Ukrainian civilians evacuate from Pokrovsk, near the frontline in the Donetsk region in the east, September 2024

Wednesday’s Coverage: Kyiv’s Support to Syria’s Rebels

UPDATE 1023 GMT:

Donald Trump’s nominee as FBI Director, Kash Patel, has threatened an investigation of US aid for Ukraine’s resistance of the 33 1/2-month Russian invasion.

Patel said on his podcast:

I would ask Congress to investigate where that money went. The American people need to know the answer to that question….

We didn’t send $1 billion, like that’s a small amount, right? We sent hundreds of times that to one country.

Patel said, “We cannot blindly trust [Zelensky], handing out hundreds of billions of dollars without requiring him to report where the money went.”

UPDATE 1005 GMT:

A Ukrainian drone attack struck a police barracks in Chechnya in Russia, more than 800 km (497 miles) from the border, early Thursday.

The explosion in the Chechnyan capital Grozny was powerful enough to be heard in suburban areas.

Ukraine also hit the roof of the barracks on December 4. Its first strike on Chechnya was on October 29, striking a Russian Special Forces building.

Russia subjugated Chechnya in two wars from 1994-2000. The region is administered by Vladimir Putin’s acolyte Ramzan Kadyrov.

Kadyrov said on Thursday that four guards received minor injuries. He railed against the “pathetic action” that only strengthens “the desire to quickly deal with the enemy”.

UPDATE 0904 GMT:

Russia’s Foreign Ministry is fuming about “banal theft” and “robbery” after the US completed a $20 billion loan to Ukraine, backed by frozen Russian assets.

The loan is part of a $50 billion support package from the G7 countries — the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, and the UK.

The Foreign Ministry insisted Russia has “sufficient capacity and leverage to retaliate by seizing western assets under its jurisdiction”.

UPDATE 0843 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has chided Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over his phone call to Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

“No one should boost [their] personal image at the expense of unity,” Zelenskyy wrote. “We all hope that Orban at least won’t call [overthrown Syrian leader Bashar] al-Assad in Moscow to listen to his hour-long lectures as well.”

Orban, a long-time ally of Putin, called Moscow after speaking with Donald Trump, a foe of continued assistance to Kyiv who returns as US President in January.

The Hungarian leader claimed that he had “proposed a Christmas ceasefire and a large-scale prisoner exchange”, and that Zelensky had “rejected and ruled this out”.

In early 2024, Orban held up European Union aid to Ukraine before finally giving way as the EU authorized €50 billion in funding through 2027.

See also Ukraine War, Day 708: EU Agrees €50 Billion Fund for Kyiv

UPDATE 0837 GMT:

The death toll has risen to 10 civilians from Russia’s missile strike on Zaporizhzhia city in southern Ukraine on Tuesday.

Rescuers pulled a woman’s body from the rubble of a building.

The strike destroyed a clinic and damaged around 20 residential buildings.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi says there are “exceptionally tough” battles in the east, amid a 14-month Russian offensive in the Donetsk region, require “non-standard decisions”.

Syrskyi spoke after the destruction of two Ukrainian positions and loss of one near the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk. The Russians have been trying for months to overrun the town, which had a pre-invasion population of around 60,000.

Spokesperson Nazar Voloshyn said, “Currently, measures are being taken to restore positions.”

Russian forces are now only 3 km (1.8 miles) from Pokrovsk, according to the Ukraine-based war monitor Deep State.

On Wednesday, the general visited the 38th Separate Marine Brigade, operating on the frontline near the town. He posted on Facebook:

We have to make non-standard decisions to increase the resilience of the defense and more effectively destroy the occupiers.

The battles are of an exceptionally tough nature.

He noted that the Ukrainian military is at a disadvantage because the Russians, with a large numerical advantage in troops, “are throwing all available forces forward”.

Syrskyi did not give detail about the “non-standard decisions”. He said the priority was to deliver sufficient quantities of ammunition to the frontline.

Zelenskiy: “Tangible Blows” Inside Russia

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky took a positive line yesterday, hailing “tangible blows against Russian targets”.

Zelensky cited strikes on “military facilities on the territory of Russia, as well as facilities of the fuel and energy complex, which is working for aggression against our state and people”.

Russia implicitly acknowledged the damage, saying it would retaliate. The Defense Ministry claimed Kyiv fired six US-supplied ATAMCS missiles at a military airfield in the port city of Taganrog in the Rostov region in southwest Ukraine.

Last month the US finally lifted its ban on Ukraine’s use of the ATACMS inside Russia.

Ukraine’s General Staff said it hit an oil depot in Russia’s Bryansk region on the border. Videos showed a fireball in the night sky over an urban area, as air raid sirens were heard.