Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks at a press conference in Kyiv, December 19, 2023
Tuesday’s Coverage: Russia’s Near-Total Destruction of Avdiivka
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1814 GMT:
Eleven countries — Ukraine, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, the UK, and the US — have established the Tallin mechanism on cyber-defense.
The countries will coordinate and facilitate civilian cyber-capacity building, helping Ukraine with self-defence in cyber-space, and addressing longer-term cyber-resilience.
UPDATE 1002 GMT:
The New York Times details how Russian telecommunications companies have bypassed international sanctions.
Russia has largely continued getting the technology it needs to keep its economy running. After export restrictions and corporate bans initially led to trade disruptions, Russian suppliers found loopholes and cultivated workarounds.
Almost no piece of commercial hardware — including basic telecom equipment, surveillance gear, microchips for advanced computing and weapons systems, and drones — has been too hard to get.
Russian companies have used e-commerce sites and a web of Chinese suppliers to get products from American firms.
Engineers from Russia’s Convex used specialists from the FSB State security service in Yekaterinburg to install equipment which categorizes and send data to the authorities.
Russian agencies and firms have also used ports in Morocco and Turkey. Goods from global tech manufacturing centers are received and placed on other ships sailing to Russia.
UPDATE 0834 GMT:
The office of Ukraine‘s Prosecutor General says nine people, including four children, were injured overnight in Kherson city by a Russian drone attack.
The Ukraine Air Force said earlier that 18 of 19 Iran-made attack drones were downed (see 0706 GMT).
UPDATE 0811 GMT:
Put’ Domoi (Way Home), a group including the wives and mothers of frontline troops, say the FSB State security service is interrogating and threatening the mobilized men in Ukraine.
Put’ Domoi is calling for an end to Vladimir Putin’s invasion. On Monday, they posted a message on Telegram that Putin is “driving people to the brink”:
How cynical do you have to be to continue this mayhem and put on a brave face? Will you not stop until you kill all the young people?
Will you be having a good time ringing in the New Year with your close ones and a glass of champagne? Well, not our boys.
The group followed up on Tuesday:
Guests from the FSB have already systematically begun to come to the men of our active participants….Those mobilized are called in for interrogation, their phones are taken away (without return), and information about their wives is actively studied.
Next comes threats like “record a video saying that everything here suits you, or we will send you on an assault without a return ticket”. Or they demand, “Tell your wife to shut up.”
UPDATE 0706 GMT:
The Ukraine Air Force says air defenses downed 18 of 19 Iran-made attack drones launched by Russia overnight.
The Russians also fired two S-300 missiles on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, in the northeast of the country. Mayor Ihor Terekhov, said one hit a civilian target.
No casualties have been reported so far.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: In a two-hour press conference on Tuesday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy emphasized that the strategy of liberation from Russia’s 22-month invasion is unchanged.
Acknowledging the limited progress of the Ukrainian counter-offensive since June in the east and south of the country, Zelenskiy said:
The strategy cannot be changed: according to our Constitution — these are all our territories….
The tactics can be changed after the result of our actions in southern Ukraine in 2023. We will get an understanding by the end of the year. Our next plans, next steps…will remain with us for now.
The President announced the military’s request for an additional 450,000 to 500,000 people to be mobilized into the armed forces. He said 500 billion hryvnias ($13.5 billion) in financing will be needed to support the mobilization.
Zelenskiy commented, “This is a serious number. I said I need more arguments to support this direction. I need concrete information on what will (then) happen with the 1-million military of Ukraine.”
He added that the military must also address the issue of rotation and demobilization, taking into account troop morale.
Commenting on the blockade by Republicans in the US Congress of further support to Ukraine, he said, “I’m confident the United States won’t betray us.”
However, the President showed concern at the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House in January 2025:
Because that’s how the whole world works. If one strong part falls out, the mechanism starts to fall apart.
Amid the veto by Hungarian Prime Minister and Putin ally Viktor Orbán of a €50 billion European Union fund through 2027, Zelenskiy expressed certainty that US and European financial support would continue.
He said of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s commitment to support Ukraine “until the very end”: “Germany…is second in terms of the amount of support we receive….I want to express words of gratitude to [Scholz] for doing that.”
I believe we must fight. Even if tomorrow we reach the line where this onslaught started, which would be a supreme effort….then what’s next? What will happen next? What security guarantees will we get? Who can guarantee that there will be security with Russia?
It is clear that the more Russia retreats, the weaker it will be, starting with its leader within the state and ending with its presence in the international arena and international platforms….
We must use this time and, God willing, we will have such an opportunity. We are all fighting, praying that we will succeed. It will be very difficult.
