Ukrainian troops carry shells to fire at Russian positions on the frontline in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

EA on India’s WION: What’s Next in Ukraine’s Resistance v. Russia’s Invasion

Sunday’s Coverage: Kyiv Endures Another Russian Assault on Energy Infrastructure

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1707 GMT:

Stanislav Netyosov, a resident of Moscow, has been charged with discrediting the Russian military after he dyed his hair blue and yellow.

Netyosov was accused on Sunday after he came to a police station to file a complaint over an attack the previous evening by unknown assailants who broke his tooth and stole his telephone.

Police fingerprinted Netyosov and handed him a summons to a military recruitment center, saying they would “teach him to kiss his native land in the military trenches”.

UPDATE 1328 GMT:

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, where he has had talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and will address Ukraine’s Parliament.

Stoltenberg said:

I will be very honest with President Zelenskiy and also with the Rada [Ukrainian Parliament] that NATO allies have not delivered what we have promised over the last months.

The United States spent six months to agree a package and European allies have not delivered the ammunition we promised. But now I’m confident that things will change.

At a joint press conference, Zelenskiy emphasized:

Timely support for our army. Today I don’t see anything positive on this point yet. There are supplies, they have slightly begun, this process needs to be sped up….

The Russian army is now trying to take advantage of a situation when we are waiting for supplies from our partners… and that is exactly why the speed of deliveries means stabilizing the front.

Stoltenberg responded, “Ukraine has been outgunned for months, forced to ration its ammunition….But it’s not too late for Ukraine to prevail.”

UPDATE 1325 GMT:

A 60-year-old man has been killed by a Russian attack on residential areas in the village of Kizomys in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Russian forces launched attacks against 18 settlements damaging five houses, a kindergarten, critical and transport infrastructure facilities, and an agricultural enterprise.

UPDATE 0944 GMT:

Polish protesters have ended a blockade of almost six months on border crossings with Ukraine, says Ukrainian Border Guard spokesperson Andriy Demchenko.

“Fortunately, we have unblocked all directions on the border with Poland,” Demchenko said.

However, the Border Service said, “Trucks transporting grain crops will not be allowed to enter Poland. This type of cargo can only travel through Poland in transit mode.”

Polish farmers and truckers began blocking three crossing points in early November. They wanted the European Union to end waivers for transport of Ukrainian products including grain, and of requirements for permits for Ukrainian truckers.

Ukraine Farm Minister Mykola Solsky said, “The negotiations that took place were not easy, but the main thing is that we have a result.”

UPDATE 0827 GMT:

Russia is risking an air disaster with GPS jamming that interferes with aerial navigation, warn the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Two Finnair flights from Helsinki to the Estonian city of Tartu were forced to turn around mid-journey on Thursday and Friday.

Aviation experts said tens of thousands of civilian flights have been affected in recent months. Boats in the Baltic Sea are also hindered, with the Swedish navy warning about the safety of shipping.

The UK confirmed in March that a government plane carrying Defense Secretary Grant Shapps had its GPS signal jammed near Kaliningrad as it was returning from Poland.

Lithuania Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said, “If someone turns off your headlights while you’re driving at night, it gets dangerous. Things in the Baltic region near Russian borders are now getting too dangerous to ignore.”

Estonia Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna added:

We consider what is happening with GPS as part of Russia’s hostile activities, and we will definitely discuss it with our allies.

Such actions are a hybrid attack and are a threat to our people and security, and we will not tolerate them.

UPDATE 0803 GMT:

Large European banks who have remained in Russia paid more than €800 million in taxes to the Kremlin in 2023 — four times the amount before the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The banks includes Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International, Unicredit, the Netherlands’ ING, Germany’s Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo, and Hungary’s OTP. Last year they reported a combined profit of more than €3 billion, three times more than in 2021.

More than half of the contributions from Western banks — €464 million — to the Russian budget came from Raiffeisen, whose profits more than tripled to €1.8 billion between 2021 and 2023. The Austrian bank now accounts for 40 to 50% of all payments between Russia and the rest of the world<.

Last week, Raiffeisen was criticized for posting dozens of advertisements for Russia-based jobs, contradicting its official pledge to leave the Russian market.

After the revelations, Raiffeisen withdrew the ads and said it has launched an internal inquiry.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s officials are acknowledging the “very difficult” situation in the east of the country amid Russia’s aerial and ground assaults, as the first tranches of $60.8 billion in US aid are awaited.

Russian forces are trying to seize territory in the Donetsk region in a corridors west of Avdiivka, the town they overran in mid-February. They have taken several villages and are fighting for the settlement of Ocheretyne. Doing so, they have bypassed a network of Ukrainian trenches to establish a salient threatening a further advance.

The Ukraine military said it “repulsed 55 attacks” by the invaders on Sunday.

While emphasizing the severity of the situation, the Ukrainian officials said it is “not critical or catastrophic”.

Ukraine had been put on the defensive by Russia’s advantage in artillery, estimated at 7:1 and up to 10:1, and use of hundreds of glide bombs. The difficulty has been exacerbated by a 6 1/2-month blockade of US aid by Trumpists and hard-right Republicans.

That obstruction was finally overcome last week by passage of the bill for the $60.8 billion in assistance. Some US weapons and munitions such as 155 mm ammunition, stockpiled in Europe, have been released; however, a Ukrainian official said it will take “one to two months” for essential arms to reach the frontline.

On Sunday, Ukraine commander-in-chief Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrski said troops had made a tactical retreat westwards from the villages of Berdychi, Semenivka, and Novomykhailivka.

The most difficult situation is in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions, where fierce battles continue.

The enemy has engaged up to four brigades in these directions, is trying to develop an offensive west of Avdiivka and Marinka, making its way to Pokrovsk and Kurakhove….

In some sectors the enemy had tactical success, and in some areas our troops managed to improve the tactical position.

Pokrovsk, about 30 km (19 miles) from the frontline, is a hub for the Ukrainian military.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War summarized:

The arrival of US aid at the front in the coming weeks will allow the Ukrainian forces to address their current materiel constraints and blunt ongoing Russian offensive operations. Russian forces appear to be intensifying efforts to destabilize Ukrainian defenses and gain ground….

Russian forces remain unlikely to achieve a deeper operationally significant penetration in the area in the near term.

Zelenskiy: “Supplies To Change The Situation On The Battlefield”

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy referred to this conversation earlier in the day with US House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries: “We are not losing a single day for Ukraine.”

Thanking Jeffries and all legislators for the confirmation of the vital US aid, Zelenskiy continued:

We are interacting with our partners at all levels to achieve the level of efficiency in assistance that is needed not only to hold our positions, but also to disrupt Russia’s war plans. We are still waiting for the supplies promised to Ukraine – we expect exactly the volume and content of supplies that can change the situation on the battlefield in the interests of Ukraine.