LIVE – War in Ukraine: United States announces new military aid of $725 million

Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers would take advantage of their training in Poland to leave Ukraine. In total, the country has had more than 60,000 deserters since the start of 2024. A growing phenomenon which is undermining Ukrainian defense lines.

The United States is providing additional military aid of $725 million for Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “The United States supplies a large new batch of weapons and equipment […] This additional help […] is valued at $725 million,” we can read.

Joe Biden's administration says it wants to “ensure that Ukraine has the capabilities it needs to defend itself against Russian aggression.” This new aid includes antipersonnel mines and missiles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday he was still speaking to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, visiting kyiv, about the delivery of Taurus missiles, capable of hitting Russian territory. “We are constantly working to find greater common ground on the Taurus issue,” said the Ukrainian president during a joint press conference with the German leader. According to him, these weapons would help kyiv “to strike more military targets in Russia.”

As a reminder, Berlin has so far refused to provide such weapons for fear of an escalation by Moscow.

“Russia does not give gifts. And we can only guarantee peace by force: the force of our weapons, our diplomacy and our cooperation,” urged Volodymyr Zelensky, during a press conference in kyiv . The Ukrainian president also considered it “fundamental” for his country that Germany “does not reduce its support next year, including its financial aid.”

Russia cannot “dictate peace” to Ukraine, Olaf Scholz assures Volodymyr Zelensky. Nothing that concerns Ukraine will be decided without Ukraine,” declared the German Chancellor during a visit to kyiv. Moscow will not be able to “dictate peace,” he insisted.

Furthermore, Berlin assured that it would not let the Ukrainians “freeze” this winter. “Russia continues to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure in a targeted and ruthless manner. Putin wants people to freeze. We will not allow his cynical calculation to succeed,” Olaf Scholz said.

Russia accused the West on Monday of wanting a ceasefire in Ukraine to give itself time to rearm kyiv, whose troops are struggling on the front. In Western countries, “we are starting to talk about a ceasefire as a way to give Ukraine a respite and to give ourselves the opportunity to once again force-feed Ukraine with modern long-range weapons “, denounced the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, receiving his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, in Moscow.

The Russian army advanced over 725 km2 into Ukrainian territory during the month of November, its largest territorial gain in a month since March 2022 and the first weeks of the war, according to an AFP analysis Monday in based on data from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Over the entire month of November, Russian forces gained the equivalent of the surface area of ​​Singapore, i.e. more land than during the month of October (610 km2), which already marked an unprecedented advance for more than two and a half years, especially in eastern Ukraine near the city of Pokrovsk.

The Donetsk region, in which this important rail and road junction is located, alone concentrates almost 90% of Russian advances in November (629 km2). The Ukrainian army now controls less than a third, compared to more than 40% on January 1, 2024.

As CNN notes, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a record defense budget on Sunday. He earmarked a third of total government spending for this sector.

In detail, the budget for 2025, published on Sunday, allocates around $126 billion (13.5 trillion rubles) to national defense, or 32.5% of public spending.

The defense budget is about $28 billion (three trillion rubles) higher than the previous record set this year.

The Kremlin said on Monday that it had no particular “expectations” regarding the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Ukraine, amid speculation about the launch of a possible peace process.

“I would not say that we have any expectations regarding this visit. We follow all the diplomatic exchanges,” Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told the press. “Germany maintains its line of unconditional support for Ukraine,” he denounced, before conversely welcoming Mr. Scholz’s recent resumption of contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, warned her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi against China's “increasing support” for Russia on Monday during a meeting in Beijing, the German Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

“China's growing support for Russia's war against Ukraine has an impact on our relations, because it touches on the fundamental security interests of Germany and Europe,” Baerbock said, according to the press release.

Germany will deliver new military aid to Ukraine worth 650 million euros, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Monday morning during his surprise visit to kyiv.

“Germany will remain Ukraine's main support in Europe,” assured the German head of government, campaigning for his re-election. He positions himself as the chancellor of peace and supporter of restraint to avoid an escalation between the West and Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Ukraine on Monday morning to show his support for the country which is fighting the Russian invasion, a government spokesperson told AFP.

“Ukraine can count on us. We say what we do. And we do what we say,” the chancellor wrote on Russian invasion in February 2022.

According to the Ukrainian state emergency service, an apartment building was damaged last night in Ternopil after “an enemy drone attack.” “A large fire broke out […] one person died, three were injured and around a hundred residents were evacuated,” said the emergency service.

Kaja Kallas, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, does not rule out sending foreign troops to Ukraine. According to her, Europe could play a role.

“So far, the discussion has revolved around which countries would be ready to send soldiers to Ukraine and which would not. I think that nothing can be ruled out and that a certain strategic ambiguity must be maintained in this matter “.

According to Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin could attack again in 3 to 5 years, if the conflict is not frozen.

“In order to avoid a second invasion, it is necessary to strengthen Ukraine by implementing the points of the Victory Plan. This includes, in particular, the transfer of a sufficient number of long-range missiles and an invitation to NATO,” the Ukrainian president requested.

Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Ukraine would not agree to join NATO without the occupied territories: “There cannot be an invitation to join NATO for part of the Ukrainian territory. This is an automatic recognition that not only are all other territories in danger, but also that the other territories are not Ukrainian. Therefore, Ukraine will never accept it. an invitation, then only all territories.”

At the same time, the Ukrainian president said he understood that article 5 could not apply during the war on the entire Ukrainian territory: “But we understand that the 5th amendment (referring to article 5 of the Treaty of North Atlantic), being a member of NATO, cannot act during the war on the entire territory of Ukraine, because the countries are against the risks of involving them in the war”, said declared the president.”