Photo : Elizabeth Frantz/REUTERS/pbs.org
Photo : Elizabeth Frantz/REUTERS/pbs.org
War in Ukraine: Day 657
Padmashree Anandhan
War on the Ground
On 12 December, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s President held a meeting with Joe Biden, the US President. During the meeting, Biden assured to support despite lack of support from the Republican party. Apart from this Biden announced USD 200 million of military assistance to Ukraine.
On 12 December, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) granted Ukraine access to a portion of a loan of USD 900 million. The move comes after the IMF executive board released the fund after second review. This loan arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility aims to boost Ukraine’s economic and financial stability and also to direct it towards EU accession. In total, Ukraine will receive USD 15.6 billion. According to Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Chief: “The authorities also continue to demonstrate Ukraine's commitment to tackling vital governance and corruption issues.”
On 12 December, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, Kyivstar reported on being hit a cyber attack. According to Kyivstar, the telephone and internet connection failed and the website failed to function. The company has 24 million subscribers and assured of no misusage of customer data. In response, Ukraine’s security service started an criminal investigation and predicted Russia to be behind the attack.
The Moscow View
On 12 December, TASS reported on Russia’s air forces destroying of aerial target near Bessonovka village in the Belgorod border area. The report was confirmed by the governor of the Belgorod region and no causalties or damage was reported. The destroyed air-defence system was known as Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile and an additional 24 rounds of artillery shelling was also observed in the area. The Tochka-U is similar to SS-21 Scarab of NATO which was built in 1970’s by the USSR.
The West View
On 12 December, the US government announced new set of sanctions on more than 250 individuals and organisations in Russia, China, Turkey, and the UAE. This is targeted on Russian entities and those which have evaded sanctions. Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of the State said: “We will continue to use the tools at our disposal to promote accountability for Russia’s crimes in Ukraine and those who finance and support Russia's war machine.” According to the US Treasury, the sanctions were imposed on four entities and nine individuals from China, Russia, Hong Kong and Pakistan for facilitating in stocking of China manufactured weapons and technology to Russia. The sanctions were also imposed on Turkey, UAE, and China for transferring technology, equipment, and microelectronic components.
On 12 December, Finland’s government announce to open two crossings, Vaalimaa and Niirala in the border shared with Russia. Petteri Orpo, Finland’s Prime Minister said: “The government has today decided to keep the eastern border closed except for two border crossing points.” He added that the two border point were opened to observe change and be closed if the influx trend continued. According to the report, 900 asylum seekers from Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen had entered Finland in Novemeber which was less than one in a day as per previous records.
On 12 December, Germany government spokesperson reported on the recent effort of the EU in pursuing Hungary to agree for the EU’s aid facility plan for Ukraine. The aid which is worth USD 50 billion has been threated on vetoing the plan by Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Prime Minister. According to the report in Deutsche Welle, EU’s aim remain to focus on supporting Ukraine and its facility is to show united support and “clear signal” to Russia.
References
“Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy meets with Biden in White House,” Deutsche Welle, 12 December 2023
“Ukrainian missile downed over Russian border region,” RT, 12 December 2023
“Air defense forces down aerial target over Russia’s borderline Belgorod Region,” TASS, 12 December 2023