Wednesday’s Coverage: Biden Administration — “Window Closing for Ukraine Aid”

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1913 GMT:

The Czech Republic has frozen all Russian-owned property in the country.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský wrote, “At my suggestion, the government today approved the freezing of Russian state assets in the Czech Republic. The commercial activities from which Russia finances the murder of Ukrainians ends here.”

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba posted:

UPDATE 1904 GMT:

The latest revelation from CyprusConfidential, a leaked cache of 3.6m files, indicates a Cypriot professional services firm helped wire about £3.7 million into the UK from an Austrian account belonging to Petr Aven, a sanctioned billionaire Russian oligarch closely linked to Vladimir Putin.

The funds left the Austrian account hours before the European Union publicly announced its restrictions on Aven and weeks before he was blacklisted before the UK.

Initial revelations from the files documented transfers by accountants such as PwC Cyprus for oligarchs such as Alexei Mordashov, payments from Mordashov’s companies to influential German journalist Hubert Seipel, and tens of millions of pounds in offshore payments were made by sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich.

UPDATE 1454 GMT:

Further information has been posted about Russia’s deadly strike on the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine.

Two emergency workers were killed as they fought a fire from an attack minutes earlier. At least three emergency workers and four civilians were injured in the strikes by three missiles within a half hour.

UPDATE 1212 GMT:

One civilian has been killed and at least seven injured by three Russian missiles in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine.

Houses and cars were damaged by a blast wave and debris in the attack that lasted about 30 minutes and hit a civilian facility.

UPDATE 1204 GMT:

The Ukrainian military is calling for “informational silence” as it seeks to advance on the eastern side of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Having crossed the river this summer — despite Russian forces flooding the region in June with the demolition of the Nova Kakhovka Dam — Ukrainian forces have established a foothold up to 4 km (2.5 miles) from the east bank of the Dnipro.

“Along the front line, which runs along the Dnipro…the pushback from our side is taking place on a line from 3 to 8 km along the entire bank from the water’s edge,” said Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the Southern Military Command. “For now, we will ask for informational silence…which would allow us to report later on great successes.”

UPDATE 0728 GMT:

A woman was killed and three people wounded early Wednesday by a Russian missile strike on the town of Selidove in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

The woman was killed by the collapse of the entrance of a four-story building. Five people, including a child, were rescued from damaged apartments; however, one person is still trapped under rubble.

Eight multi-story and 16 private houses were damaged, and a private house was destroyed.

Olha, 64, who lives next door to the destroyed building and knew the slain woman, said, “There were no soldiers living there, only civilians. People have been left with nothing.”

UPDATE 0714 GMT:

Germany’s new military aid package to Ukraine includes 10 Leopard heavy battle tanks, 14 Bandvagn 206 tracked all-terrain vehicles, and 1,020 155-mm shells.

The announcement on Monday came a day after the German Government agreed in principle to double military assistance to Ukraine next year to €8 billion ($8.70 billion).

The German defense conglomerate Rheinmetall said on Tuesday that it is preparing to send 25 Leopard-1A5 tanks to Ukraine, five armored recovery vehicles, and two driver training tanks.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has emphasized that Vladimir Putin, staging his re-election in March, will “kill as many people as he needs” to justify his victory.

In his national address to the nation on Tuesday night, Zelenskiy spoke about the “very intense” Russian assaults, especially in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

In mid-October, Russia launched attacks to seize the town of Avdiivka, about 20 km (12.5 miles) from Donetsk city, the center of Russian occupation in the region. Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka’s military administration, says the Russians have lost at least 3,000 to 4,000 killed and 7,000 to 8,000 wounded.

Zelenskiy told the nation:

We have to realize that Putin has a very cynical and specific political goal right now, and he is willing to kill as many of his people as he needs to because he wants to show at least some tactical results in the first half of December. That’s when he plans to announce his elections.

The President noted that “Russia is already losing soldiers and equipment near Avdiivka faster and on a larger scale” than in its year-long assault to seize Bakhmut, also in Donetsk, in May 2023.