Russia
Some Ukrainians move Christmas to detach again from Russia
Ukrainians usually celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, as do the Russians. But not this year, or at least not all of them.
Some Orthodox Ukrainians have decided to observe Christmas on Dec. 25, like many Christians around the world. Yes, this has to do with the war, and yes, they have the blessing of their local church.
The idea of commemorating the birth of Jesus in December was considered radical in Ukraine until recently, but Russia’s invasion changed many hearts and minds.
In October, the leadership of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is not aligned with the Russian church and one of two branches of Orthodox Christianity in the country, agreed to allow faithful to celebrate on Dec. 25.
The choice of dates has clear political and religious overtones in a nation with rival Orthodox churches and where slight revisions to rituals can carry potent meaning in a culture war that runs parallel to the shooting war.
Read more: A Christmas season without its traditional glow in Ukraine
For some people, changing dates represents a separation from Russia, its culture, and religion. People in a village on the outskirts of Kyiv voted recently to move up their Christmas observance.
“What began on Feb. 24, the full-scale invasion, is an awakening and an understanding that we can no longer be part of the Russian world,” Olena Paliy, a 33-year-old Bobrytsia resident, said.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which claims sovereignty over Orthodoxy in Ukraine, and some other Eastern Orthodox churches continue to use the ancient Julian calendar. Christmas falls 13 days later on that calendar,, or Jan. 7, than it does on the Gregorian calendar used by most church and secular groups.
The Catholic Church first adopted the modern, more astronomically precise Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, and Protestants and some Orthodox churches have since aligned their own calendars for purposes of calculating Christmas.
The Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine decreed in October that local church rectors could choose the date along with their communities, saying the decision followed years of discussion but also resulted from the circumstances of the war.
In Bobrytsia, some members of the faith promoted the change within the local church, which recently transitioned to being part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, with no ties to Russia. When a vote was taken last week, 200 out of 204 people said yes to adopting Dec. 25 as the new day to celebrate Christmas.
“This is a big step because never in our history have we had the same dates of celebration of Christmas in Ukraine with the whole Christian world. All the time we were separated,” said Roman Ivanenko, a local official in Bobrytsia, and one of the promoters of the change. With the switch, he said, they are “breaking this connection” with the Russians.
“The church is Ukrainian, and the holidays are Ukrainian,” said Oleg Shkula, a member of the volunteer territorial defense force in the district that includes the village. For him, his church doesn’t have to be linked to “darkness and gloom and with the anti-christ, which Russia is today.”
Read more: Russia scrubs Mariupol's Ukraine identity, builds on death
In 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, granted complete independence, or autocephaly, to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Ukrainians who favored recognition for a national church in tandem with Ukraine’s political independence from the former Soviet Union had long sought such approval.
The Russian Orthodox Church and its leader, Patriarch Kirill, fiercely protested the move, saying Ukraine was not under the jurisdiction of Bartholomew.
The other major branch of Orthodoxy in the country, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, remained loyal to Moscow until the outbreak of war. It declared independence in May, though it remains under government scrutiny. That church has traditionally celebrated Christmas on Jan. 7.
Russia says Dec 14 incident an “expected result” of US Ambassador’s efforts to “influence” Bangladesh’s domestic affairs
Russia has said the December 14 incident is an “expected result” of the activity of the American ambassador, who — under the pretext of caring about the rights of the citizens of Bangladesh — was “persistently trying to influence” the domestic processes in the country.
“As of late, his colleagues from the British and German diplomatic missions have been engaged in the same cause and have allowed themselves to openly give recommendations to the local authorities regarding transparency and inclusiveness in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next year,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in Moscow.
Russia said they believe that such actions that “violate” the basic principles of non-interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign states are “unacceptable”.
Read more: US Embassy Dhaka wants to know if Russian 'principle of non-interference' applies in Ukraine
The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson said they have noted the widely publicized incident involving the US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Haas, whose security was “allegedly threatened” by activists from a local public organization when he went to meet with the family of a supporter of an opposition political party on December 14, 2022 in Dhaka.
In 2013, the opposition party supporter went missing, the Russian spokesperson said.
“If anybody wants to ask: How about the terms ‘diplomat, immunity, embassy, security’? We always urge these things in accordance with international law and the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations,” she said.
“We urge the US, the United Kingdom and other countries to care about and comment not only on cases of their own security, but also to support their colleagues when the countries and their representatives, including at international organizations, raise questions about the security of their embassies and consular facilities,” Zakharova added.
“They do not care about this. At best, they remain silent and at worst, they justify those who do this. When international terrorists committed a series of attacks against our embassy in Syria, we urged the Americans to respond to this through the UN Security Council,” she said.
Read more: Russia committed to ‘not interfering in the domestic affairs’ of Bangladesh: Embassy statement
She said, “Everything was obvious. There can be no political justification for an unwillingness to publicly take a stand and use the common voice of the Security Council.”
The spokesperson said Washington did not support Russia’s proposal on the council taking a clear stance on the protection of diplomats and condemning terrorist attacks at embassies and against diplomats.
“There cannot be any double standards, only a joint consolidated position,” said the Russian foreign ministry official.
22 dead in fire at illegal shelter in Russia
A fire Saturday at a private shelter in the Siberian city of Kemerovo that was operating illegally killed 22 people, Russian officials said.
Initial reports described the wooden building in the city 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow as a nursing home, but the country's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, later said it was a “temporary residence for persons in a difficult life situation.”
The committee said a man who rented the building has been arrested and charged with violation of safety regulations resulting in multiple deaths. The committee's statement did not identify him, but news reports said he was a local clergyman.
Read more: 10 dead, including 5 children, in France apartment fire
The cause of the fire that broke out before dawn has not been determined, but the investigative committee said residents told the shelter operator on the day before the fire that the building's coal-fired boiler was malfunctioning.
Six other people were injured in the blaze that destroyed the two-story building.
A Christmas season without its traditional glow in Ukraine
Just a year ago, Sophia Square in Kyiv was all about the big Christmas tree and thousands of lights spreading over the plaza. These final days of 2022, in the middle of a war that has ravaged the country for 10 months, a more modest tree stands there, its blue and yellow lights barely breaking the gloom of the square that is otherwise dark apart from the headlights of cars.
In recent months, Russia has been targeting the energy infrastructure, aiming to cut electricity and heating to Ukrainians, as the freezing winter advances. And although the Ukraine government tries to move as fast as it can, it’s been practically impossible to restore power for every single person in the country, including the more than 3 million residents of the capital.
There are days when streets in Kyiv’s downtown have light, but the authorities have imposed some restrictions and scheduled power cuts, meaning that there’s no traditional gleaming city during the Christmas season.
But even in these gloomy moments, some people have decided to show their determination and rescue whatever they can these holidays — like the Christmas tree, still standing proud even if it doesn’t have the brightness of recent years.
Kyiv’s Mayor, Vitali Klitschko, announced the installation of the Christmas tree, saying it was going to be named the “Tree of Invincibility.”
“We decided that we wouldn’t let Russia steal the celebration of Christmas and New Year from our children,” he said. The name, he added, was “because we Ukrainians cannot be broken.”
Read more: Ukraine president again presses West for advanced weapons
The “Tree of Invincibility” was inaugurated on Dec. 19, the same day that Russia launched a drone attack against Kyiv, but damaged only a power plant that didn’t caused a massive blackout in the city.
Unlike previous years, when along with the tens of thousands of bulbs, Sophia Square was full of music and cheerful people, now the only noise on the plaza is the sound of a generator powering the lights of the 12-meter (40 foot) tree. On top of it, there is no star of Bethlehem’s but instead a trident, Ukraine’s symbol.
Before Kyiv’s government decided to install the tree, there was some debate about whether it was appropriate in a year that brought so many tragedies and horrors. Similar discussions happened all across the country, and some regions decided not have trees.
But now, some people do like the initiative.
“We are grateful that we can see at least something in such times,” said Oleh Skakun, 56, during the unveiling of the tree on Monday.
He said that every Dec. 19, his wife’s birthday, they used to go to see the Christmas tree in the southern city of Kherson, not far from their home. Not this year, because their house, on the left bank of the Dnieper river, is occupied by Russian forces, and they had to flee in August to Kyiv.
But despite their sadness, Skakun said that they wanted to keep the tradition of visiting a Christmas tree.
“Twenty Russians live in my house now; they tortured people, they tortured my son,” said Larysa Skakun, 57. “But we came here to cheer up a bit, to see the people, the celebration”, she added in tears.
Among other cities that also decided to install a Christmas tree is Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city that for months was on the edges of the front line and constantly attacked by Russian missiles. There, instead of placing it on a square, it has been erected inside the main subway station.
But for some Ukrainians, it’s hard to celebrate anything this Christmas.
Read more: Putin in Belarus, eyeing next steps in Ukraine war
Anna Holovina, 27, came to Sophia Square to see the tree, but said that she keeps thinking of her hometown in the Luhansk region, occupied by Russian forces since 2014.
“I feel sadness. I feel pain. I don’t feel the holiday at all,” she said. “My family is in Kyiv, but my hometown has been occupied for the eighth year now.”
Analysis: Biden, Zelenskyy try to keep Congress from balking
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dramatic visit to Washington was a moment for the White House to demonstrate to Russia’s Vladimir Putin that the United States would sustain its commitment to the war for, as President Joe Biden put it, “as long as it takes.”
It also provided the Ukrainian president, dressed in military green, the opportunity in the grand setting of the U.S. Capitol to thank Congress for the billions of dollars that are sustaining his country in the fight.
“As long as it takes” is powerful rhetoric, but it now collides with a formidable question: How much more patience will a narrowly divided Congress — and the American public — have for a war with no clear end that is battering the global economy?
On Wednesday night, Zelenskyy made his case. In an address before a joint meeting of Congress, he melded Ukraine’s struggle to maintain its sovereignty with America’s battle for freedom. He spoke of the battle for Bakhmut — where a fierce, monthslong battle in eastern Ukraine is underway — as his country’s Battle of Saratoga, a turning point in the American Revolutionary War.
Zelenskyy, who visited the frontlines of Bakhmut shortly before traveling to Washington, presented members of Congress with a Ukrainian flag signed by the troops. And while he expressed thanks for U.S. aid, he also told the lawmakers “your money is not charity.”
“It’s an investment in global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way,” Zelenskyy said.
The majority of Americans, polls show, continue to support aid for Ukraine as it has managed to repel a Russian military some U.S. government officials initially believed would quickly overwhelm Ukrainian forces.
But the outmanned Ukrainians, with the help of some $21.3 billion in American military assistance since the February invasion, have managed to rack up successes on the battlefield and exact heavy losses on Russian troops.
Zelenskyy, seated next to Biden in the Oval Office, with a fire crackling in the fireplace behind them, acknowledged that Ukraine was in its more favorable position because of bipartisan support from Congress.
“We control the situation because of your support,” said Zelenskyy, who presented Biden with a medal that had been awarded to the Ukrainian captain of a HIMARS battery, a rocket system provided by the U.S., that the officer wanted Biden to have.
Yet even as support for Ukraine was being hailed by both Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell as serving core American interests, bipartisan unity on Ukraine was starting to fray.
“I hope that we’ll continue to support Ukraine, but we got to explain what they’re doing all the time,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said shortly before Zelenskyy landed in Washington on Wednesday afternoon. “I think you have to keep selling things like this to the American public. I don’t think you can just say, you know, for the next, whatever time it takes.”
Just before Zelenskyy’s arrival, the U.S. announced a $1.85 billion military aid package for Ukraine, including Patriot surface-to-air missiles, and Congress planned to vote on a spending package that includes an additional $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine.
Pelosi and others compared Zelenskyy’s visit to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s 1941 visit for talks with President Franklin D. Roosevelt following Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Read more: Zelenskyy to meet Biden, address Congress as war rages on
Pelosi, in a letter to fellow lawmakers Wednesday, noted that her father, Rep. Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., was a House member when Churchill came to Congress on the day after Christmas “to enlist our nation’s support in the fight against tyranny in Europe.”
“Eighty-one years later this week, it is particularly poignant for me to be present when another heroic leader addresses the Congress in a time of war — and with Democracy itself on the line,” said Pelosi, who will soon step down as speaker with Republicans taking control of the House.
Biden, born less than a year after Churchill’s historic visit, observed that Zelenskyy has showed enormous fortitude through the conflict. “This guy has, to his very soul — is who he says he is. It’s clear who he is. He’s willing to give his life for his country,” Biden said during a news conference with Zelenskyy.
McConnell made the case in a speech on the Senate floor that supporting Ukraine is simply pragmatic.
“Continuing our support for Ukraine is morally right, but it is not only that. It is also a direct investment in cold, hard, American interests,” McConnell said.
Still, there are signs of discontent in the Republican conference.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who is vying to be the next House speaker when Republicans take over in the new year, as said his party won’t write a “blank check” for Ukraine once it’s in charge.
Some of the most right-leaning members of the Republican conference have lashed out at McConnell over his support of Ukraine.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., in a Wednesday morning Twitter post accused McConnell of pressing for passage of the $1.7 trillion spending bill that includes new funding for Ukraine “so that he can hand a $47 BILLION dollar check to Zelenskyy when he shows up in DC today.”
“But in my district, many families & seniors can’t afford food & many businesses are struggling bc of Biden policies,” she added.
For now, hers is mostly an isolated voice.
Unlike in other conflicts of the past half century in which the U.S. has been deeply involved — Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan — the cost of helping Ukraine has been strictly financial.
While the far right is beginning to turn up the volume on its skepticism on spending, the Ukrainian cause is an easier sell than those long costly conflicts, said Elliot Abrams, who served in senior national security and foreign policy roles in the Donald Trump, George W. Bush and Reagan administrations.
“With Ukraine, I think it’s much easier to make the argument that helping Kyiv resist Russian aggression is a valuable thing to do, and grinding down the Russian military is a valuable thing to do,” said Abrams, who is now chairman of the conservative foreign policy group Vandenberg Coalition. “And the cost of American lives is zero.”
As the war in Ukraine has passed 300 days, polling shows Americans have grown less concerned and less supportive of U.S. aid. In September, just 18% of U.S. adults said the U.S. wasn’t providing enough support to Ukraine, according to Pew Research Center, compared with 31% in May and 42% in March.
Still, about as many — 20% — said in September that the U.S. was providing too much support. About a third said the level of support was about right, and about a quarter weren’t sure.
Republicans were roughly three times as likely as Democrats to say support was too much, 32% vs. 11%.
Read more: G20: Zelenskyy, Biden trying to persuade world leaders to further isolate Russia
Biden acknowledged that the past 10 months have been difficult and lamented that Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no sign of having the “dignity” to call off the invasion. He assured Zelenskyy that the U.S. wasn’t going anywhere.
“You don’t have to worry, we are staying with Ukraine,” Biden said.
Petr Pudil, a board member of Slovakian-based nongovernmental group Globsec, said Zelenskyy’s mission of keeping America engaged is a difficult one, but he is up to the task. Pudil’s group earlier this month helped organize a visit to Washington by Ukrainian parliament members who made their case that American support is going to be needed for some time while assuring lawmakers that it will not be wasted.
“One of the goals of Zelenskyy for this trip is convincing those who are still skeptical that winning is a real option,” Pudil said. “But it can be done, and only if they deliver the right support. Everyone needs to understand that there is a chance to win.”
Russia warns increasing supply of US arms to Ukraine will aggravate war
The Kremlin warned Wednesday that increasing the supply of U.S. arms to Ukraine would aggravate the devastating 10-month war ignited by Russia’s invasion, and Russia’s defense minister called for expanding Moscow’s military by at least 500,000 troops.
Speaking during a meeting with his top military brass, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would use lessons learned in the conflict to “develop our armed forces and strengthen the capability of our troops.” He said special emphasis would go to developing nuclear forces, which he described as “the main guarantee of Russia’s sovereignty.”
Putin also said the Russian military’s new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile would enter service shortly. The Sarmat is intended to replace aging Soviet-built ballistic missiles and form the core of Russia’s nuclear forces. Putin has hailed its capacity to dodge missile defenses.
The bullish rhetoric from Moscow came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Joe Biden in Washington, where U.S. officials announced a huge new military aid package for Kyiv. The $1.8 billion package includes for the first time a Patriot missile battery and precision guided bombs for fighter jets, U.S. officials said.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the beefed-up Russian military will include 695,000 volunteer contract soldiers, 521,000 of whom would be recruited by the end of 2023. The Russian military had about 400,000 contract soldiers as part of its 1 million-member military before the fighting in Ukraine began.
All Russian men ages 18 to 27 are obliged to serve in the military for one year, but many use college deferments and health exemptions to avoid the draft. Shoigu said the draft age range would be changed to 21- to 30-years-old, and the recruits would be offered a choice of serving for one year as draftees or signing a contract with the military as volunteers.
He also said Russia would form new units in the country’s west in view of ambitions by Finland and Sweden to join NATO.
The Kremlin’s plans marked a return to the Soviet-era military structure, which Russia abandoned during recent reforms that saw the creation of smaller units. Some Russian military experts have argued the more compact units intended for use in local conflicts were undermanned and underequipped for a massive conflict like the action in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the expansion of Western weapon supplies to Ukraine has led to “an aggravation of the conflict and, in fact, does not bode well for Ukraine.”
Peskov’s comments were the first official Russian reaction to news that Zelenskyy was in Washington for his first known foreign trip since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion triggered the war that has killed thousands and laid waste to towns and cities across Ukraine.
The announcement of the new U.S. military aid came just hours before Zelenskyy paid a visit to the White House to thank U.S. leaders and “ordinary Americans” for their support in fighting off the invaders and to press for continued aid.
Read more: Russia-Ukraine War: US estimates 200,000 military deaths, injuries on both sides
Biden said the U.S. and Ukraine would continue to project a “united defense” as Russia wages a “brutal assault on Ukraine’s right to exist as a nation.”
Later, in a historic address to Congress aimed at sustaining U.S. and allied aid for Ukraine’s defense, Zelenskyy thanked “every American” for their support of his country.
Zelenskyy called U.S. support vital to Ukraine’s efforts to beat back Russia, and thanked lawmakers and everyday citizens for tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance over the last year.
The Ukrainian leader predicted that next year would be a “turning point” in the conflict, “when Ukrainian courage and American resolve must guarantee the future of our common freedom — the freedom of people who stand for their values.”
Moscow also was involved in high-level diplomacy. The deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, met Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Medvedev, a former Russian president, said in a video statement that he and Xi discussed an array of topics, including “the conflict in Ukraine.” Medvedev did not elaborate.
China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and criticized sanctions against Moscow. Beijing has only referred to the invasion as the “Ukraine situation” in deference to Moscow, and accused the U.S. and NATO of provoking Putin by expanding into eastern Europe.
In other developments Wednesday, Dmitry Rogozin, the former Russian deputy prime minister and one-time head of the state space agency Roscosmos, was wounded during Ukrainian shelling of a hotel in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk.
Rogozin, who joined the Russian troops in Ukraine as a volunteer, told Russian state-controlled RT that a shell fragment missed his spine by just a centimeter (0.4 inches). Russian news agencies quoted Rogozin’s aide as saying that he was hospitalized, but his life wasn’t in danger.
Russian messaging app channels said Rogozin was celebrating his birthday at a restaurant when it was hit. Several other people, including the Moscow-appointed head of the regional government in Donetsk, were also wounded.
Russia annexed the Donetsk region along with three other regions of Ukraine in September.
Elsewhere, Russian forces pounded populated areas with more missiles and artillery. They shelled areas around the city of Nikopol in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, its governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, said Wednesday on Telegram.
Nikopol is across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Russian forces currently occupy the plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station.
The Ukrainian president’s office reported Wednesday that Russian attacks on Tuesday killed five civilians and wounded 17. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russia unleashed five missiles and 16 airstrikes on Ukrainian territory and 61 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems.
General Staff spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said Ukrainian forces repelled attacks around more than 25 populated areas in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, with the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka continuing to be key targets of Russia’s grinding offensive.
The bodies of seven civilians, including a teenage girl, were found in a mass grave in the village of Pravdyne in southern Ukraine’s Kherson province, the Ukrainian defense minister said Wednesday. The village was held by Russian forces from March until early November.
Read more: Impact of Russia-Ukraine War on Asia’s climate goals
“They simply kill,” Oleksii Reznikov wrote on Twitter. He said that as, of Dec. 21, the bodies of about 500 civilians who died during the Russian occupation have been found in the country’s northeastern Kharkiv province.
Zelenskyy tells cheering US legislators funding Ukraine’s war effort “not charity” but an “investment”
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy told cheering U.S. legislators during a defiant wartime visit to the nation’s capital on Wednesday that against all odds his country still stands, thanking Americans for helping to fund the war effort with money that is “not charity,” but an “investment” in global security and democracy.
The whirlwind stop in Washington — his first known trip outside his country since Russia invaded in February — was aimed at reinvigorating support for his country in the U.S. and around the world at a time when there is concern that allies are growing weary of the costly war and its disruption to global food and energy supplies.
Zelenskyy called the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. military and economic assistance provided over the past year vital to Ukraine’s efforts to beat back Russia and appealed for even more in the future.
“Your money is not charity,” he sought to reassure both those in the room and those watching at home. “It’s an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.”
Just before his arrival, the U.S. announced a new $1.8 billion military aid package, including for the first time Patriot surface-to-air missiles. And Congress planned to vote this week on a fresh spending package that includes about $45 billion in additional emergency assistance to Ukraine.
The speech to Congress came after President Joe Biden hosted Zelenskyy in the Oval Office for strategy consultations, saying the U.S. and Ukraine would maintain their “united defense” as Russia wages a “brutal assault on Ukraine’s right to exist as a nation.” Biden pledged to help bring about a “just peace.”
Zelenskyy told Biden that he had wanted to visit sooner and his visit now demonstrates that the “situation is under control, because of your support.”
The highly sensitive trip came after 10 months of a brutal war that has seen tens of thousands of casualties on both sides and devastation for Ukrainian civilians.
Zelenskyy traveled to Washington aboard a U.S. Air Force jet. The visit had been long sought by both sides, but the right conditions only came together in the last 10 days, U.S. officials said, after high-level discussions about the security both of Zelenskyy and of his people while he was outside of Ukraine. Zelenskyy spent less than 10 hours in Washington before beginning the journey back to Ukraine.
In his remarks to lawmakers, Zelenskky harked back to U.S. victories in the Battle of the Bulge, a turning point against Nazi Germany in World War II, and the Revolutionary War Battle of Saratoga, an American victory that helped draw France’s aid for U.S. independence. The Ukrainian leader predicted that next year would be a “turning point” in the conflict, “when Ukrainian courage and American resolve must guarantee the future of our common freedom — the freedom of people who stand for their values.”
Zelenskyy received thunderous applause from members of Congress and presented lawmakers with a Ukrainian flag autographed by front-line troops in Bakhmut, in Ukraine’s contested Donetsk province. The flag was displayed behind him on the rostrum by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris. Pelosi, in turn, presented Zelenskyy with an American flag that had flown over the Capitol that day, and Zelenskyy pumped it up and down as he exited the chamber.
Declaring in his speech that Ukraine “will never surrender,” Zelenskyy warned that the stakes of the conflict were greater than just the fate of his nation — that democracy worldwide is being tested.
“This battle cannot be ignored, hoping that the ocean or something else will provide protection,” he said, speaking in English for what he had billed as a “speech to Americans.”
Read more: US to send $3 billion in aid to Ukraine as war hits 6 months
Earlier, in a joint news conference with Biden, Zelenskyy was pressed on how Ukraine would try to bring an end to the conflict. He rejected Biden’s framing of finding a “just peace,” saying, “For me as a president, ‘just peace’ is no compromises.” He said the war would end once Ukraine’s sovereignty, freedom and territorial integrity were restored, and Russia had paid back Ukraine for all the damage inflicted by its forces.
“There can’t be any ‘just peace’ in the war that was imposed on us,” he added.
Biden, for his part, said Russia was “trying to use winter as a weapon, but Ukrainian people continue to inspire the world.” During the news conference, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin had “no intention of stopping this cruel war.”
The two leaders appeared to share a warm rapport, laughing at each other’s comments and patting each other on the back throughout the visit, though Zelenskyy made clear he will continue to press Biden and other Western leaders for ever more support.
He said that after the Patriot system was up and running, “we will send another signal to President Biden that we would like to get more Patriots.”
“We are in the war,” Zelenskyy added with a smile, as Biden chuckled at the direct request. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
Biden told Zelenskyy that it was “important for the American people, and for the world, to hear directly from you, Mr. President, about Ukraine’s fight, and the need to continue to stand together through 2023
Zelenskyy had headed to Washington after making a daring and dangerous trip Tuesday to what he called the hottest spot on the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) front line of the war, the city of Bakhmut.
Poland’s private broadcaster, TVN24, said Zelenskyy crossed into Poland early Wednesday on his way to Washington. The station showed footage of what appeared to be Zelenskyy arriving at a train station and being escorted to a motorcade of American SUVs. TVN24 said the video, partially blurred for security reasons, was shot in Przemysl, a Polish border town that has been the arrival point for many refugees fleeing the war.
Officials, citing security concerns, were cagey about Zelenskyy’s travel plans, but a U.S. official confirmed that Zelenskyy arrived on a U.S. Air Force jet that landed at Joint Base Andrews, just outside the capital, from the Polish city of Rzeszow.
Biden told Zelenskyy, who wore a combat-green sweatshirt and boots, that ”it’s an honor to be by your side.”
U.S. and Ukrainian officials have made clear they do not envision an imminent resolution to the war and are preparing for fighting to continue for some time. The latest infusion of U.S. money would be the biggest yet — and exceed Biden’s $37 billion request.
Biden repeated that while the U.S. will arm and train Ukraine, American forces will not be directly engaged in the war.
The latest U.S. military aid package includes not only a Patriot missile battery but precision guided bombs for fighter jets, U.S. officials said. It represents an expansion in the kinds of advanced weaponry intended to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses against what has been an increasing barrage of Russian missiles.
Read more: Russia warns of ‘consequences’ if US missiles go to Ukraine
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the system and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow’s military.
“It’s a defensive system,” Biden said of sending the missile system. “It’s not escalatory — it’s defensive.”
The visit comes at an important moment, with the White House bracing for greater resistance when Republicans take control of the House in January and give more scrutiny to aid for Ukraine. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California has said his party will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine.
Zelenskky appeared well aware of political divisions in the U.S. over prolonged overseas spending, and called on the House and Senate lawmakers to ensure American leadership remains “bicameral and bipartisan.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened the chamber’s session on Wednesday by saying that passage of the aid package and confirmation of the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne M. Tracy, would send a strong signal that Americans stand “unequivocally” with Ukraine. Tracy was confirmed later on a 93-2 vote.
The Senate’s top Republican, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, said “the most basic reasons for continuing to help Ukraine degrade and defeat the Russian invaders are cold, hard, practical American interests.” He said “defeating Russia’s aggression will help prevent further security crises in Europe.”
Russia’s invasion, which began Feb. 24, has lost momentum. The illegally annexed provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia remain fiercely contested.
With the fighting in the east at a stalemate, Moscow has used missiles and drones to attack Ukraine’s power equipment, hoping to leave people without electricity as freezing weather sets in.
US Embassy Dhaka wants to know if Russian 'principle of non-interference' applies in Ukraine
The US Embassy in Dhaka took to Twitter Wednesday to respond to the Russian mission's comment that they are against interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
"Does this (principle of non-interference) apply to Ukraine?" asked the US mission. It also expressed solidarity with Ukraine saying: "Stand with Ukraine."
Russia Tuesday said it is "invariably committed" to its principle of not interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries, including that of Bangladesh.
"States like Bangladesh, which shape their foreign and internal policy to serve their own national interests instead of following the lead of external powers, take the similar approach," the Russian Embassy in Dhaka said in a statement.
Under the pretext of protecting "democratic values," work is underway to interfere in the internal affairs of those who are out of favour with the states that consider themselves "rulers of the world," the mission added.
"Such policy evidently results in undermining the sustainability of the world order, brings chaos and havoc. The incomplete list includes Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan," it said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington on Wednesday for a summit with President Joe Biden and an address to Congress to shore up support for his country and send a defiant message to Russia, reports AP.
Read more: Russian military to reach 1.5M; Putin vows to win in Ukraine
Zelenskyy said on his Twitter account before his arrival that the visit, his first known trip outside Ukraine since the war began in February, was "to strengthen the resilience and defence capabilities" of Ukraine and to discuss cooperation with the US.
The highly sensitive trip was taking place after 10 months of a brutal war that has seen tens of thousands of casualties on both sides and devastation for Ukrainian civilians. Just before his arrival, the US announced its largest single delivery of arms to Ukraine, including Patriot surface-to-air missiles, and Congress planned to vote on a spending package that includes about $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine.
Read more: Russia committed to ‘not interfering in the domestic affairs’ of Bangladesh: Embassy statement
Russian military to reach 1.5M; Putin vows to win in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the fighting in Ukraine as a “tragedy” but vowed to pursue his campaign there until its goals are reached, while his defense chief on Wednesday announced a plan to increase Russia’s military from 1 million personnel to 1.5 million.
Speaking at a meeting Putin held with top military brass, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the 1.5 million-member military should include 695,000 volunteer contract soldiers. He didn’t say when the increased strength would be achieved.
Shoigu also declared plans to form new military units in western Russia to counterbalance plans by Finland and Sweden to join NATO.
Putin ordered an unpopular mobilization of 300,000 reservists in September to beef up Russia’s forces in Ukraine. He has said that 150,000 of them were deployed to combat zones in the neighboring country, while the rest were undergoing training.
Read more: Russian oil cap begins, trying to pressure Putin on Ukraine
In Wednesday’s speech, the Russian leader again accused the West of provoking the conflict in Ukraine as part of centuries-long efforts to weaken and eventually break up Russia. Ukraine and its Western allies have rejected such rhetoric and described the Russian attack as an unprovoked act of aggression.
“We always considered the Ukrainian people as brotherly, and I still think so,” Putin declared Wednesday. “What’s going on is certainly a tragedy, but it’s not a result of our policy.”
“For centuries, our strategic adversaries have been setting the goal to disintegrate and weaken our country ... viewing it as too big and posing a potential threat,” Putin said
When Putin sent his troops into Ukraine in February, he said the action was aimed at the “demilitarization” of Ukraine and preventing the country from joining NATO and becoming an anti-Russian bulwark.
Read more: Putin in Belarus, eyeing next steps in Ukraine war
He also has claimed the attack was aimed at “denazifying” Ukraine to free it from the purported influence of radical nationalist and neo-Nazi groups, allegations that Ukraine and its allies have dismissed.
Putin vowed that what he termed a “special military operation” would continue until its tasks are completed.
“I don’t have any doubt that all the goals set will be achieved,” he said.
Zelenskyy preparing to visit DC, after tour of war’s front
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to visit Washington on Wednesday, according to three AP sources, in his first known trip outside the country since Russia’s invasion began in February.
Two congressional sources and one person familiar with the matter confirmed plans for the visit. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the highly sensitive nature of the trip. They said Zelenskyy’s visit, while expected, could still be called off at the last minute due to security concerns.
The visit to Washington is set to include an address to Congress on Capitol Hill and a meeting with President Joe Biden. It comes as lawmakers are set to vote on a year-end spending package that includes about $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and as the U.S. prepares to send Patriot surface-to-air missiles to the country to help stave off Russia’s invasion.
The visit comes a day after Zelenskyy made a daring and dangerous trip to what he called the hottest spot on the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) front line, the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s contested Donetsk province, where he praised Ukrainian troops for their “courage, resilience and strength” as artillery boomed in the background.
The Ukrainian leader told the troops he passed through Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka to reach Bakhmut in an unannounced trip that appeared designed to show Moscow’s failure to capture the city and dishearten the Russians trying to surround it.
Read: Wartime Ukraine erasing Russian past from public spaces
“Bakhmut Fortress. Our people. Unconquered by the enemy. Who with their bravery prove that we will endure and will not give up what’s ours,” he wrote on his Telegram channel, thanking the troops for “the courage, resilience and strength shown in repelling the enemy attacks.
“Since May, the occupiers have been trying to break our Bakhmut, but time goes by and Bakhmut is already breaking not only the Russian army, but also the Russian mercenaries who came to replace the wasted army of the occupiers,” he said.
Russia’s invasion, which began Feb. 24, has lost momentum. The illegally annexed provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia remain fiercely contested. Capturing Bakhmut would sever Ukraine’s supply lines and open a route for Russian forces to press on toward cities that are key Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk province.
In a video released by his office from the Bakhmut visit, Zelenskyy was handed a Ukrainian flag and alluded to delivering it to U.S. leaders.
“The guys handed over our beautiful Ukrainian flag with their signatures for us to pass on,” Zelenskyy said in the video. “We are not in an easy situation. The enemy is increasing its army. Our people are braver and need more powerful weapons. We will pass it on from the boys to the Congress, to the president of the United States. We are grateful for their support, but it is not enough. It is a hint — it is not enough.”
The latest tranche of U.S. funding would be the biggest American infusion of assistance yet to Ukraine, above even Biden’s $37 billion emergency request, and ensure that funding flows to the war effort for months to come.
Read: Kyiv targeted in early morning drone attack: Authorities
On Wednesday, the U.S. was also set to announce that it will send $1.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine in a major package that will for the first time include a Patriot missile battery and precision guided bombs for its fighter jets, U.S. officials said.
The aid signals an expansion by the U.S. in the kinds of advanced weaponry it will send to Ukraine to bolster its air defenses against what has been an increasing barrage of Russian missiles in recent weeks. The package will include about $1 billion in weapons from Pentagon stocks and $800 million in funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, officials said.
The decision to send the Patriot battery comes despite threats from Russia’s Foreign Ministry that the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the Patriot and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow’s military.
It’s not clear exactly when the Patriot would arrive on the front lines in Ukraine, since U.S. troops will have to train Ukrainian forces on how to use the high-tech system. The training could take several weeks, and is expected to be done in Germany. To date, all training of Ukraine’s forces by the U.S. and its Western allies has taken place in European countries.
Also included in the package will be an undisclosed number of Joint Direct Attack Munitions kits, or JDAMs. The kits will be used to modify massive bombs by adding tail fins and precision navigation systems so that rather than being simply dropped from a fighter jet onto a target, they can be released and guided to a target.
The visit comes at an important moment as the White House braces for greater resistance from a Republican-controlled House that’s signaled it will put more scrutiny on aid for Ukraine in the new Congress. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has said his party’s lawmakers will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine.
Biden and Zelenskyy frequently have held phone calls in coordination with the White House announcing new tranches of military assistance for Ukraine. The calls have been mostly warm, with Biden praising Ukraine for remaining steadfast against the Russians and Zelenskyy thanking the U.S. president for support.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who visited Zelenskyy earlier this year in Kyiv, encouraged lawmakers to be on hand for Wednesday evening’s session.
“We are ending a very special session of the 117th Congress with legislation that makes progress for the American people as well as support for our Democracy,” Pelosi wrote Tuesday in a letter to colleagues. “Please be present for a very special focus on Democracy Wednesday night.”
Read: Dead boy pulled from rubble of latest Russian hit on Ukraine
Later at the Capitol, Pelosi said of Ukrainians, “They are fighting for democracy for all of us.”
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday hailed the “courage and self-denial” of his forces in Ukraine — but he did so at a ceremony in an opulent and glittering hall at the Kremlin in Moscow, not on the battlefield.
Mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian military contractor, are reported to be leading the charge in Bakhmut. Unverified videos on a popular Russian social media platform showed the Wagner Group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, standing near an artillery piece and saying he was ready to meet Zelenskyy in Bakhmut.
At the Kremlin ceremony, Putin presented awards to the Moscow-appointed heads of the four illegally annexed regions of Ukraine.
“Our country has often faced challenges and defended its sovereignty,” Putin said. “Now Russia is again facing such a challenge. Soldiers, officers and volunteers are showing outstanding examples of courage and self-denial on the front line.”
In a video address honoring Russia’s military and security agencies, he praised the security personnel deployed to the four regions, saying that “people living there, Russian citizens, count on being protected by you.”
Putin acknowledged the challenges faced by the security personnel.
“Yes, it’s difficult for you,” he said, adding that the situation in the regions is “extremely difficult.”
British authorities, meanwhile, gave a bleak assessment of how the war is going for Russia.
Some 100,000 Russian troops were “dead, injured or have deserted” in the invasion, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. Wallace didn’t give a figure for Ukrainian casualties, but the U.S. military recently put the estimated number of Ukrainian troops killed and wounded at about 100,000.
Losses in Russia’s military command have also taken a toll, as has the destruction of equipment. “Not one single operational commander then in place on Feb. 24 is in charge now,” Wallace told lawmakers in the House of Commons. “Russia has lost significant numbers of generals and commanding officers.”
“Russian capability has been severely hampered by the destruction of more than 4,500 armored and protected vehicles, as well as more than 140 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft,” Wallace said.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive has succeeded in recapturing large swaths of land. After 300 days of war, the U.K. Ministry of Defense tweeted, Ukraine has liberated about 54% of the maximum amount of extra territory Russia seized in the invasion. It didn’t say what portion of Ukrainian territory Russia controlled at the peak of its gains.
Russia now controls about 18% of internationally recognized areas of Ukraine, including those parts of the eastern Donbas and the Crimean Peninsula seized in 2014.
With the fighting in the east at a stalemate, Moscow has used missiles and drones to attack Ukraine’s power equipment, hoping to leave people without electricity as freezing weather sets in.
Life in the Ukrainian capital took a minor but welcomed step toward normality with the reopening of two of Kyiv’s main subway stations for the first time since the war began. The key hubs of Maidan Nezalezhnosti and Khreschatyk, like the capital’s other underground stations, have served as air raid shelters.
“It’s the feeling that despite everything, we are returning to a routine that we were used to,” said 24-year-old passenger Denys Kapustin. “This is very important.”