The Biden administration announced another package of weapons aid for Ukraine on Thursday, without revealing the amount or contents of the package.
Russian President Vladimir Putin backs Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s efforts to achieve a Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine and a major exchange of prisoners of war, the Kremlin said on Thursday, even though Kyiv has scoffed at the idea.
US president-elect Donald Trump criticised Ukraine’s use of US-supplied missiles for attacks deep into Russian territory in a Time magazine interview published on Thursday, comments that suggest he could alter US policy toward Ukraine.
White House announces new arms aid package for Ukraine
The Biden administration announced another package of weapons aid for Ukraine on Thursday, without revealing the amount or contents of the package.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said the US would continue to provide additional packages for Ukraine “right up to the end of this administration”.
Washington said 10 days ago it would send Ukraine $725-million worth of missiles, ammunition, anti-personnel mines and other weapons as President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration seeks to bolster Kyiv in its war with Russian invaders before leaving office in January.
Thursday’s package, which also uses the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to rush weapons from US stocks to the frontlines, was expected to be worth about $500-million and include ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars), according to a person briefed on the matter.
The person cautioned that the amount and contents were in flux through Thursday afternoon.
After Thursday, about $5.6-billion worth of PDA remains available to Biden without requiring congressional approval.
Moscow’s troops have been capturing village after village in Ukraine’s east, part of a drive to seize the industrial Donbas region, while Russian air strikes target a hobbled Ukrainian energy grid as winter sets in.
Russia backs Orbán’s efforts for Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin backs Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s efforts to achieve a Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine and a major exchange of prisoners of war, the Kremlin said on Thursday, even though Kyiv has scoffed at the idea.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Orbán made the proposals in a call to Putin on Wednesday, said the Kremlin and Hungary, without giving more details.
“The Russian side fully supports Orbán’s efforts aimed at finding a peaceful settlement and resolving humanitarian issues related to the prisoner exchange,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) fleshed out details on a potential prisoner exchange to the Hungarian embassy, said Peskov.
Shortly after the Orbán-Putin call, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised the Hungarian leader for undermining Western unity and appeared to mock Hungary’s peace efforts.
Orbán said it was sad that Zelensky rejected the proposals.
Trump criticises Ukraine’s use of US missiles for attacks deep into Russia
US President-elect Donald Trump criticised Ukraine’s use of US-supplied missiles for attacks deep into Russian territory in a Time magazine interview published on Thursday, comments that suggest he could alter US policy toward Ukraine.
“It’s crazy what’s taking place. It’s crazy. I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done,” Trump said in an interview to mark his being named Time’s Person of the Year.
Biden last month lifted the US ban on Ukraine using US-supplied longer-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia, his latest attempt to boost Kyiv in its battle to repel a Russian invasion force from his country.
Trump has said he would like to bring a quick end to the nearly three-year-old war but has been cagey on the details. He told Time he had a “very good plan” to help but that if he revealed it now “it becomes almost a worthless plan”.
Pressed on whether he would abandon Ukraine, Trump said: “I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.”
Nuclear watchdog condemns attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure
The UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution on Thursday condemning attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but failing to mention Russia as the culprit.
Ukraine called Thursday’s emergency International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board meeting to discuss a wave of attacks on 28 November that Russia unleashed on its energy infrastructure, triggering deep power cuts across the country.
The drone and missile attacks hit electricity substations used by three of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to receive and transmit off-site power, which is critical to their safety since that power is necessary to cool their nuclear fuel and avoid a potentially catastrophic nuclear meltdown.
Diplomats at the closed-door meeting in Vienna said 22 countries voted in favour of the resolution with 10 abstaining and two, Russia and China, voting against. Unlike previous board resolutions on Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, however, it failed to mention Russia by name.
“The Board of Governors ... emphasises that attacks targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure critical for the off-site power supply of nuclear power plants represent a direct threat to nuclear safety and security,” said the resolution.
Zelensky visits artillery unit on southeast front line
Zelensky said he met soldiers in the frontline southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, as Russia stepped up pressure on what had been a relatively calm part of the battlefield.
A video shared on social media on Thursday showed him meeting camouflaged troops and presenting medals in dark trenches in a wooded area, with a Himars artillery system visible in the background.
“May the Himars always perform flawlessly and hit the enemy targets,” said Zelensky in the video. He said he was meeting members of the 27th Rocket Artillery Brigade. The video did not give a precise location or say when the meeting happened.
Tusk says no plans to send Polish troops to Ukraine in event of ceasefire
Poland has no plans to send troops to neighbouring Ukraine, said Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday, amid speculation that Western powers could put boots on the ground there if a ceasefire is reached with Russia.
Tusk was speaking after talks in Warsaw with French President Emmanuel Macron, part of diplomatic efforts by European powers to demonstrate to Trump that they are keen to assume their share of the burden to end the almost three-year war in Ukraine.
Trump has made clear he will push for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to end the conflict.
“To cut off speculation about the potential presence of this or that country in Ukraine after reaching a ceasefire ... decisions concerning Poland will be made in Warsaw and only in Warsaw,” said Tusk. “For now, we do not plan such actions.”
Macron said it was up to Ukraine to decide what concessions it wanted to make for the sake of peace but also stressed the importance of Europeans taking responsibility for the security of the whole continent, something thrown into sharp focus by the impending return of Trump to the White House.
Russia blasts US transfer of $20bn to Ukraine backed by frozen assets
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the US transfer to Ukraine of $20-billion backed by frozen Russian assets was “simply robbery” and suggested Moscow could seize Western assets on its territory “to enhance industrial potential”.
“The provision by the US Treasury Department … of $20-billion using income from operations of ’frozen’ Russian sovereign assets essentially stolen by the G7 countries is simply robbery,” said a statement on the ministry website.
The statement said Biden’s administration was trying “in a Russophobic frenzy to introduce as many anti-Russian sanctions as possible before it transfers power to D. Trump’s team on January 20th”.
“No pseudo-legal machinations, abundantly seasoned with hypocrisy and double standards will go unanswered,” the statement said.
“Russia possesses sufficient capabilities and levers for a retaliatory seizure of Western assets within its jurisdiction, which in such a case would be used to enhance industrial potential and implement infrastructure projects in Russian regions.”
The US Treasury Department on Tuesday said it transferred the $20-billion US portion of a $50-billion G7 loan for Ukraine to a World Bank intermediary fund for economic and financial aid to Kyiv.
The Treasury Department said the action makes good on its October commitment to match the European Union’s commitment to provide $20-billion in aid backed by frozen Russian sovereign assets alongside smaller loans from Britain, Canada and Japan to help the Eastern European nation fight Russia’s 33-month-old invasion.
Ukraine loses ground near strategic hub of Pokrovsk
Russian troops destroyed or captured several Ukrainian positions near the eastern city of Pokrovsk, said Kyiv’s military on Wednesday, as Moscow bore down on the strategic logistics hub that is home to a unique Ukrainian coking mine.
After months of accelerating advances towards Pokrovsk, Moscow’s forces are now as close as 3km from the southern outskirts of the city, according to Ukraine’s DeepState, which maps the front lines using open sources.
“As a result of prolonged clashes, two of our positions were destroyed, one was lost. Currently, measures are being taken to restore positions,” said Nazar Voloshyn, Ukraine’s military spokesperson for the eastern front, in televised comments.
The fall of Pokrovsk, an important logistics centre for the Ukrainian military, would amount to the biggest military setback for Kyiv in months. The city also hosts a mine which is Ukraine’s only domestic coking coal supplier for its once-giant steel industry. DM