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesman for Ukraine's army said: "The enemy has doubled its artillery fire and airstrikes. It has also intensified ground infantry attacks, and is using armoured vehicles."

"Improving weather conditions — following powerful storms across southern Ukraine and Russia earlier this week — have enabled Russia's forces to intensify their assaults and use drones again," he said.

The activity around the industrial town has also increased, according to the Ukrainian commander responsible for the area, adding that Russian forces had carried out nearly 20 airstrikes, launched four missiles, thrown 56 assault waves at his forces, and fired more than 1,000 artillery rounds.

Concurrently, the International Atomic Energy Agency has voiced concerns over the fighting near the southeastern Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station that has been under Russian control since Vladimir Putin's special military operation.



www.thenews.com.pk

Russia ramping up attacks in eastern Ukraine

Reports indicated that the battle is concentrated on the industrial town of Avdiivka the latest major flashpoint
www.thenews.com.pk www.thenews.com.pk
 
Ukraine: Russian general 'blown up on mine'

A Russian general has been killed after being blown up on a mine in Ukraine, several pro-Kremlin sources say.

Maj-Gen Vladimir Zavadsky, 45, was deputy commander of the 14th army corps at the time of his death, they say.

At least six other Russian generals are thought to have died since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

There has been no word from the Russian Defence Ministry about the incident, and there are conflicting reports about where it happened.

The ministry has on several occasions previously made no mention of senior officers' deaths, even after close relatives have spoken publicly about them.

Reports say Maj-Gen Zavadsky was killed on Wednesday afternoon.

It is not clear where the incident took place, but it is thought his unit was in Kherson region at the time.

Before his current posting, he was commander of the elite Kantemirovsky tank division based outside Moscow.

If reports of Maj-Gen Zavadsky's death are confirmed, he will be the seventh Russian general known to have died in the conflict.

Four generals are confirmed to have died in the first four months of the war, and another two in the summer of this year.



www.bbc.com

Ukraine: Russian general 'blown up on mine'

Several pro-Kremlin sources reported Maj-Gen Vladimir Zavadsky's death, but his location is unclear.
www.bbc.com
 
Zelenskiy says change needed in Ukraine’s mobilisation system

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that changes were needed to improve Ukraine’s system of mobilisation as part of an overall strategy to improve the country’s military position in the 21-month-old war against Russia.

The issue of altering and fine-tuning the process of mobilisation and recruitment to improve the prospects of Ukraine’s fighting force has been under public discussion for some time.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said a meeting of the military command had discussed scenarios to produce “concrete results” for 2024 in conditions of war.

“In particular, this concerns the issue of mobilisation. Everyone in Ukraine understands that changes are needed in this domain,” he said.

“This is not simply a question of numbers, of who can be mobilised,” he said. “It’s a question of a time frame for each person who is now in the military, for demobilisation and for those who will join the military. And it’s about conditions.”

Zelenskiy said the issues had to be examined by commanders and the Defence Ministry for submission to the command.

“There were several proposals today and I am awaiting comprehensive solutions,” he said.



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Zelenskiy says change needed in Ukraine’s mobilisation system

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that changes were needed to improve Ukraine’s system of mobilisation as...
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US funding for Ukraine set to run out by end of the year, White House warns

Budget official says failure by Congress to approve further aid will ‘kneecap’ Kyiv
www.ft.com www.ft.com

Its over for Ukraine. As always the Yanks cause a war, after so much bloodshed, run off with a ruined nation. The ruined nation has been bought out by the likes of Blackrock. Nothing more than a weak attempt to beat Russia and Putin while making money for the military complex and other companies.
 
Deputy Russian army corps commander is killed in Ukraine

Major General Vladimir Zavadsky, deputy commander of Russia's 14th Army Corps, has been killed in Ukraine, a top regional official said on Monday.

The governor of Russia's Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev, said Zavadsky had died "at a combat post in the special operation zone", without giving further details.

"Special military operation" is the term that Russia uses to describe the war in Ukraine, now approaching the end of its second year.

The investigative news outlet iStories said Zavadsky was the seventh Major General whose death had been confirmed by Russia, and the 12 senior officer overall to be reported dead since the start of the war.

Deaths of senior Russian officers, which military analysts have attributed in some cases to Ukrainian success in intercepting lax communications, have become rarer as the war has progressed.

Zavadsky was a much-decorated officer and a former tank commander, said Gusev, adding that his death was a heavy loss that caused "transfixing pain".



www.reuters.com

Deputy Russian army corps commander is killed in Ukraine

Major General Vladimir Zavadsky, deputy commander of Russia's 14th Army Corps, has been killed in Ukraine, a top regional official said on Monday.
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Big risk Ukraine loses war without US weapons - Zelensky aide​

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff has warned that his nation is in danger of losing its war against Russia if more US military aid is not forthcoming.

Andriy Yermak said there was a "big risk" of Ukrainian defeat without continued US support.

"It will be difficult to keep in [the] same positions and for the people to really survive," he added, in a speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC on Tuesday.

Mr Yermak's dire assessment was given just hours before Mr Zelensky pulled out of a scheduled video conference with US senators to brief them on the war effort. Majority Leader Sen Chuck Schumer said the Ukrainian leader was occupied with a "last-minute" matter, without providing further detail.

It also comes on the heels of a renewed push by the White House on Monday for additional support for Ukraine. The US Congress, however, is still not close to a deal on a compromise spending package that would help fund the war effort.

"We are out of money - and nearly out of time," wrote Shalanda Young, the White House budget director, in a letter to Republican and Democratic leaders published on Monday.

She warned that a failure by Congress to approve more military aid to Ukraine before the end of the year would "kneecap" the nation in its fight against Russia and that there was no "magic pot of funding" left to draw from.

On Monday, however, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, seemed dismissive of the latest pleas to provide tens of billions of dollars more in funding.

"The Biden Administration has failed to substantively address any of my conference's legitimate concerns about the lack of a clear strategy in Ukraine, a path to resolving the conflict, or a plan for adequately ensuring accountability for aid provided by American taxpayers," he wrote on social media.

Since the war began in February 2022, the US Congress has approved more than $110bn (£87bn) in military and economic aid to Ukraine. The Biden administration has warned for months, however, that most of that money has already been distributed.

According to Frederick Kagan, director of the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project and a former professor at the US Military Academy, the funding delays are already having very real consequences on the Ukrainian battlefield. The current counteroffensive against Russia is being scaled back, and future operations to regain lost territory are in doubt.

"The Ukrainians have to make a hard choice here," he said. "If they are not confident that they're going to get anything else from the United States, then they have to conserve what they have."

What the Ukrainian military needs, he said, is tanks, armoured personnel vehicles, fighter planes, drones and long-rage weapons - and the US is the only country that can provide this hardware quickly and in the amounts that Ukraine requires in the coming year.

There continues to be bipartisan majorities in both chambers of Congress for additional US aid to Ukraine, even if it does not reach the $61.4bn (£48.28bn) level that the White House has requested. Turning that congressional support into legislation that the president can sign into law, however, has proven to be a sizeable challenge.

Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate are currently negotiating an even-larger $106bn (£83.9bn) spending package that includes aid to Ukraine along with military support for Israel and Taiwan and increased funding for security on the US-Mexico border.

It is this last component of the package, however, that has caused the most political heartburn. Democrats have balked at proposed immigration policy changes, including altering how asylum-seekers at the border are processed and tightening the requirements necessary to qualify for entry into the US.

"In return for providing additional funding for Ukraine, we have to have significant and substantial reforms to our border policy," Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said in a television interview on Sunday.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will bring a military aid bill to a vote in the chamber this week, but it is unclear if it will have sufficient Republican support without an agreement on immigration measures.

Even if Ukraine aid clears the Senate hurdle, its outlook in the House of Representatives is equally murky. While Speaker Johnson has said he supports additional funds for Ukraine, he was one of 117 Republicans in the chamber who voted on 28 September to block just $300m in additional security assistance for that country.

If he brings a Senate-backed massive aid package to a vote in the chamber, relying on Democratic support to win passage, he could sharply divide Republicans and threaten his own grip on power before another round of acrimonious budget negotiations early next year.

In a possible attempt to shore up congressional support, the White House has been pitching additional Ukrainian aid in economic as well as national security terms. In her letter to Congress, Ms Young noted that the requested funds would be used to manufacture armaments at factories located across the country.

"We will modernise vital munitions and equipment like Javelins made in Alabama, Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems made in West Virginia, Arkansas and Texas... and artillery shells made in Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Iowa and many other states," she writes.

As an election year approaches, the White House may be hoping that members of Congress are looking for ways to tout how their actions are helping the local economies in their home districts.

Mr Kagan said he was not surprised that Ukraine funding had become a more controversial topic of political debate in the US as the conflict approaches its third year.

"The American people deserve to have hashed out by their representatives exactly what America's interests are, and to have real debate on distribution of what is after all the large amount of money," he says.

In the end, however, he said the stakes were clear.

"The outcome of this war is going to be determined primarily by what the Ukrainians can do, but a very close second by what the United States chooses to do."

Source: BBC
 
hassan918 said:

Big risk Ukraine loses war without US weapons - Zelensky aide​

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff has warned that his nation is in danger of losing its war against Russia if more US military aid is not forthcoming.

Andriy Yermak said there was a "big risk" of Ukrainian defeat without continued US support.

"It will be difficult to keep in [the] same positions and for the people to really survive," he added, in a speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC on Tuesday.

Mr Yermak's dire assessment was given just hours before Mr Zelensky pulled out of a scheduled video conference with US senators to brief them on the war effort. Majority Leader Sen Chuck Schumer said the Ukrainian leader was occupied with a "last-minute" matter, without providing further detail.

It also comes on the heels of a renewed push by the White House on Monday for additional support for Ukraine. The US Congress, however, is still not close to a deal on a compromise spending package that would help fund the war effort.

"We are out of money - and nearly out of time," wrote Shalanda Young, the White House budget director, in a letter to Republican and Democratic leaders published on Monday.

She warned that a failure by Congress to approve more military aid to Ukraine before the end of the year would "kneecap" the nation in its fight against Russia and that there was no "magic pot of funding" left to draw from.

On Monday, however, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, seemed dismissive of the latest pleas to provide tens of billions of dollars more in funding.

"The Biden Administration has failed to substantively address any of my conference's legitimate concerns about the lack of a clear strategy in Ukraine, a path to resolving the conflict, or a plan for adequately ensuring accountability for aid provided by American taxpayers," he wrote on social media.

Since the war began in February 2022, the US Congress has approved more than $110bn (£87bn) in military and economic aid to Ukraine. The Biden administration has warned for months, however, that most of that money has already been distributed.

According to Frederick Kagan, director of the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project and a former professor at the US Military Academy, the funding delays are already having very real consequences on the Ukrainian battlefield. The current counteroffensive against Russia is being scaled back, and future operations to regain lost territory are in doubt.

"The Ukrainians have to make a hard choice here," he said. "If they are not confident that they're going to get anything else from the United States, then they have to conserve what they have."

What the Ukrainian military needs, he said, is tanks, armoured personnel vehicles, fighter planes, drones and long-rage weapons - and the US is the only country that can provide this hardware quickly and in the amounts that Ukraine requires in the coming year.

There continues to be bipartisan majorities in both chambers of Congress for additional US aid to Ukraine, even if it does not reach the $61.4bn (£48.28bn) level that the White House has requested. Turning that congressional support into legislation that the president can sign into law, however, has proven to be a sizeable challenge.

Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate are currently negotiating an even-larger $106bn (£83.9bn) spending package that includes aid to Ukraine along with military support for Israel and Taiwan and increased funding for security on the US-Mexico border.

It is this last component of the package, however, that has caused the most political heartburn. Democrats have balked at proposed immigration policy changes, including altering how asylum-seekers at the border are processed and tightening the requirements necessary to qualify for entry into the US.

"In return for providing additional funding for Ukraine, we have to have significant and substantial reforms to our border policy," Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said in a television interview on Sunday.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will bring a military aid bill to a vote in the chamber this week, but it is unclear if it will have sufficient Republican support without an agreement on immigration measures.

Even if Ukraine aid clears the Senate hurdle, its outlook in the House of Representatives is equally murky. While Speaker Johnson has said he supports additional funds for Ukraine, he was one of 117 Republicans in the chamber who voted on 28 September to block just $300m in additional security assistance for that country.

If he brings a Senate-backed massive aid package to a vote in the chamber, relying on Democratic support to win passage, he could sharply divide Republicans and threaten his own grip on power before another round of acrimonious budget negotiations early next year.

In a possible attempt to shore up congressional support, the White House has been pitching additional Ukrainian aid in economic as well as national security terms. In her letter to Congress, Ms Young noted that the requested funds would be used to manufacture armaments at factories located across the country.

"We will modernise vital munitions and equipment like Javelins made in Alabama, Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems made in West Virginia, Arkansas and Texas... and artillery shells made in Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Iowa and many other states," she writes.

As an election year approaches, the White House may be hoping that members of Congress are looking for ways to tout how their actions are helping the local economies in their home districts.

Mr Kagan said he was not surprised that Ukraine funding had become a more controversial topic of political debate in the US as the conflict approaches its third year.

"The American people deserve to have hashed out by their representatives exactly what America's interests are, and to have real debate on distribution of what is after all the large amount of money," he says.

In the end, however, he said the stakes were clear.

"The outcome of this war is going to be determined primarily by what the Ukrainians can do, but a very close second by what the United States chooses to do."

Source: BBC
Click to expand...
Ukraine is done for, there yesterdays news
 
Russian attacks kill three, destroy Ukrainian aid centre

Russian forces hit an aid centre, a medical building and residences in Ukraine’s southern and eastern regions, killing three people and injuring at least 11, officials said on Tuesday.

In the morning, shelling on the southern city of Kherson killed two people and injured two, Roman Mrochko, head of the city’s military administration, said on Telegram messaging app.

Four doctors were also injured when a Russian projectile hit a medical building, Mrochko said.

In an overnight missile strike on the city, the humanitarian centre “I am Kherson” was targeted, destroying stockpiles of aid, the International Rescue Committee said in a statement. No personnel or visitors were hurt, it said.

Russia attacking Avdiivka ‘from all directions,’ says Kyiv

Local officials said Russia fired two S-300 missiles, also damaging residential buildings nearby.

“We endured a sleepless night due to the relentless explosions as we witnessed our hub engulfed in flames. At dawn, the devastating aftermath revealed nearly everything reduced to ashes,” Nataliia Humenna, project coordinator at the centre, was quoted as saying by IRC.

On Tuesday, Russian forces also used the “Grad” multiple launch rocket system for a two-hour-long attack on the eastern frontline city of Chasiv Yar, the General Prosecutor’s Office said.

A 50-year-old resident died on the spot from injuries, and five people were injured, the office said on Telegram.

“At the time of the attack, people were receiving water and bread from volunteers,” it said.

Reuters could not independently confirm the details of either incident.

Russia has denied deliberately targeting civilians in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022 although thousands have been killed in Russian air strikes across the country.


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Russian attacks kill three, destroy Ukrainian aid centre

KYIV: Russian forces hit an aid centre, a medical building and residences in Ukraine’s southern and eastern regions,...
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KingKhanWC said:
www.ft.com

US funding for Ukraine set to run out by end of the year, White House warns

Budget official says failure by Congress to approve further aid will ‘kneecap’ Kyiv
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Its over for Ukraine. As always the Yanks cause a war, after so much bloodshed, run off with a ruined nation. The ruined nation has been bought out by the likes of Blackrock. Nothing more than a weak attempt to beat Russia and Putin while making money for the military complex and other companies.
Click to expand...


They've got a large part of their male population killed and injured many have fled to avoid forced conscription
The country is in economic tatters and many of their opportunistic gold digging women are here in uk they've been council flats and everything. No wonder the immigration numbers have shot up thanks to these ukranians , Hong kongers and indians arriving in 100000s and the right wing media keep trying to blame muslims and people on dinghies.

The countrroffensive in summer failed , although the Russian military performance has been abysmal mainly down their doctrine training and junk weapons the west underestimated russian resolve and their ability to sustain significant casualties something the west no longer can do last time they stomached something like that was in Vietnam.

This comedian is in big trouble his own people are gonna turn on him.

The west is also running out of money and weapons to keep supplying to the comedian.

Russia should wait this out its almost inevitable ukraine is gonna be ditched and when it's ditched Russia should not come to the table but just takeover whole ukraine and annex it , without western military and financial support which will eventually dry up Russia would accomplish its goal quickly and I reckon ukranian resistance will wither very quickly .
 
Biden to announce $175mn for Ukraine, press Congress for more

US President Joe Biden will announce $175 million in additional Ukraine aid during remarks at 12 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, a US official said, while urging Congress to pass his national security funding request.

The White House warned this week that the US is running out of time and money help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion.

By mid-November, the US Defense Department had used 97% of $62.3 billion in supplemental funding it had received and the State Department had used all of the $4.7 billion in military assistance funding it had been allocated, US budget director Shalanda Young said this week.



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Biden to announce $175mn for Ukraine, press Congress for more

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will announce $175 million in additional Ukraine aid during remarks at 12 p.m. ET...
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Cricket Warrior said:
Biden to announce $175mn for Ukraine, press Congress for more

US President Joe Biden will announce $175 million in additional Ukraine aid during remarks at 12 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, a US official said, while urging Congress to pass his national security funding request.

The White House warned this week that the US is running out of time and money help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion.

By mid-November, the US Defense Department had used 97% of $62.3 billion in supplemental funding it had received and the State Department had used all of the $4.7 billion in military assistance funding it had been allocated, US budget director Shalanda Young said this week.



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Biden to announce $175mn for Ukraine, press Congress for more

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will announce $175 million in additional Ukraine aid during remarks at 12 p.m. ET...
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Ukraine must realize that Biden is throwing them into wost situation by firing a gun while putting them on their shoulders.
 

Ukraine war: Zelensky speaks out as US stand-off imperils war effort​

Ukraine is facing some of its most difficult days since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

The much-anticipated counter-offensive appears to have stalled, and the US and EU are struggling to agree fresh financial and weapons aid. And the world's attention is diverted by the Israel-Gaza war.

After a package of help from the US became embroiled in wider Congressional squabbles, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was waiting for the US and Europe to show weakness.

"Russia hopes for only one thing - that next year the free world's consolidation will collapse," he told a video meeting of Western leaders from the G7.

President Joe Biden appealed to Congress to "do the right thing". "This cannot wait," he said.

In Kyiv officials are outwardly positive - and a sense of public defiance remains - but you can also detect a darker mood.

"Confidence in victory has become a bit thinner than it was a year ago," says Iryna, who is with her husband Oleksandr on Kontraktova Square in the Ukrainian capital.

She starts to cry, recalling life before Russia's full-scale invasion.

"We're walking now on this square, remembering how we celebrated new year here a few years ago; there was a symphony orchestra playing here and it was so beautiful.

"We'd like very much this to return to our lives and for Ukraine to win. We really need help from abroad, because it's very hard for us."

President Zelensky abruptly cancelled a virtual meeting with US lawmakers on Tuesday.

No official reason was given but it came ahead of a possible Senate vote on Wednesday on an aid package that looks doomed to fail.

The $105bn (£83bn; €97bn) spending bill includes $61bn for Ukraine and most of the rest for Israel, Taiwan and the US southern border.

But Republicans look set to vote against it after the meeting that was due to feature Mr Zelensky via video link descended into bickering over the border measures. Several lawmakers walked out.

Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Oksana Makarova, insisted there were still grounds for cautious optimism while conceding: "We are not yet where we would like to be." Meanwhile, the US announced a further $175m of weapons and equipment for Ukraine from existing resources.

European Union plans to sign off €50bn (£43bn; $54bn) in economic assistance, and start formal talks for Ukraine to one day join the EU, are also in doubt.

"Everything is in danger," said one Brussels diplomat, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has threatened to veto the proposals ahead of a summit next week.

Mr Orban, who has kept up bilateral ties with President Putin, says it's "highly doubtful" Ukraine will win against Russia, even if Europe sends further aid.

"Of course we need support, we are protecting the whole of Europe," said Tetyana, who became tearful as she told the BBC her son was serving on the front line.

"We need more weapons, because our children are dying."

Wrangling and trade-offs are part of any political system but it's getting "harder and harder" to obtain Western support, admits Ukrainian opposition MP Oleksiy Goncharenko.

He's a member of the parliament's US-Ukraine friendship group and has been in Washington DC meeting members of Congress and US government officials.

Whilst he believes backing for Ukraine remains strong, he warns that agonising waits for new aid are damaging.

"When the West was saying, we'll be with Ukraine for as long as it takes, does the West just really mean two years? Is two years as long as it takes?

"The only person that benefits from what's going on now is Putin."

There was huge anticipation about Ukraine's counter-offensive, which finally began in June.

But already there are endless post-mortems as to why the effort has failed, with analysts pointing to problems such as a lack of air superiority, strategic miscalculations and heavily fortified Russian defences.

"You can forget about every good plan when active action begins," says defence analyst Oleksandr Musiienko at Kyiv's Centre for Military and Legal Studies.

While he thinks the counter-offensive is coming to an end, it will be important not to let the Russians "rest" this winter.

Long-range strikes in occupied territory and localised offensive operations must continue, he believes, while Ukraine could prepare for a fresh offensive next year.

"Even with these hard times, we have chances," he says, especially once further weapons arrive.

"We need long range missiles, drones and more artillery shells."

Russia has always had time on its side as well as a huge resource of manpower that Ukraine can never match.

In Kyiv, there have been reported tensions between President Zelensky and his top general, Valery Zaluzhny, who told the Economist last month that the war was at a "stalemate".

But Ukraine still has the will to fight because for Ukrainians this war is existential and there is a push to boost the domestic production of arms.

However, there is no doubt that weapons and funds from partners abroad remain crucial.

"For a decisive victory, we need comprehensive, urgent support!" declared Oleksandr Vasiuk, a Ukrainian MP and member of President Zelensky's party.

"We are confident that the US and the EU see the picture clearly and will be able to overcome their differences," he told the BBC.

Kyiv pensioner Volodymyr also took a firm tone as he told me: "Evil must be destroyed."

"They should understand it in the US, in the EU, and in the entire world."

Source: BBC
 
Republicans block Ukraine funding over US-Mexico border despite Biden pleas
US President warned lawmakers not passing the measure would ‘kneecap’ Ukraine on the battlefield and be a ‘gift’ to Putin.

Republican senators in the United States have blocked $106bn in new funding for Ukraine and Israel, rejecting appeals from President Joe Biden amid anger over the exclusion of immigration reforms they had demanded as part of the package.

Biden had earlier warned of dire consequences for Kyiv – and a “gift” to Russia’s Vladimir Putin – if Congress failed to pass the measure, which includes about $61bn to help Ukraine keep up pressure on Russia during the freezing winter months, as well as help for Israel and Gaza.

“They’re willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process,” Biden said.

The entire 49-strong Republican minority in the upper chamber voted against the proposal, pointing to a lack of government action on the estimated 10,000 migrants  crossing from Mexico into the US every day.

“Everyone has been very, very clear on this to say we’re standing firm. Now is the moment,” Senator James Lankford, a lead Republican negotiator on immigration and border issues, told Fox Business ahead of the vote.

“We’re completely out of control at the southern border, and it’s time to resolve this.”

Citing aid for Israel, independent senator Bernie Sanders also voted against the bill, which needed 60 votes to pass.

...
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Republicans block Ukraine funding over US-Mexico border despite Biden pleas

The Kremlin has celebrated the gridlock, saying it hopes US lawmakers will keep axing Biden’s aid plan.
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Russia luring migrants from Finnish border for war in Ukraine

Russia is trying to recruit foreign migrants, detained in a recent sweep at its border with Finland, for its war in Ukraine.

The BBC has seen evidence of several cases in which foreigners were rushed into a military camp on the border with Ukraine, days after they were picked up for breaching immigration laws.

The practice of coercing people in pre-deportation detention centres to sign contracts for army service in Ukraine is not new, but the numbers swelled as foreign migrants arrived at Russia's 1,340-km (833-mile) border with Finland.

Finland temporarily closed all eight of its Russian border crossings, accusing Moscow of channelling migrants and asylum seekers there as part of a destabilisation campaign after the government in Helsinki joined Nato earlier this year.

Analysis of court hearings in Karelia, one of three Russian regions bordering Finland, showed that in the past three weeks, 236 people were arrested for staying in Russia without valid visas, destined for deportation. The picture was similar in the other two border regions of Leningrad and Murmansk.

Among those appearing in court in Karelia was a Somali man in his 40s, who was arrested in mid-November, sentenced to a fine of 2,000 roubles (£17; €20) and detained pending deportation - a standard procedure for anyone without an appropriate visa.

Awad and at least a dozen other inmates held in the pre-deportation centre in Petrozavodsk, Karelia's capital, were approached by military representatives soon after their arrest and were offered "a job for the state". They were promised good pay, medical care and permission to stay in Russia on completing a one-year army contract.

Awad is not his real name, but the BBC has confirmed his identity.

He had arrived in Russia in mid-July and went to neighbouring Belarus, trying for months to enter Poland. By early November, he said internet chat groups popular with asylum seekers were abuzz with news that the Russian border with Finland had become more accessible.

Unprecedented numbers of migrants began turning up at Finland's border and applying for refugee status.

Finnish authorities accused Russia of encouraging the influx and abandoning their usual visa checks for travellers entering the border zone.

They highlighted the organised distribution of bicycles, most of them brand new, which migrants used to cover the last stretch of the Russian border zone, bypassing Russia's ban on approaching its border posts on foot.

Finland's last border crossing at Raja-Jooseppi shut on 29 November, although authorities in Helsinki were planning to reopen the border later this month. Those arriving by air or sea can still seek asylum.

Awad told the BBC that he hired a taxi on 14 November and, along with another Somali migrant, was driven for several hours from St Petersburg to Lakhdenpokhya, a town in Karelia 30km from the Finnish border.

They were acting on their own and no-one had helped them, he maintained.



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Russia luring migrants from Finnish border for war in Ukraine

The BBC has seen evidence of foreigners without valid visas being sent to a military camp near Ukraine.
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Laura Kuenssberg: Ukraine in 'mortal danger' without aid, Olena Zelenska warns​

Olena Zelenska has warned that Ukrainians are in "mortal danger" of being left to die if Western countries don't continue their financial support.

Ukraine's first lady spoke to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg a day after Republican senators in the US blocked a key aid bill.

It would have provided more than $60bn (£47.8bn) worth of support to Ukraine.

Speaking hours after a Russian missile attack, she said: "If the world gets tired, they will simply let us die."

The White House has warned that US funds for Ukraine could soon run out, but Republicans have held up a deal to authorise more assistance.

They are seeking to secure compromises from President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress on funding for US border measures, in exchange for their support.

President Biden said the failure to agree Ukraine aid would be a "gift" for President Vladimir Putin, warning history would "judge harshly those who turned their back on freedom's cause".

Nearly two years since Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, the first lady expressed grave concern over delays in funding.

In an exclusive interview to be broadcast on Sunday, Olena Zelenska told the BBC the slowdown in aid represented a "mortal danger" for her country.

She said: "We really need the help. In simple words, we cannot get tired of this situation, because if we do, we die.

"And if the world gets tired, they will simply let us die."

The first lady continued: "It hurts us greatly to see the signs that the passionate willingness to help may fade.

"It is a matter of life for us. Therefore, it hurts to see that."

The UK has also been urging politicians in Washington DC to agree a deal for Ukraine.

UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said on a visit to Washington this week that the US was the "lynchpin" of the Western coalition backing Ukraine's fight against Russia.

He urged the US not to give Mr Putin a "Christmas present" by blocking the billions of dollars of financial support required to continue the war against Russian forces.

There is little doubt that the international community's attitude towards Ukraine has shifted.

Full-throated support in Washington DC cannot be guaranteed - and yet the fundamentals of the conflict have not budged.

A country on Europe's eastern flank is still fighting to repel Russian forces after the Kremlin launched an illegal invasion.

Ukraine surprised the world when its armed forces prevented the country being overrun in February 2022.

Many Western countries surprised them in return with the enthusiasm of their support.

However, Ukraine cannot keep going in the same vein without the wealth and backing of other countries.

The first lady's warnings seem designed to make that crystal clear.

Source: BBC
 
There are millions of dollars that are being wasted in this war and there are hundreds of thousands of people in Africa who have nothing to eat and starving to death.
 

Ukraine war: Zelensky heads to US in bid to rescue $60bn military aid​

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Washington DC to try to rescue an imperilled US defence package to Kyiv worth billions of dollars.

The aid has become embroiled in US domestic, partisan politics, with Republicans demanding concessions on border funding in exchange.

It marks Mr Zelensky's third visit to the US since Russia's 2022 invasion.

The week is a crucial one for Ukraine, with the EU also deciding whether to open accession talks to the bloc.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has signalled that he opposes the move, and has the power to block such a decision.

Mr Orban and Mr Zelensky had an apparently intense conversation when they met on Sunday at the inauguration of Argentina's new president. The details of their discussion have not been revealed.

As well as holding meetings with US President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, the Ukrainian president will address the Senate on Tuesday morning.

The White House said in a statement on Sunday that Mr Zelensky's visit was meant "to underscore the United States' unshakeable commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia's brutal invasion".

The US military aid package, worth $60bn (£47.9bn; €55bn), is currently stalled in Congress, facing pushback from Republicans who argue that more money should be going to domestic security at the US-Mexico border.

A vote in the Senate last week saw a package, which included the funding but no border measures, blocked by Republicans.

In addition to more funds for border enforcement, Republicans are seeking reforms to the way in which undocumented migrants seeking political asylum in the US are processed.

"We've got to be able to have a change in policy on this," Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, one of the lead Republican negotiators, said in an interview on Sunday.

"All we're trying to do is to say what tools are needed to be able to get this back in control, so we don't have the chaos on our southern border."

Mr Lankford said that Americans don't want US national security on the border to be ignored while Congress focuses on Ukraine's interests.

Although the Biden administration has expressed a willingness to accept some asylum policy changes, such concessions risk angering liberal lawmakers and further dividing a party that has already been fractured by the president's support of Israel in the Gaza War.

"We are concerned about reports of harmful changes to our asylum system that will potentially deny lifesaving humanitarian protection for vulnerable people, including children, and fail to deliver any meaningful improvement to the situation at the border," a group of 11 Democratic senators wrote in a statement issued on 30 November.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, an ally of Mr Biden's, has said that the White House is becoming "more engaged" in the ongoing negotiations, seeking a comprehensive funding agreement that includes money for Ukraine before Congress leaves for its holiday recess on Friday.

Even if the Senate can strike a deal, however, the package would have to also be approved by the House of Representatives, where opposition to more Ukraine aid is even more intense.

Mr Biden has been urging lawmakers to approve the funds. In an impassioned televised address last Wednesday, he said the package could not wait and warned that Russia would not stop at victory over Ukraine.

Though Ukraine fended off Russia's original attack, its much-vaunted counter-attack this year has stalled and there have been signs of fatigue from some of the Western nations which have stepped up to support it militarily.

After the Senate vote, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that Ukrainians would be "in mortal danger" if Western countries did not continue their support.

"We really need the help. In simple words, we cannot get tired of this situation, because if we do, we die," she said.

"And if the world gets tired, they will simply let us die."

Source: BBC
 
The amount of money that has been spent in this war is unbelievable and we don't have any idea when this waste of money of going to stop.
 
hassan918 said:
The amount of money that has been spent in this war is unbelievable and we don't have any idea when this waste of money of going to stop.
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Russia has worn down Western resolve. Ukrainian counter offensive been a massive failure. Zelnesky should ask tips from nawaz and shabs on how to beg the USA for money
 
Ukraine mobile network Kyivstar hit by 'cyber-attack'

Ukraine's main mobile network, Kyivstar, says it's been the target of a "powerful hacker attack".

Customers have been left without phone or internet access, while one city's air raid sirens stopped working. Kyivstar's chief executive implied Russia could be responsible.

Ukraine's security services are investigating. Moscow hasn't commented.

The Kyivstar network is estimated to have some 24 million mobile customers and a million home internet users.

Reports emerged on Tuesday morning that people and businesses had lost mobile and internet signal.

Air raid sirens in the north-eastern city of Sumy also malfunctioned as a result of the outage.

Military authorities in the area announced they would send out police and emergency vehicles to alert residents of any incoming missile or drone strikes.

Ukraine's largest bank, PrivatBank, said some cash machines were not working and might be "unstable" or "have no connection".

An investigation has been opened by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

"One of the versions currently being investigated by SBU investigators is that the Russian special services may be behind this hacker attack," SBU said in a statement.

Kyivstar said earlier it had called in law enforcement agencies because of the "illegal interference".

The company's general director, Oleksandr Komarov, also appeared to suggest Russian actors could be to blame.

"The war with Russia has many dimensions and one of them is in cyberspace," he said.

"We are working to restore communication as soon as possible," he added and promised compensation for affected customers.

The operator said no-one's personal data had been compromised.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with the war now well into its second year.

Dutch-domiciled parent company Veon said it would work with Kyivstar on "additional security measures" to prevent similar incidents in future.

Separately, Ukraine's military intelligence claimed to have carried out a cyber-attack on Russia's federal tax system in recent days.

"During the special operation, military intelligence of Ukraine managed to break into one of the well-protected key central servers of the federal tax service," read a statement on Telegram.

It said Russian efforts to restore services were now into their fourth day.



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Ukraine mobile network Kyivstar hit by 'cyber-attack'

Customers are left without phone and internet access, while one city's air raid sirens stop working.
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Zelensky Doesn’t Appear to Convince Republicans on Ukraine Aid During Congress Visit​


krainian President Volodymyr Zelensky encountered stern opposition from Senate Republicans on Tuesday as he sought approval for billions of dollars in additional U.S. military assistance for Ukraine’s ongoing war against Russia.

During a day of meetings on Capitol Hill, Zelensky underscored the urgency of increased American assistance to counter Russian aggression and protect Europe from further advances. But his appeal failed to sway GOP members whose support he would need to pass new funding. Several Republican senators emerged from the meeting unmoved, reiterating their stance that any new aid to Ukraine must be contingent on the Biden Administration and Democrats acceding to their demands for stricter immigration measures at the U.S. southern border.

"I told President Zelensky, 'Here’s the problem: It’s got nothing to do with you,'" said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the vocal opponents of additional Ukraine aid. “You’ve done everything anybody could ask of you. This is not your problem here." Graham placed blame on the Biden Administration for policy choices leading to what he described as a "nightmare on the border."

With the meeting yielding little progress, the prospects of Congress passing an assistance package for Ukraine before the year's end have grown dim, particularly after all 49 Senate Republicans blocked a measure to grant aid to Ukraine without immigration restrictions last week. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, a key Republican negotiator on a possible border deal, said that Zelensky's visit had no impact on the current impasse. “Pay attention to us, but not your own country? No,” Lankford told reporters. “We’ve got to be able to deal with all these things together.”

Zelensky’s power on Capitol Hill has waned considerably since his last visit one year ago, when he was hailed as a hero during his reception and addressed a joint meeting of Congress before receiving nearly $50 billion in aid. Public support for funding Ukraine’s military effort has fallen considerably since then, and some conservative Republicans are strongly against financing Ukraine's war efforts without politically fraught changes to asylum and other immigration policies.

Democrats have conceded to certain Republican requests, such as elevating the criteria for asylum-seekers to establish a credible fear of persecution upon return to their home countries. But they have opposed suggestions to reintroduce Trump-era policies mandating family detention and reinstating a mandate for migrants unable to be detained to wait outside the U.S. for their immigration court hearing. Democrats also resist a proposal to broaden expedited removal proceedings, wherein migrants are deported before having the chance to make asylum claims, on a nationwide scale.

Last week, President Joe Biden signaled a willingness to embrace immigration restrictions to secure an agreement, but discussions between the two political parties have proven unsuccessful thus far, and lawmakers have only two more days to reach a resolution before their holiday recess. Biden had been pinning hopes on Zelensky's influence to persuade Congress to pass a $110.5 billion emergency spending bill, including $50 billion in security aid for Ukraine.

Senators emerging from Tuesday’s briefing said that Zelensky refrained from engaging in discussions about border security in the U.S., steering clear of involving himself in the domestic policy debate and instead concentrating on the reasons his country needs more aid from the U.S. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said after the meeting that Zelensky warned the fight would devolve into “guerilla warfare” if support for Ukraine eroded.

The Ukrainian leader was set to meet with Biden at the White House after his meeting with Senate members and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Johnson, who assumed the role in October, has expressed support for providing assistance to Ukraine, a sentiment echoed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. But it’s not clear if the Republican leaders can navigate an aid package through the rightwing faction of their conference.

After his one-on-one meeting with Zelensky, Johnson called on the Biden Administration to provide more detail on how the funds to Ukraine would be utilized. "What the Biden Administration appears to be requesting is billions of additional dollars without proper oversight, lacking a clear winning strategy and devoid of the answers that I believe the American people deserve,” he said.

Asked whether Congress can reach an immigration deal and pass the spending package before the end of the year, several Republicans said it was not likely. "I'm becoming increasingly pessimistic," Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told reporters.

As talks on border security continue, the Biden Administration is warning that the U.S. is on track to deplete its funding for sending weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year—adding a sense of urgency to the stalled negotiations.

"The one person happiest right now about the gridlock in Congress is Vladimir Putin,” Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said. “He is delighting in the fact that Donald Trump's border policies are sabotaging military aid to Ukraine.”

Source: TIME
 
Joe Biden and his party can't afford to support Ukraine in this war ahead of their general elections. There are large number of Americans who don't want America to be part of this war and also what's happening in Gaza.
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled two nuclear submarines

Krasnoyarsk and Emperor Alexander III - built over the past six years. Putin promised to "continue to work to increase Russia's military naval might". In addition to these two vessels, the Russian Navy is reportedly building eight nuclear submarines. Russia has increased defence spending as the country is at war with Ukraine.

​

Source : Hindustan Times
 
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EU to open membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova

European leaders have decided to open EU membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant candidate status to Georgia.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the decision, made at a summit in Brussels, as "a victory" for his country and Europe.

A spokesperson for Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, said that agreement was unanimous.

Hungary has long opposed talks starting with Kyiv, but did not veto the move.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban left the room momentarily in what officials described as a pre-agreed and constructive manner, while the other 26 leaders went ahead with the vote.

He then distanced himself from his colleagues with a video message on Facebook: "EU membership of Ukraine is a bad decision. Hungary does not want to participate in this bad decision, and therefore stayed away from the decision today."

Mr Zelensky was delighted by the EU's announcement: "This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires and strengthens," he said on X.

Ukraine and Moldova applied to join the EU after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They were both given candidate status last June, while Georgia was passed over at the time.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu said it was an honour to share the path to EU accession with Ukraine. "We wouldn't be here today without Ukraine's brave resistance against Russia's brutal invasion," she wrote.

Earlier this year, Moldova warned that Russia was seeking to seize power in Chisinau. Ms Sandu said Moldovans were now feeling Europe's "warm embrace" and congratulated her compatriots on what she called "an award for all of society, all those who choose democracy and prosperity".



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EU to open membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky hails the decision as "a victory" for his country and Europe.
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Hungary blocks $54bn EU financial aid for Ukraine

Veto came hours after the European Union agreed to open membership talks with Ukraine in a move Hungary opposed.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has blocked 50 billion euros ($54bn) in European Union aid for Ukraine, hours after the group agreed to formally open membership talks with Kyiv.

Leaders meeting in Brussels said they would revisit the issue next month after Orban refused to back the additional funding for Ukraine’s government as it battles to remove Russian forces from its territory.

“Summary of the nightshift: veto for the extra money to Ukraine,” Orban, the closest ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the EU, wrote on social media.

The EU’s other leaders agreed to revisit the debate in January.

“We still have some time, Ukraine is not out of money in the next few weeks,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters as he left the talks.

“We agreed with the 26 countries. Victor Orban, Hungary, were not yet able to do that. I am fairly confident we can get a deal early next year. We are thinking of late January.”

Rutte said another summit would be convened to reach a deal. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo stressed that the financial support was vital.

“It is just as important that Ukraine has the means to continue the war and rebuild its country,” he said.

Orban had promised to block the membership talks and the funding for weeks, and the decision was a blow to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who failed this week to persuade Republican lawmakers in the United States to approve an additional $61bn for Ukraine.

Most EU leaders wanted this week’s summit to send a clear sign of solidarity with Ukraine amid perceptions, eagerly seized upon and repeated by Moscow, that allies’ support for Kyiv was waning.



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Hungary blocks $54bn EU financial aid for Ukraine

Veto came hours after the European Union agreed to open membership talks with Ukraine in a move Hungary opposed.
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Ukraine Man Throws Grenades At Colleagues In Meeting, 26 Injured

New Delhi: A scene ripped straight from a Cold War thriller unfolded in a Ukrainian village on Friday. A heated council meeting descended into further chaos as a disgruntled councillor, clad in black, threw three hand grenades on the floor, leaving 26 wounded and himself dying from the explosions.
The attack, which took place at the headquarters of the village council of Keretsky in western Ukraine, was captured in chilling video footage released by Ukrainian police on X.

The video, which has been blurred to protect the identities of the victims, shows the man entering the meeting room with a chilling calmness. He casually pulls three hand grenades from his pockets, coolly releases the safety pins, one by one, and lets the grenades fall to the floor.

The explosions that follow are almost instantaneous. As the grenades exploded one after the other, the video captured loud bangs, blinding flashes, and the council room resembling the aftermath of a fierce tank battle.

"As a result, 26 people were wounded, six of whom are in a grave condition," the police statement read, adding that the detonator himself died of his wounds. The identity of the man has not been released by Ukrainian authorities.

Ukraine's secret service, the SBU, has launched a terror investigation into the case while the national police also opened a probe into illegal weapons handling.

According to reports, many Ukrainians have access to army-grade weaponry because of the ongoing war with Russia.

NDTV
 
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Ukraine war: Kyiv forced to cut military operations as foreign aid dries up​

Ukraine has warned it is already being forced to downsize some military operations because of a drop-off in foreign aid.

Top general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said troops faced ammunition shortages along the "entire front line", creating a "big problem" for Kyiv.

It comes as billions of dollars of US and EU aid have been held up amid political wrangles.

Ukraine said it hoped to boost its own ammunition industry with western help.

But it relies heavily on western supplies, particularly on deliveries of long-range missiles and air defence systems, to fight occupying Russian forces.

Gen Tarnavskyi told the Reuters news agency that the country lacked artillery shells, particularly for its Soviet-era weapons.

"The volumes we have are not sufficient, given our needs," he said. "So, we're redistributing it. We're re-planning tasks that we had set for ourselves and making them smaller because we need to provide for them."

He said that diminishing foreign military aid was already having an impact on the battlefield, and forcing a change in tactics.

"In some areas, we moved to defence, and in some we continue our offensive actions.

"And we are preparing our reserves for our further large-scale actions. Their intention remains. The only thing is that their actions change, tactics change."

His comments come in the wake of setbacks in both the EU and US. Republicans in the US Congress first blocked a $60bn (£47bn) military package for Ukraine earlier this month.

That was followed by Hungary's blocking of the EU's €50bn ($55bn; £43bn) financial aid deal last week. EU leaders however said Ukraine would not be left without support.

Ukraine was already facing an ammunition shortage as Western powers struggled to maintain supplies. The EU pledged to send one million artillery shells by March 2024, but so far only 480,000 have been either delivered or are in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, the US has provided Ukraine with more than two million 155mm shells for use in Western-made artillery systems. But its own stocks have been depleted, prompting the decision last summer to send cluster munitions.

Ukraine is already using ammunition faster than partners can produce it. A report by the Estonian defence ministry said Kyiv needed a minimum of 200,000 artillery shells a month to retain an edge against Russia.

"Sustaining this rate will empty European and US stockpiles over 2024 and will require significant foreign purchases of ammunition," it said.

Speaking to the BBC, Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Ivan Havryliuk said the country was ramping up production of kamikaze drones "to compensate [for] the lack of artillery shells".

Additionally, it was increasing its own production of artillery rounds "for almost the entire range" of its Soviet-era weapons.

He also said the country hoped to boost its defence industry by jointly producing ammunition with Western companies on Ukrainian soil.

Gen Havryliuk said this was the focus of negotiations with US companies when he accompanied President Volodymyr Zelensky during his December visit to the US.

Ukraine signed a number of agreements with US firms to start joint production.

He said that Ukraine could not match the resources of or manpower of Russia and the goal was to achieve technological superiority.

Gen Havryliuk said Kyiv was confident its international partners would overcome political differences to provide Ukraine with aid as before.

EU countries, he added, sent their assistance not only as a bloc but also on a bilateral level.

However, the situation has signalled to Russia that international support for Ukraine is weakening - and there are concerns that by switching its economy onto a war footing, Moscow can outlast the West in this battle of attrition.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his belief that the war would end only when Russia achieves its goals.

Kalle Kirss, Estonia's defence adviser to Nato, told the BBC that Europe needed to commit funding to support Ukraine.

"We need to signal very clearly to Russia that we're ready for a long war and that we will boost our industry and we [will] commit our resources."

Source: BBC
 
I wonder how long Ukraine can resist on its own without the foreign aid, especially aid from US.
 

Ukraine military seeks extra 500,000 soldiers - President Zelensky​

Ukraine's military wants to mobilise up to 500,000 extra people, President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed, as the war with Russia nears a two-year mark.

At a news conference in Kyiv, he said his commanders were seeking "450,000-500,000 individuals", admitting this was a "sensitive" and costly issue.

He said he needed more details before backing the move, hinting that 500,000 soldiers were already on the front.

His comments come in the wake of aid setbacks from the US and the EU.

Republicans in the US Congress first blocked a $60bn (£47bn) military package for Ukraine earlier this month.

That was followed by Hungary's blocking of the EU's €50bn ($55bn; £43bn) financial aid deal last week. EU leaders, however, said Ukraine would not be left without support.

Ukraine is facing an ammunition shortage as it continues to fight occupying Russian forces, following Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Kyiv's counter-offensive ground to a halt at the start of winter and there are fears that the Russians could simply outgun Ukraine.

Olena Zelenska, Ukraine's first lady, warned in a BBC interview earlier this month that Ukrainians were in "mortal danger" of being left to die without further Western support.

Russia President Vladimir Putin said this week that Moscow would continue its invasion, vowing that all his goals would be achieved.

The Kremlin leader also said that 617,000 Russian soldiers were now being deployed for what Moscow describes as a "special military operation". But he admitted that the armed forces had problems with air defence systems and communication, and needed to increase the production of drones.

President Zelensky's end-of-year news conference was held in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday, with the time and venue being kept secret from the general public. Invited Ukrainian and foreign media had been given the details in their confirmation letters.

Appearing in his trademark military-style clothes, the Ukrainian leader was asked a wide range of questions during the two-hour event.

He revealed that Ukraine's top military commanders had "proposed to mobilise an additional 450,000-500,000 individuals" for the country's war effort.

He said this was a "very serious number" and he needed more in-depth discussion before committing to the plan.

"I need specifics: what will happen to the million-strong army of Ukraine, what will happen to those guys who have been defending our state for two years? We have issues of rotation and holidays. It should be a comprehensive plan."

But he ruled out any proposals to mobilise women.

When asked by the BBC's Jessica Parker about whether Ukraine could be on the cusp of starting to lose the war, Mr Zelensky was firm. "No," was the answer.

It's the answer you would expect, but he's not alone in expressing this kind of determination, our correspondent in Kyiv says. Many people she has met will not countenance anything other than beating back their Russian invaders, she adds.

During the briefing, Mr Zelensky also said that:
  • Ukraine would be able to produce a million drones in 2024
  • He had "working relations" with Ukraine's top military commander Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, playing down reports of a rift between the pair
  • Peace talks with Russia were not currently feasible, stressing that he would seek to restore in full Ukraine's internationally recognised borders, including Crimea
During the whole event, the Ukrainian president sought to strike a confident note - but sometimes he appeared to be tense and tetchy when pressed over reports of corruption among Ukrainian government officials and lawmakers.

Source: BBC
 
One day he asks for help in terms of money and weapons and the next day he asks for soldiers. It looks like things are getting tough for Ukraine to keep putting up resistance against Russia.
 
hassan918 said:

Ukraine military seeks extra 500,000 soldiers - President Zelensky​

Ukraine's military wants to mobilise up to 500,000 extra people, President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed, as the war with Russia nears a two-year mark.

At a news conference in Kyiv, he said his commanders were seeking "450,000-500,000 individuals", admitting this was a "sensitive" and costly issue.

He said he needed more details before backing the move, hinting that 500,000 soldiers were already on the front.

His comments come in the wake of aid setbacks from the US and the EU.

Republicans in the US Congress first blocked a $60bn (£47bn) military package for Ukraine earlier this month.

That was followed by Hungary's blocking of the EU's €50bn ($55bn; £43bn) financial aid deal last week. EU leaders, however, said Ukraine would not be left without support.

Ukraine is facing an ammunition shortage as it continues to fight occupying Russian forces, following Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Kyiv's counter-offensive ground to a halt at the start of winter and there are fears that the Russians could simply outgun Ukraine.

Olena Zelenska, Ukraine's first lady, warned in a BBC interview earlier this month that Ukrainians were in "mortal danger" of being left to die without further Western support.

Russia President Vladimir Putin said this week that Moscow would continue its invasion, vowing that all his goals would be achieved.

The Kremlin leader also said that 617,000 Russian soldiers were now being deployed for what Moscow describes as a "special military operation". But he admitted that the armed forces had problems with air defence systems and communication, and needed to increase the production of drones.

President Zelensky's end-of-year news conference was held in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday, with the time and venue being kept secret from the general public. Invited Ukrainian and foreign media had been given the details in their confirmation letters.

Appearing in his trademark military-style clothes, the Ukrainian leader was asked a wide range of questions during the two-hour event.

He revealed that Ukraine's top military commanders had "proposed to mobilise an additional 450,000-500,000 individuals" for the country's war effort.

He said this was a "very serious number" and he needed more in-depth discussion before committing to the plan.

"I need specifics: what will happen to the million-strong army of Ukraine, what will happen to those guys who have been defending our state for two years? We have issues of rotation and holidays. It should be a comprehensive plan."

But he ruled out any proposals to mobilise women.

When asked by the BBC's Jessica Parker about whether Ukraine could be on the cusp of starting to lose the war, Mr Zelensky was firm. "No," was the answer.

It's the answer you would expect, but he's not alone in expressing this kind of determination, our correspondent in Kyiv says. Many people she has met will not countenance anything other than beating back their Russian invaders, she adds.

During the briefing, Mr Zelensky also said that:
  • Ukraine would be able to produce a million drones in 2024
  • He had "working relations" with Ukraine's top military commander Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, playing down reports of a rift between the pair
  • Peace talks with Russia were not currently feasible, stressing that he would seek to restore in full Ukraine's internationally recognised borders, including Crimea
During the whole event, the Ukrainian president sought to strike a confident note - but sometimes he appeared to be tense and tetchy when pressed over reports of corruption among Ukrainian government officials and lawmakers.

Source: BBC
Click to expand...
500,000 more soldiers? And a firm no when asked if they are losing, it's hard not to wonder if there's more going on behind the scenes.
 
Putin claims Russia’s military has the momentum in Ukraine and is poised to meet Moscow’s goals

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Tuesday that his country’s military has seized the initiative in Ukraine after repelling a monthslong counteroffensive and is well positioned to achieve Moscow’s goals.

Putin spoke at a meeting with top military brass a day after he presented documents to Russia’s Central Election Commission to seek reelection in the March presidential vote that he’s all but certain to win.

“Our troops are holding the initiative,” the Russian leader said. “We are effectively doing what we think is needed, doing what we want. Where our commanders consider it necessary to stick to active defenses they are doing so, and we are improving our positions where it’s needed.”

Source : AP News
 
Ukraine war: Male citizens living abroad to be asked to join army

Ukrainian men between the ages of 25 and 60 living abroad will be asked to report for military service, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov has said.

He described this as an "invitation" - but seemed to suggest anyone who did not comply would be sanctioned.

However, a spokesman later clarified that no call-up was being considered.

President Zelensky told journalists on Tuesday that 450,000-500,000 new soldiers were needed but achieving this was a "sensitive issue".

This comes as Ukraine's recent counter-offensive appears to have stalled.

Kyiv has also seen setbacks in provisions of aid, with US Republicans blocking a $61bn (€55bn; £48bn) military package and Hungary stopping an EU financial deal worth €50bn ($55bn; £43bn).

In an analysis of figures from EU statistics agency Eurostat in November, BBC Ukrainian found that some 768,000 Ukrainian men aged 18-64 had left the country for the EU alone since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

The figure does not include citizens living outside the EU, or those resident anywhere abroad since before February 2022.

In an interview for the media outlets Die Welt, Bild and Politico, Mr Umerov described the recruitment drive as "not a punishment" but "an honour".

"We are still discussing what should happen if they don't come voluntarily," he said.

But later a spokesman for the ministry appeared to deny any kind of coercion was involved, and said "accents were shifted" in the interview.

"There is no discussion on the agenda of a call-up from abroad," Illarion Pavlyuk said, quoted by Ukrainian media.

"The minister is calling on all citizens of Ukraine to join the army, wherever they may be," he added.

"Just because you haven't received call-up papers, doesn't mean the threat to Ukraine has disappeared. Does that apply to Ukrainians abroad? Absolutely."

There are no recruitment centres outside Ukraine, and the Ukrainian authorities have no means to force anyone to attend them.

The defence minister said that it was important to be fair, informing mobilised men how they would be trained and equipped, when and where they would serve and when they would be discharged.

Mr Zelensky suggested in his end-of-year news conference on Tuesday that there were currently 500,000 Ukrainian troops at the front.

He also said there were issues with rotation and holidays. Currently conscripts and volunteers are obliged to serve until the end of the war, and are only allowed 10 days' leave a year.

In comparison, Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week there were 617,000 Russian troops taking part in the so-called "special military operation" in Ukraine.



Source: BBC
 
According to Media Sources:

Russia confirms 'comprehensive' defence cooperation with North Korea

Russia has established “comprehensive” defence cooperation with North Korea and is continuing its course of “strategic partnership” with India and China, the chief of the Russian general staff, Valery Gerasimov, told a briefing of foreign military attaches on Thursday.

“The course towards developing a comprehensive strategic partnership with China and India continues. Active, comprehensive cooperation has been established with the DPRK,” Gerasimov said in a year-end address, using an official abbreviation for North Korea.

He gave no further details.

He said Nato’s activity in eastern Europe and the “accelerated integration” of Sweden and Finland into the US-defence alliance were negatively affecting the situation in Europe, “with prospects for increased confrontation”, Reuters reports.
 
Dutch prepare delivery of F-16 jets to Ukraine

The Netherlands announced Friday it was preparing delivery of 18 of the American-made F-16 combat jets pledged to Ukraine, at a moment when Kyiv is under pressure on all fronts.

With US approval, Denmark and the Netherlands announced in August they would provide up to 61 jets, once Ukrainian pilots had been trained up.

Approval is required for re-exports of military equipment, and the government said Friday the planes will require further testing before they can be delivered.

“Today I informed President (Volodymyr) Zelensky of our government’s decision to prepare an initial 18 F-16 fighter aircraft for delivery to Ukraine,” the Dutch defence minister said in a statement, without providing a delivery date.

Besides an export permit, a number of other criteria must also still be met before delivery can take place, including requirements for personnel and infrastructure, the statement said.

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said “this decision confirms the Netherlands’ undiminished commitment to providing Ukraine with the support it needs to respond to the ongoing Russian aggression.”

Zelensky said that he spoke to Rutte and thanked him for the support.

“We discussed frontline developments, the situation in the Black Sea and Ukraine’s current military needs,” he added.

The Netherlands last month sent five F-16s to Romania, where they are being used to train Ukrainian pilots.



Source: Business Recorder
 

Ukraine war: The frontline city Russia could seize again​

Christmas in Kupiansk is a celebration in name only. Most children have been evacuated and a fraction of its 26,000 population remains.

There is a visceral tension which comes with living close to the front line. Within the first hour of us arriving there were two sirens and incoming artillery fire.

This city was occupied for six months and then liberated last year.

However as western support started to wane, the Russians began pushing back.

"We all live on the edge, in fear of death," explains Svitlana. She works in a kiosk at the local market.

The strain feels most acute here. People are suspicious of our presence and start filming us with their phones. All as booms echo in the distance.

"When we go to work, we don't know what will happen," she says. "Whether Russia will hit with rockets, or whether we'll make it home alive."

As we moved away from the market, an ease in pressure was accompanied by a realization of how empty the streets were. Mostly the elderly stroll the pavements.

Through a wooden hatch we meet an exception, Sofia, a 17-year-old who has grown up with Russian aggression. Her father is fighting on the front and you soon grasp how this war has hardened her.

"When the full-scale invasion began, we realised there were deaths everywhere," she says. "Understanding this makes you stronger and more resilient in stressful situations, even during shelling."

Sofia's family home in the nearby city of Izium was destroyed so they moved here. All of her friends were forced to leave Kupiansk long ago.

She outwardly fears very little, but is clearly unimpressed with her country's fate being determined by sceptical western politicians.

"I would invite them to see with their own eyes what it's like here," she says. "Then they would no longer question whether aid is needed or not."

Like Avdiivka, another eastern city, Ukrainian forces have been defending Kupiansk from a raised position as it sits on a hill. Across the Oskil River, which dissects it, you can see plumes of smoke as they struggle to contain Russian advances.

They're around 8km (5 miles) away, but there are fears they will push back to the eastern bank of the Oskil.

Ukraine's ambition of completely liberating its territory couldn't feel more distant here. Instead its troops are repelling wave after wave of Russian attacks.

With Russian drones constantly loitering above, large gatherings are dangerous. In a barn near Kupiansk, around 15 soldiers find the briefest of pauses for a Christmas prayer.

The candlelight illuminates the condensation from their breath. There's a thin layer of snow on the frozen soil outside.

After some coercion from an officer to speak freely to us, Oleksiy, a soldier from the 14th separate mechanised brigade, explains the constant defending they're having to sustain.

"It's day and night, there are no breaks, it's 24/7," he says.

While Oleksiy fights, senior US politicians are on their Christmas breaks after failing to agree a military support package for Kyiv worth almost £50bn.

"The Russians have more targets, so we need more shells," explains Oleksiy. "They throw a lot of men and machinery into battle, they don't pity anything."

Kyiv argues that Moscow won't stop at Kupiansk, should it fall once more. It still wants the whole of Ukraine.

What it really wants to do is sell the idea of a Ukrainian victory. Although with the winds of battle blowing the way they are in Kupiansk, that's become increasingly difficult.

Source: BBC
 

Ukraine war: Russia captures key town near Donetsk​

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said his troops have seized the key town of Mariinka in eastern Ukraine.

Mr Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin assault units had taken the "powerfully fortified" area just outside Donetsk, a Russian-held regional capital.

The commander of Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Ukrainian forces had moved to the outskirts of Mariinka.

Mariinka - seen as a gateway to Donetsk - has been almost completely destroyed.

Separately on Tuesday evening, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Russian forces had shelled Kherson railway station, killing one police lieutenant and leaving several injured.

Police were able to successfully evacuate most of the 140 civilians who had been waiting for an evacuation train at the time, he said on Telegram, most likely preventing much higher casualties.

Mariinka, once home to 10,000 people, has remained in Ukrainian hands throughout the Kremlin's war in eastern Ukraine, which began when Russia seized and annexed Crimea in 2014 and its proxy forces occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

When the full-scale invasion began in 2022, Mariinka came under relentless Russian attack and was evacuated.

"For nine years, the armed forces of Ukraine have made a powerful fortified area, which is connected by underground passages," Mr Shoigu said, adding that this fortified area had now been cracked.

"Each street has its own well-fortified and fairly well-protected structures from all attacks, both from the air and artillery, long-term firing points, complex underground communication systems."

Mr Putin hailed the reported capture as "success", saying that Ukrainian troops had now been pushed further away from Donetsk, which they have been regularly shelling from Mariinka.

The Kremlin leader also said Russian forces now had the "opportunity to move into a wider operational area" in the Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian military initially denied the Russian claim and Ukrainian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian troops were holding out in a small area of western Mariinka.

But speaking during a news conference on Tuesday, the commander of Ukrainian Armed Forces, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi confirmed that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn.

"We protect every piece of our land. Every piece. But when, on this narrow piece, enemy shells start to dig this place together with stones, with earth, with our soldiers, the lives of our soldiers are more important to us," he said.

Gen Zaluzhnyi noted that Mariinka had been held for almost two years, but it was destroyed "street by street, house by house."

"Mariinka is no more," he added.

The town has been used by Ukraine as a defensive barrier since 2014, when Russia-backed fighters seized large swathes of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

President Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have intensified their attacks in several key areas of a more than 1,200km-long (745 miles) battlefront.

Alongside Mariinka, they have been trying to encircle Avdiivka - another key town near Donetsk.

Ukrainian forces are seeking to extend their bridgehead on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the country's military were planning to mobilise up to 500,000 extra people - although Gen Zaluzhnyi denied on Tuesday that the military had issued a request for any specific number of troops.

President Zelensky's comments come as Ukraine is facing an ammunition shortage amid aid setbacks from its key allies in the US and the EU.

Kyiv's counter-offensive ground to a halt at the start of winter and there are fears that the Russians could simply outgun Ukraine.

But there was some good news for Ukraine on Tuesday, as Russia's defence ministry confirmed that one of its warships was damaged in a Ukrainian attack on the port of Feodosiya in occupied Crimea. One person was killed, officials said.

The head of the Ukrainian Air Force said warplanes had destroyed the landing ship Novocherkassk, used for moving troops and heavy equipment, in the early hours of Tuesday.

Mr Shoigu gave details on Tuesday of the damage to the ship to President Vladimir Putin, before declaring that Russian forces had brought Ukraine's counter-offensive to a halt and were now pushing forward on all fronts.

Russian state TV had earlier shown him telling Mr Putin: "The assault detachments of the South group today completely liberated the settlement of Mariinka, which is five kilometres [three miles] south-west of Donetsk.

Source: BBC
 
Ukrainian cruise missile strikes in Black Sea damage Russian warship

Russian Defence Ministry said Tuesday that its ship was targeted by the Ukrainian forces in Feodosia, Black Sea by cruise missile strikes killing one person and damaging the vessel Novocherkassk as both sides continue to inflict maximum damage upon each other amid Christmas.

The Russian media Interfax reported that Ukraine had used air-launched missiles to attack the Crimean port of Feodosia.

According to the Kremlin, the Russian President was also briefed about the Ukrainian attack by the minister Sergei Shoigu.

Yuriy Ihnat, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson while speaking to Radio Free Europe said that he thought it would be hard for the Novocherkassk — which can carry tanks and armoured vehicles and be used to land troops ashore — to re-enter service.

"We can see how powerful the explosion was, what the detonation was like. After that, it’s very hard for a ship to survive, because this was not a rocket, this is the detonation of munitions," he said.

The spokesperson also said that Ukraine had used cruise missiles in the attack, without specifying the kind. Such weapons had been provided by Britain and France to Ukraine.

During the military contact between the two forces of the warring parties, Russian anti-aircraft weaponry destroyed two Ukrainian Su-24 jets near the city of Mykolai, Moscow said.

As a result of the Ukrainian cruise missile attack, at least five people were injured with as many as 250 rescue workers responding to the situation.

Landing ships are used mainly for transporting large military cargoes and land forces during operations. The damaged Novocherkassk was able to carry 10 main battle tanks and 340 troops.

A similar kind of weapon was also used during the September attack on a military dock in Sevastopol, in which the Kilo-class diesel-electric attack submarine Rostov-on-Don and the Ropucha-class landing ship Minsk suffered a hit.

Earlier this week, Russia claimed to take control of the Ukrainian strategic city of Maryinka in the Donetsk People’s Republic — a major stronghold of the Kiyv forces.



Source: The News
 
UK sending more air defence missiles to Ukraine after Russia strikes

The UK will send more air defence missiles to Ukraine after Russia launched a wave of air strikes overnight, the government has said.

The Ministry of Defence said about 200 weapons would be provided.

At least 28 people were killed after a wave of Russian strikes across the country, Ukrainian officials said.

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the package "sends an undeniable message" that Britain is "absolutely committed to supporting Ukraine".

Source: BBC

www.bbc.com

UK sending more air defence missiles to Ukraine after Russia strikes

The move to bolster the country's air defence comes after Moscow launched a wave of attacks overnight.
www.bbc.com
 
The war between Russia and Ukraine will end the day Donald Trump returns as President of the USA.
 
Russia launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets, officials said Friday, killing at least 30 civilians across the country in what an air force official called the biggest aerial barrage of the war.

At least 144 people were wounded and an unknown number were buried under rubble during the roughly 18-hour onslaught, Ukrainian officials said. A maternity hospital, apartment blocks and schools were among the buildings reported damaged across Ukraine.

In the capital, Kyiv, broken glass and mangled metal littered city streets. Air raid and emergency service sirens wailed as plumes of smoke drifted into a bright blue sky.



apnews.com

Russia launches the biggest aerial barrage of the war and kills 30 civilians, Ukraine says

At least seven civilians were killed in what appeared to be one of the biggest aerial barrages of the 22-month war.
apnews.com apnews.com
 

Ukrainian Strike In Belgorod Killed At Least 14, Injured 108, Says Russia​

Moscow: Russia said Saturday that a Ukrainian strike killed at least 14 people and injured 108 in the city of Belgorod, a day after Russian strikes killed dozens in Ukraine.

Belgorod lies about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border with Ukraine and has been repeatedly targeted by what Russia says is indiscriminate shelling by Kyiv's forces.

Unverified footage showed debris strewn across the street and smoke billowing from burnt-out cars in the city's centre, while a large blast can be heard in dashcam footage posted on social media.

AFP was not able to immediately verify the circumstances of the blast.

"According to updated information, 12 adults and two children were killed in Belgorod. Another 108 people, including 15 children, were injured," Russia's emergencies ministry said.

President Vladimir Putin has been briefed on the incident, the Kremlin said, while the Russian defence ministry warned the attack would "not go unpunished".

The attack came as rescuers in Ukraine continued to search through rubble Saturday after Russian strikes killed at least 39 people the day before, in one of the fiercest attacks since the early days of the conflict.

Schools, a maternity hospital, shopping arcades and blocks of flats were all among the buildings hit in Friday's barrage, which triggered international condemnation.

Ukraine's military estimated Russia had launched 158 missiles and drones on Ukraine and 114 of them had been destroyed.

Air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat told AFP that this was a "record number" of missiles and "the most massive missile attack" of the conflict, excluding the early days of constant bombardment.

"Work is still underway to eliminate the consequences of yesterday's Russian attack," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

January 1 will be declared a day of mourning in the capital Kyiv, where at least 16 people were killed, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

'Stop this terror'

Russia's army said it had "carried out 50 group strikes and one massive strike" on military facilities in Ukraine over the past week, adding that "all targets were hit".

The United Nations condemned the attacks and said they must stop "immediately".

Poland reported that a Russian missile briefly passed through its airspace.

"Everything indicates that a Russian missile entered Polish airspace... It also left," said General Wieslaw Kukula, chief of the general staff of the Polish armed forces.

After speaking to Polish President Andrzej Duda, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance "stands in solidarity" with Poland, adding: "NATO remains vigilant."

In the face of sustained Russian assaults, Ukraine is urging Western allies to maintain military support.

Ukraine presidential aide Andriy Yermak said Kyiv needed "more support and strength to stop this terror".

US President Joe Biden called on Congress to overcome its division to approve new aid for Ukraine, after Washington released its final package of weaponry under existing agreements still to be renewed.

"Unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defence systems Ukraine needs to protect its people," Biden said.

"Congress must step up and act without any further delay."

Britain announced it would send hundreds more air defence missiles to Kyiv, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that "We must continue to stand with Ukraine -- for as long as it takes."

www.ndtv.com

Ukrainian Strike In Belgorod Killed At Least 14, Injured 108, Says Russia

Russia said Saturday that a Ukrainian strike killed at least 14 people and injured 108 in the city of Belgorod, a day after Russian strikes killed dozens in Ukraine.
www.ndtv.com www.ndtv.com
 
What the world can learn from Zelenskyy's not-so-secret weapon

On a snowy night in early December, 40 ambulances lined up outside the central railway station in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. There were no signs of passengers in the station, as the entrances had been sealed off. Soon a blue train quietly pulled in, carrying wounded troops from the front.

One after another, severely injured soldiers on stretchers were transferred to the ambulances. All lights had been turned off to escape Russian detection. The train's schedule had been kept secret, but the tension was palpable.

After the wounded had left the station, I entered the train. The inside reeked with the pungent smell of disinfectant. The car was fitted with oxygen cylinders and blood transfusion bags. Another car had equipment used in hospital intensive care units. I was told that each car had carried five to eight soldiers.

Oleksandr Pertsovsky, the head of passenger services at Ukrainian Railways, declined to tell me where the train had originated but said it had taken seven hours to reach Kyiv. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the state-run railway was compelled to build a fleet of hospital trains quickly for the first time since World War I.

Even with the Russian military occupying a fifth of its territory, Ukraine continues to fight while keeping its society functioning relatively well. That has been made possible by military aid from the U.S. and Europe and by high morale among soldiers, but there is another critical factor: good social infrastructure.

Source : Nikkei Asia
 
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