A summary of today's developments
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Ukraine’s military has asked for an additional 450-500,000 people to be mobilised into the army but that a final decision had not been taken. He told a news conference in Kyiv that top military and government officials were due to discuss “this very sensitive issue of mobilisation” and that parliament would then consider it.
The conference comes as Kyiv’s two biggest allies, the US and the EU have failed to approve two separate support packages despite Zelenskiy travelling to Washington to lobby lawmakers in person. “I am certain, US and European financial support will continue,” Zelenskiy said. “I’m confident the United States won’t betray us,” he added.
Zelenskiy said that if elected US president, Donald Trump will “definitely have a different policy” than the current administration. “If the policies of the next president are different, whoever he or she might be, are colder, or more frugal, I think those signals will have a very big impact on the course of the war in Ukraine. Because that’s how the whole world works. If one strong part falls out, the mechanism starts to fall apart,” he said.
During the two-hour news conference, Zelenskiy said Ukraine will produce one million drones next year while work is under way to return a “significant amount” of Russian-held prisoners of war.
Leaders of the U.S. Senate said a deal to provide additional aid to Ukraine and bolster U.S. border security was not likely to come together soon, with one senior Democrat saying that action would probably be postponed until January, Reuters reports. Republican and Democratic negotiators have been working to pass a funding package before leaving town for a year-end holiday break. Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, said that was not likely.
Russia probably fired a ballistic missile – described as a “super weapon” – at Ukraine last Thursday, in the first such launch in several months, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
Italy’s cabinet has passed a law decree that allows it to continue supplying Ukraine with “means, materials and equipment” until the end of 2024 to support its war effort against Russia, a defence ministry statement said.
Denmark has said it had agreed to enhance its military cooperation with the US, AFP reported. “We are now strengthening our bilateral defence cooperation, and we do not want to hide the fact that the agreement with the US also marks a breakthrough in Danish defence policy, as it involves US soldiers and US material on Danish soil,” Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, told a press conference.
Russia is upgrading its nuclear arsenal and keeping its strategic forces at the highest level of readiness as the west wages a “hybrid war” against it, Vladimir Putin told a conference of senior defence officials. Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said Russia had laid 7,000 sq km of minefields along the 2,000km frontline.
Russia has summoned Finland’s ambassador over concerns about a new defence agreement between Helsinki and Washington, the Russian foreign ministry said. Russian officials told the ambassador that Moscow would “take the necessary measures to counter the aggressive decisions of Finland and its Nato allies”, notably the growing Nato military presence near its border, ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, said there had been an “extensive failure” by Russia to protect civilians in Ukraine and that there were indications that Russian forces had committed war crimes there.
Britain and France will continue to be “staunch supporters” of Ukraine for as long as it takes, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said after a meeting with his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, in Paris.
Leaders of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday said a deal to provide additional aid to Ukraine and bolster U.S. border security was not likely to come together soon, with one senior Democrat saying that action would probably be postponed until January, Reuters reports.
Republican and Democratic negotiators have been working to pass a funding package before leaving town for a year-end holiday break. Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, said that was not likely.
“I hope that they’re going to prepare the text and sit down and roll up their sleeves and finish up as soon as we get back in January,” he told reporters.
The chamber’s top Democrat and Republican said the talks were productive but would not be complete any time soon.
“Everyone understands that we have more work to do, and that’s going to take more time,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said those involved were “making slow and steady progress.”
The White House has warned that by the end of the year U.S. aid will run out to help Ukraine retake territory occupied by Russia since the 2022 invasion.
The Biden administration’s request for another $61 billion in support has been bogged down in Congress, where Republicans say it must be paired with tougher immigration controls along the U.S.-Mexico border.
