Ukraine Daily

Monday, December 5

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A local resident, living in a modular town after her house has been destroyed, warms up near a stove in a tent in Borodyanka, near Kyiv on Dec. 4, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With temperatures dipping below zero, repeated Russian attacks have left Ukraine’s energy grid teetering on the brink of collapse and have disrupted power and water supplies to millions over recent weeks. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)

World Bank: Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction to cost up to 600 billion euros. World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Anna Bjerde told Austrian newspaper Die Press that the cost of rebuilding Ukraine’s infrastructure damaged or completely destroyed by Russia since Feb. 24 will cost from 500 to 600 billion euros ($527 billion to $632 billion).

KSE: Russia has stolen, destroyed $1.9 billion worth of agricultural products in Ukraine. The estimated 2.8 million metric tons of grain and 1.2 million tons of oil seeds were destroyed or stolen because of Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to the Center for Food and Land Use Research of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).

Ukraine’s military: Russia uses prohibited chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainian Naval Forces reported on Dec. 4 that Russian troops had used Soviet-made K-51 tear gas grenades against Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the east of the country.

General Staff: Ukraine repels Russian attacks near 13 settlements in Luhansk, Donetsk oblasts. Over the past day, Russian forces launched seven missiles, 32 airstrikes, and over 50 MLRS attacks against Ukraine, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Dec. 5. Ukrainian forces carried out 18 strikes on the areas of concentration of troops, weapons and military equipment and one strike on the positions of Russia’s anti-aircraft missile system over the same period, the General Staff said. The Ukrainian military also shot down one Ka-52 helicopter and four UAVs.

General Staff: Russia postpones civilian surgeries in occupied Donetsk due to rising number of wounded troops. Due to heavy Russian losses, hospitals in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts are over capacity, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Dec. 4. As a result, scheduled civilian operations are being postponed indefinitely. Around 300 wounded Russian troops have been transferred to occupied Novopskov in Luhansk Oblast, according to the General Staff.

General Staff: Russia forces elderly people to receive Russian passports in occupied Kherson Oblast. Russian forces in occupied Skadovsk are forcing pensioners to get Russian passports in order to receive their payments, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Dec. 4.

UK Defense Ministry: Keeping tacit approval of war among population likely to be ‘increasingly difficult for Kremlin.’ In its update on Dec. 4, the U.K. Defense Ministry cited the recent polling that shows that Russian public support for the war against Ukraine is “falling significantly.”

Official: Kyiv to go back to having only planned power cuts ‘soon.’ Scheduled outages will be an improvement for the city that has been living with unpredictable emergency power cuts since Russia’s latest mass attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Nov. 23.

Electricity, water supply largely restored in recently liberated Kherson. Kherson Oblast Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych reported on Dec.4 that electricity has already been restored to 85% of households – almost 113,000 consumers. He expects the water supply to soon be restored for 70% of citizens once the pumping station resumes operation.

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Ukraine war latest: Ukraine says Russia losing over 50 troops daily near Bakhmut as fiercest battle grinds on.

Russia is losing from 50 to 100 soldiers each day in the battle of Bakhmut amid its desperate attempts to capture the city in the eastern Donetsk Oblast, a military spokesman said on Dec. 4.

Photo: AnatoliI Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Interior Ministry: Russia has killed over 9,400 civilians since start of full-scale war. First Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin said on Dec. 4 that 451 children are among those killed in Russia’s full-scale war. An additional 6,800 civilians have been wounded.

Russian forces attack 8 Ukrainian regions over the past day, killing 2. One civilian was killed in the eastern Donetsk Oblast and one in the southern Kherson Oblast.

Official: Russian shelling kills civilian in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Russian shelling of Pokrovsk community near the city of Nikopol killed one civilian on Dec. 4, according to Mykola Lukashuk, the head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council.

Governor: Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih kills 1, injures 3. As a result of a missile attack on the city’s industrial enterprise overnight on Dec. 5, one employee was killed, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Valentyn Reznichenko reported on Telegram. Three more people were injured, he added. All of them are being treated at a local hospital. Russian forces also struck Dnipropetrovsk Oblast’s Nikopol District with heavy artillery and shelled the Marhanets community, Reznichenko said. There were no casualties, according to the governor.

Media: Five Georgian soldiers fighting for Ukraine killed in Donetsk Oblast. Citing a Georgian soldier, Georgian media outlet Mtavari reported that five soldiers were killed during a 10-hour-long battle near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.

Ukraine’s military estimates 50-100 Russian troops are killed in Bakhmut sector daily. Additionally, just as many Russian troops get wounded daily, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman of the Operational Command “East” of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

General Staff: Russia has lost 91,150 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Dec. 4 that Russia had also lost 2,922 tanks, 5,892 armored fighting vehicles, 4,479 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,908 artillery systems, 395 multiple launch rocket systems, 210 air defense systems, 281 airplanes, 263 helicopters, 1,573 drones, and 16 boats.

International response

Lithuania sends artillery rounds to Ukraine. Lithuania’s Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas announced a new delivery of 155 mm artillery shells from Lithuania on Dec. 4.

Germany expects new wave of Ukrainian refugees as winter looms. Miguel Berger, Germany’s Ambassador to the U.K., said the country expects a new wave of Ukrainian refugees in the coming weeks, as Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure may force more people to flee the country.

In other news

Infrastructure Ministry: 9 cargo ships with grain bound for African nations leave Ukraine. Ships carrying 336,000 tons of grain left Odesa on Dec. 3 and 4, CNN reported, citing Ukraine’s Interior Ministry. Vessels carrying grain left Ukraine as part of the “Grain from Ukraine” program.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Toma Istomina, Daria Shulzhenko, Olga Rudenko, Alexander Khrebet, Teah Pelechaty, Natalia Datskevych, and Anastasiya Gordiychuk.

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