Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy w Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (R) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (L), US Capitol, Washington D.C.,, December 2022 (Getty)
Sunday’s Coverage: Russia’s Latest Mass Murder Kills 7, Including 3 Children, in Kharkiv
UPDATE 0844 GMT:
Elon Musk has denied reports that invading Russian troops are using his company SpaceX’s Starlink terminals on the frontline in Ukraine.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian military intelligence set out the claim, supporting it with audio from troops of Russia’s 83rd Air Assault Brigade setting up Starlink in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
Musk posted on Sunday, “To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov added, “This is not a certified system with us; accordingly, it cannot be officially supplied here and is not officially supplied. Accordingly, it cannot be used officially in any way.”
Ukraine military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov responded that Russian forces are obtaining the Starlink terminals illicitly from third countries.
UPDATE 0838 GMT:
Ukraine’s air defenses downed 14 of 17 Iran-made attack drones and one missile fired by Russia overnight.
Russia attacked with the UAVs, a Kh-59 guided air missile, and three S-300 missiles from its Belgorod region and occupied area in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine.
UPDATE 0549 GMT:
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has continued his “renewal” of the military with the appointment of high-level military officers.
On Sunday, Zelenskiy announced new commanders of the Ground Forces, Territorial Defense Forces, the Combined Forces, and the Airborne Assault Forces. He has also confirmed the change of the Head of General Staff.
Last week the President dismissed the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, appointing Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.
ORIGINAL ENTRY:
The US Senate has voted to proceed to a final decision on $60.1 billion in vital aid for Ukraine’s resistance of the 23 1/2-month Russian invasion.
The funding is part of a $95 billion package including humanitarian aid and support for Israel and Taiwan.
The Senate voted 67-27 to move the bill towards the final decision on passage in coming days.
Eighteen Republicans joined almost adel Democrats in backing the legislation. They defied Donald Trump, who blustered on social media that any aid should be in the form of a loan.
Last October a group of Trumpists and hard-right Republicans in the House blocked the Biden Administration’s request for $61.6 billion in military, economic, and financial aid. They were joined by other GOP legislators demanding more border provisions against migrants and asylum seekers.
After four months of bipartisan negotiations, a package with $20 billion in border enforcement funds was presented to the Senate.
The Trumpists and hardliners then said they would not accept the revised bill that they had demanded. The Senate wavered last week, refusing to advance the compromise. However, they shifted a day later and approved a standalone package without the border measures.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, installed with Trumpist backing amid the aid blockade in October, has insisted that any Senate bill will be “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber.
