Ukraine Celebrates Christmas on 25 December
Today is Christmas Day, and Ukraine has opted to celebrate the day on 25 December this year in line with most European countries as they serve ties with the Russian Orthodox Church and anything Russian.
The past week has seen much of what we expected with this war, and as I stated before, Ukraine needs more soldiers, but where will they find them? Apparently they are moving to mobilise Ukrainians who fled the country. Germany says it will not force Ukrainians to return to Ukraine to fight, while Estonia has said it would consider a move to assist the Ukrainian government. They need 500,000 men to return, and the truth is if the men wanted to return to fight they would have done so by now, but most will probably go into hiding.
Some say Ukraine is losing the war, but they are dependent on aid from other countries, hence why they are manufacturing their own weapons and ammunition, but in order to do so they need the infrastructure and funds to finance the operations. The first batch of F-16s are due to delivered to Ukraine before the end of the year, but again, it’s a few weapons here and there and that’s why the counteroffensive has failed to have the impact that Ukraine and their allies had expected. You can’t fight the enemy with secondhand weapons that arrive in dribs and drabs—what did they expect? In order to Ukraine to defeat the Russians, they need to be fully armed and to have a trained and complete army. They have neither, and that’s why they are only just managing to hold back the Russians, and why no real progress is being made.
Day 665 (20 Dec)
Russia is using tear gas to attack Ukrainian soldiers on the front line.
A disinformation campaign in Russia appears to have had some affect, where propaganda claiming Zelenskyy has bought two yachts with US aid money. This may account for the reluctance of Congress to support Ukraine, where two members of Congress referred to the disinformation when challenging bills to support Ukraine.
In Poland, a court as convicted, 14, Ukrainian, Bella Roussean, and Russian citizens of spying for Russia. They carried out surveillance and other intelligence activities, and I've been sentenced to between one and six years in prison.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has cited 142 cases of war crimes that Russia has carried out in Ukraine. These include executions torture, a sexual violence. There are probably thousands more cases that have not been documented and sadly this will continue until the allied countries begin to supply Ukraine with the equipment they need not just for now, but in the future in order to defeat Russia.
The Tallin mechanism on cyber security was established today, where Ukraine and 10 partner countries have formed a coalition to help protect Ukraine against cyber threats. Other countries were represented by the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, UK, and the US.
Hyundai has stated it will sell it's only Russian plant for a symbolic sum of 7000 rubles which is approximately $77, which means they will lose $219 million.
Russia has claimed that the recent US – Finland, bilateral defence cooperation deal, threatens the security of the Russian Federation. There was a veiled threat towards Finland stating that Russia will ‘react’ to the deal.
More corruption, where are Ukrainian citizen was sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying for Russia. The spy had created a group of informants to gather information, and also tried to recruit agents from the SBU, while they had a history of fighting with Russian forces as far back as 1990.
Day 666 (21 Dec)
The town of Avidiivka is still being fought, and the Ukrainians were struggling to hold back the Russians. It probably hasn’t helped that it has been reported that Ukraine will not receive further weapons for a while, and that funding from the US will stop in a few days unless a new bill is passed.
Quantum-Systems, a German drone maker has stated it is planning a research and development centre in Ukraine to enable full-scale drone assembly operations in the country.
Orban of Hungary has accepted an invitation from Zelenskyy to hold talks next year at a bilateral meeting. Orban however stated that he didn’t know what they was to talk about. He also stated at the press conference in Budapest, that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not a war.
I told him I would be at his disposal. We just need to clarify one question: what will we talk about?(Orban)
Poland has assisted Ukraine by supplying over 5000 Starlink broadband Internet access systems which are necessary to connect the Ukrainian front line, as well as to the de- occupied areas to assist with the operations of the energy, infrastructure and medical facilities.
Rustem Umerov, the Ukrainian defence minister has said he is looking at drafting Ukrainian men for military service who live abroad or have moved abroad. Reports state that Ukraine is urging and encouraging men to return to Ukraine to fight, and that Ukrainian man between the ages of 25 and 60 will be asked to report to the recruiting stations in the country they are currently in. A failure to do so would would lead to them being refused entry in Ukraine in the future. Basically, mobilisation failed, and this is the only option left as the current soldiers need to be rested and other soldiers need to replace the ones who have died. It would be foolhardy to believe they could convince men who fled to return to Ukraine to fight, because those who wished to fight would have done so already.
Reports claim that 6,000 men of military conscription age leave Ukraine each day along the western border, and so Ukraine has failed to implement mobilisation and why they have insufficient men to fight for the country.
Estonia has said that they would assist by helping mobilise Ukrainian citizens if necessary, and if Ukraine requests it. On the other hand, Germany said so far that it would not assist in request from Ukraine to mobilise Ukrainians in Germany.
Robert Fico, the Slovakian prime minister has said he would block Ukraine's NATO membership, claiming that it would lead to a third world war.
Day 667 (22 Dec)
The Netherlands will deliver the first batch of 18 F-16s to Ukraine before the end of 2023. That’s a good start, but they won’t be operational for a while.
Zelenskyy in a press conference has stated that Ukraine Will be focusing on strengthening defence cooperation with NATO and the EU, and will seek more military aid to push for tighter sanctions against Russia.
Report states that Japan will send Patriot missiles to the US to assist in building global defence stocks. These could then be sent to Ukraine as Japan has a policy of not sending military aid, so this gets around the issue.
More corruption, a defence Ministry official was arrested under suspicion for embezzling $40 million by the SBU. This was during the war, where apparently the embezzlement was from artillery shell contract.
Both Ukraine and Russia have agreed to humanitarian packages and letters to be transferred to prisoners of war. This comes after prisoner exchanges had come to a halt.
Day 668 (23 Dec)
Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the Russian Security council and a Putin ally has been reported as the person who organised the assassination of Wagner boss, Prigozhin. Most assumed his death had been planned and was not an accident as the Kremlin has reported. Putin was told of this plan and did not object to the assassination.
Ukraine has created a 200 mile security zone in the Black Sea by using maritime drones. This will help create a safe corridor for vessels in the Black Sea.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London has done a U-turn to send scrap cars under the ULEZ scheme to Ukraine instead of the scrapyard. Originally he rejected the request, but then said that he would have to seek a change in law to permit the vehicles being sent to Ukraine. The vehicles would enable transport for people to be evacuated as well as spare parts for cars that are in need of repair.
Latvia has gifted around 300 cars from drunk drivers, and have been used to support the troops on the frontlines.
Some of the stolen children from occupied regions have been brought back to Ukraine, and include children that were under threat of a forced adoption in Russia, and two 18-year-olds who were on the verge of being drafted to fight against Ukraine
Day 669 (24 Dec)
Reports claimed that many Western companies who are supplying CNCs (Computer numerical control) to Russia, are exploiting sanctions, which enables components to be exported to Russia, who in turn use these to manufacture weapons. These components are used to produce missiles, aircraft and other military equipment. German, Swiss and Italian companies are among those who have been breaching sanctions by using shell companies. Ukraine is urging stricter controls, but as we have said, Russia expected sanctions and knows how to bypass them and probably set up a network prior to the invasion.
This means that components that are used in guided bombs may have come from companies that have bypassed sanctions. Also, parts appear to have been stripped of any identifying marks to avoid being detected and to protect the foreign suppliers who circumvented sanctions.
Morocco has been used as a country by Russia to bypass Western sanctions. Evidence indicates that Russia has strategically used Moroccan ports to receive western electronics to help build weapons.
France is seeking to set up an artillery coalition, to assist strengthening the Ukrainian army. Operations will begin in January 2024 in Paris.
Igor Salikov, is the Wagner defector, and has been testifying at the Hague against Putin, and has exposed some of the tactics that the Kremlin has been using. This includes using false flags in Ukraine to blame Kyiv for strikes on civilians, and targeting breakaway, republics and propaganda to create uprisings and discord.
Day 670 (25 Dec)
Russians have targeted another humanitarian aid centre in Kherson, making it the third centre in 5 days. The first attack was on 20 Dec where the warehouse was destroyed.
Ukraine celebrates Christmas on the 25th of December, rather than the 7th of January this year, in line with the Gregorian calendar, rather than the Julian calendar that Russia uses.
The Czech president, Petr Pavel has extended the temporary legal protections for refugees, seeking to return to Ukraine until March 2025. They will also assist in financing refugees who seek to return to Ukraine when it is safe. There are approximately 359,000 Ukrainian refugees in Czechia.