Ukrainian forces on Wednesday repelled an attempt by Russian troops to pierce defences near the northeastern city of Kupiansk, said Ukraine’s General Staff.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday he was “cautiously optimistic” after discussing with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the possibility of conducting deep strikes on Russia as well as Euro-Atlantic integration.
Blinken assured Nato on Wednesday that the Biden administration would bolster its support for Ukraine in the few months before Donald Trump’s return as president and would try to strengthen the alliance in that time.
Ukrainian forces repel Russian bid to pierce defences in northeast
Ukrainian forces on Wednesday repelled an attempt by Russian troops to pierce defences near the northeastern city of Kupiansk, said Ukraine’s General Staff.
The General Staff report, posted on Facebook, said Russian forces attacked in four waves and deployed about 15 pieces of equipment.
“With skilful and decisive actions, our defenders stopped the enemy, destroyed all of its armoured vehicles and eliminated a significant portion of its personnel,” said the report.
Some of the Russian forces, it said, had, donned uniforms resembling those of the Ukrainian military, a practice it characterised as amounting to a war crime.
Kupiansk, east of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, was seized by Russian forces in the early days of their February 2022 invasion, but was recaptured by Ukrainian troops in a lightning counter-offensive later in the year.
Russian forces have in recent months been active in the area.
Kyiv ‘cautiously optimistic’ after discussing deep strikes in Russia with US
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday he was “cautiously optimistic” after discussing with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the possibility of conducting deep strikes on Russia as well as Euro-Atlantic integration.
Kyiv has long been lobbying for Western allies to allow long-range attacks on military targets inside Russia, while also pressing for an invitation to join the Nato alliance.
Allies including the US have been unwilling to permit long-range attacks for fear of further escalating the conflict, and some are opposed to inviting Ukraine to join Nato.
“We discussed issues of long-range strikes and Euro-Atlantic integration. And here we also are cautiously optimistic,” said Sybiha in televised comments.
His talks with Blinken in Brussels come at a turbulent time, just one week after Donald Trump won the US presidential election. Trump has long criticised the scale of US financial and military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war quickly, without explaining how.
Ukraine and its European allies fear this would mean accepting peace on Russia’s terms, which would entail large territorial losses and rule out Ukraine ever joining Nato.
The outgoing Biden administration has pledged to promptly deliver what remains of the promised aid packages before Trump’s return to the White House in January.
Sybiha said his talks in Brussels had also touched on military aid.
“We have a clear picture — a clear timeframe, clear volumes — of what will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year. This helps us strategically to plan our actions on the battlefield,” he said.
Blinken pledges to shore up Ukraine support before Trump transition
Blinken assured Nato on Wednesday that the Biden administration would bolster its support for Ukraine in the few months before Donald Trump’s return as president and would try to strengthen the alliance in that time.
Meeting Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Brussels, Blinken also said the deployment of North Korean troops to help Russia in the Ukraine war “demands and will get a firm response”.
President-elect Trump, who has questioned US military support for Ukraine, says he will quickly end Russia’s war without saying how, raising concern among US allies he could try to force Kyiv to accept peace on Moscow’s terms. Biden leaves office on 20 January.
Blinken said after meeting Rutte at the alliance’s headquarters that they had discussed ongoing support for Ukraine, where Russian forces have been making gains on the eastern front lines, and the work Nato must do to strengthen its defence industrial base.
The outgoing US administration would “continue to shore up everything we’re doing for Ukraine” to ensure it could fight effectively next year or negotiate peace with Russia from a position of strength, he said.
Biden would “use every day to continue to do what we have done these last four years, which is strengthen this alliance”, said Blinken, adding that Biden officials were working to deliver all the aid approved by the US Congress for Ukraine before leaving office.
Speaking about the deployment of North Korean troops to support Russia, Blinken told reporters Moscow’s relationship with Pyongyang was a “two-way street” and there was “deep concern about what Russia is or may be doing to strengthen North Korea’s capacity” including its nuclear capacity.
Blinken was also meeting Nato Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Christopher Cavoli, top EU officials and British foreign secretary David Lammy in Brussels on Wednesday.
Russia stages first missile attack on Kyiv since August
Blasts boomed across Kyiv on Wednesday morning after officials said Russia launched its first missile attack on the Ukrainian capital since August, forcing elderly women and small children to take shelter in an underground metro station.
Ukrainians have been waiting for a big missile attack for months, worried that it could deal a new blow to the hobbled energy system and cause long blackouts as winter sets in.
Air defences intercepted two incoming cruise missiles, two ballistic missiles and 37 drones across the country, said the air force. No casualties or major damage were reported in Kyiv.
Kyiv has faced Russian drone attacks almost nightly for weeks. City mayor Vitali Klitschko said a drone was still flying over central Kyiv in the morning.
“Explosions in the city. Air defence forces are working. Stay in shelters!” wrote the Kyiv city administration on Telegram.
Around 100 residents took shelter in the central metro station Universitet, including small children sleeping on yoga mats and elderly women sitting on fold-out chairs.
After Wednesday’s strike, power grid operator Ukrenergo said it would limit electricity supply for businesses due to “significantly” lower power imports and lower generation.
Ukraine cannot trademark anti-Russian insult, says EU court
Ukraine’s border guard force cannot register a trademark in the European Union on its wartime insult “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” because it is a political slogan, said the EU General Court on Wednesday.
The phrase comes from early in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when Russian officers on the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva radioed Ukrainian guards stationed on tiny Snake Island and ordered them to surrender or die.
The reply came back: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!”
The phrase became a point of pride and a national slogan, featured on billboards, T-shirts, office mugs and even a postage stamp.
The court upheld a lower tribunal’s decision, saying: “The court observed that a sign is incapable of fulfilling the essential function of a trademark if the average consumer does not perceive, in its presence, the indication of the origin of the goods or services, but only a political message.”
A border guard spokesperson said Ukraine had wanted to register the trademark to prevent misappropriation and manipulation of the phrase. The decision was unfortunate, but “we must accept it”, said spokesperson Andriy Demchenko.
“However, I can assure you that the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine will continue to work to prevent possible unfair manipulations around this expression. We must preserve the symbols that demonstrate the heroism and courage of Ukrainian defenders, including border guards, who are an integral part of the Ukrainian Defence Forces,” he said.
Months after Russia seized the island, it abandoned Snake Island. It called its withdrawal a “goodwill gesture”, but Ukraine disputed that, pointing to heavy losses Russia sustained trying to defend it.
Senior Russian naval officer killed in car bombing claimed by Kyiv
A bomb planted under a car blew up and killed a senior Russian naval officer in occupied Crimea’s city of Sevastopol on Wednesday, in what a Kyiv security source said was a Ukrainian hit on one of its highest-ranking targets to date.
Russia’s state Investigative Committee, which handles probes into serious crimes, said in a statement that an improvised explosive device had detonated in an act of terrorism, killing a serviceman whom it did not identify.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Reuters that the explosion had killed Valery Trankovsky, a Russian naval captain and the chief of staff of the 41st brigade of Russia’s missile ships in the Black Sea.
The operation was carried out by the SBU, which saw him as a “legitimate” target in line with the laws of war because of “war crimes” he committed, said the source. The source said he had ordered missile attacks that hit civilian targets in Ukraine, including a deadly strike on the city of Vinnytsia in July 2022.
Several pro-war Russian figures have been assassinated since the start of the war in operations blamed by Moscow on Ukraine, including journalist Darya Dugina, war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and former submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky.
All of those people, as well as Trankovsky, were listed in Myrotvorets (Peacemaker), a huge unofficial Ukrainian database of people considered to be enemies of the country.
On Wednesday, Trankovsky’s photo on the site was overwritten with the word “Liquidated” in red letters.
US concerned by Russia-North Korea ties and technology exchanges
The US was concerned by Russia’s growing relationship with North Korea and by what technology the two countries may be exchanging, said the top US arms control official on Wednesday.
Speaking to Reuters in Bucharest at a forum on preventing nuclear and radiological terrorism, Under Secretary of State Bonnie Jenkins said the US was working with Japan and South Korea to address those countries’ concerns about North Korea.
“We don’t have anything definitive ... in terms of nuclear technology going from Russia to the DPRK [North Korea], but obviously we have an overall concern about the developing relationship between the two countries,” said Jenkins in an interview in the Romanian capital.
“Not only because of what technology could be being transferred, but also just the growing relationship and the fact that the DPRK is assisting Russia, not only with their developing defence industrial base, but also obviously with the 10,000 troops or so that are in Russia right now.”
She was citing a figure provided this week by the Pentagon, which said there were at least 10,000 North Korean soldiers in the Russian region of Kursk bordering Ukraine. DM