UNITED24 Media Telegram Highlights (two days)
State Department: The new US aid package to Kyiv may be the last.
The new $200 million package of military aid to Ukraine includes ammunition for air defense systems for high mobility artillery rocket systems, artillery shells, and anti-radiation missiles, the US State Department reported.
Russian troops have not been able to occupy a single Ukrainian village this year, — Zelenskyy in an interview with Fox News [for all the failure of the counteroffensive, holding back the russians is a great achievement given they are outnumbered and outgunned. Although there are conflicting reports on Mari'inka now]
🇪🇺 President of the European Council Michel, as well as Macron and Scholz, will gather for a working breakfast with Orbán in an attempt to persuade him to change his mind on decisions he does not want to accept, — Politico
🇪🇺The EU Council imposed new restrictive measures against 6 individuals and 5 entities involved in Iran’s development and production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) used in Russia's war against Ukraine.
Germany's draft new budget retains €8 billion for military aid to Ukraine — Olaf Scholz.
The European Commission intends to raise up to 15 billion euros by 2027 in the form of income from the reinvestment of frozen Russian assets. These funds are to be used for the support of Ukraine, — Financial Times. The faltering US and EU efforts to agree on additional financial support for Ukraine have given fresh impetus to the proposals to tap profits from frozen Russian assets.
To win over skeptics, the commission will initially require central securities depositories holding Russian central bank assets to place the profits generated from them in separate accounts. The profit will then be transferred to the EU's common budget.
The commission estimates this would generate up to €3 billion a year, or €15 billion between 2023 and 2027. The amount would depend on interest rates throughout the period. EU member states would need to unanimously back the plan, as well as further implementing steps, before the money could be disbursed to Kyiv.
The main sources of Ukraine's state budget funding are military bonds, loans from international financial organizations, as well as bilateral loans and grants, — the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine.
As of December 7, 2023, the total amount of financing of the state budget general fund since the beginning of 2023 amounted to 1902 billion hryvnias, or $52.1 billion.
The largest budget funders were:
🔸The European Union (653.2 billion Ukrainian hryvnias, or $17.9 billion);
🔸The United States (399 billion Ukrainian hryvnias, or $10.9 billion);
🔸Placing government securities on the internal market (532.7 billion Ukrainian hryvnias, or $14.6 billion);
🔸International Monetary Fund (131.4 billion Ukrainian hryvnias, or $3.6 billion).
A declassified US intelligence report estimates that the war in Ukraine cost Russia 315,000 soldiers killed and wounded, or nearly 90% of the personnel it had at the start of the conflict, — Reuters.
Russia has lost 87% of the total number of ground troops and two-thirds of the tanks it had gathered before the invasion of Ukraine — CNN.
Finland is opening two border crossing points for Russians — "Vaalimaa" and "Nijrala". From December 14, it will be possible to apply for asylum there. All other six checkpoints will remain closed. If the flow of illegal migrants increases again, all points will be closed again.
❗️ The assault group of the 24th Mechanised Brigade named after King Danylo repelled the slagheap located within the territory of Horlivka, temporarily occupied since 2014 in the Donetsk region, and seized enemy positions.
In 2024, the Swiss company Global Clearance Solutions (GCS) aims to elevate the quantity of unmanned demining machines supplied to Ukraine to 70 units.
Azerbaijan sent the third batch of 20 trucks of humanitarian aid to restore the power system to Ukraine.
The total amount of energy assistance will be more than 7.6 million dollars.
The Russians are planning to conduct an inventory of land plots and “nationalize” those whose owners refused to re-register their ownership rights, the National Resistance Center of Ukraine reports.
In order to register the right of ownership in accordance with the occupation legislation, which has no legal force, it is necessary to obtain a passport of the Russian Federation.
Ukraine has acquired an additional 4 Gurkha armored vehicles in the medical variant, facilitated through the assistance of the United24 initiative.
The Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico has said that he believes Ukraine is "not ready" to start negotiations on EU accession, but Bratislava will not block this decision at the EU leaders' summit.
🇧The UK to help Ukraine restore forests and national parks affected by the war.