Ukraine Daily

Tuesday, December 13

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Paramedics and soldiers transport an elderly woman to the evacuation train to Khmelnitsky as more civilians leave the city due to heavy bombardment in Kherson, Ukraine, on December 12, 2022. A month after liberation, Kherson and its surrounding villages are bombarded daily. Rockets and missiles are fired all day long and many missiles hit targets in and around the city every day. (Photo by Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Zelensky believes war in Ukraine ends if Putin dies. In an interview with David Letterman, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believes Russia’s war in Ukraine ends if President Vladimir Putin dies. Zelensky also reiterated that he believes Putin won’t dare to use nuclear weapons as he “loves life and is afraid of death.” “I saw him (Putin), and I saw his desire to live. He loves life very much – he even sits behind a long table… because he is afraid of COVID-19 or something else,” Zelensky said.

Foreign Ministry: Ukraine’s embassy in Greece receives ‘bloody package’ in latest act of intimidation. The Ukrainian embassy in Greece received a “bloody package” early on Dec. 12, the 28th in a series of recent instances of Ukrainian diplomatic missions across Europe threatened with suspicious parcels in recent weeks, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said.

Media: Iran plans to send missiles to Russia despite Western pressure. Iran plans to provide Russia with missiles but wants to limit their range due to a potential international backlash, Axios reported, citing four senior Israeli officials.

Ukraine’s intelligence: Russia built nearly 400 cruise missiles since February despite Western sanctions. Russia appears to have built 240 air-launched Kh-101 cruise missiles, as well as about 120 sea-based Kalibr cruise missiles since February, despite Western sanctions intended to diminish Moscow’s arms manufacturing capabilities, according to Vadym Skibitsky, a deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence.

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Zelensky: Russia prepares for new major attacks ‘because blackouts are their last hope’. President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Ukrainians about Russia preparing for a new large-scale missile strike across Ukraine, saying that “blackouts are the last hope of terrorists.”

UK Defense Ministry: Russia ‘highly unlikely’ to retake areas lost in eastern and southern Ukraine. Russia is “unlikely to make operationally significant advances” in the coming months, the U.K. Defense Ministry said on Dec. 12. Russian troops have been forced into defensive positions in eastern and southern Ukraine after facing major battlefield defeats.

Forbes: Ukrainian troops may be preparing for their fourth counteroffensive. Russian and Ukrainian forces recently engaged in artillery-on-artillery “counterbattery” around Huliaipole and Polohy in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a little over 100 kilometers northeast of Russian-occupied Melitopol. Although such battles are not uncommon, the Dec. 9 artillery duel was marked by the Ukrainian army reportedly massing mechanized forces around Huliaipole.

Mayor: Explosion reported at strategic bridge near occupied Melitopol. Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov reported that a bridge near the Russian-occupied city in the southeast Zaporizhzhia Oblast, used by the Moscow troops for transporting military equipment, exploded.

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ISW: Russian forces appear to lack sufficient infrastructure to support their troops in Crimea. Russian military bloggers claimed that the 1472nd Naval Clinical Hospital in Sevastopol is facing blood donor supply shortages for wounded Russian personnel, the Institute for the Study of War says in its latest update. The bloggers claimed that the hospital staff notified the Russian military command of lacking commercially provided supplies for blood collection but had not received any support in rectifying the problem.

Prime minister: Ukraine needs $1 billion to restore energy sector. Ukraine needs as much as $1 billion to restore critical infrastructure quickly in order to get through the winter, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Dec. 12.

PM Shmyhal: Russia trying to overwhelm Europe with new refugee wave. By attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Russia is trying to “flood” the European Union with a new refugee wave, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Dec. 12. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as of late November, over 4,751,065 refugees from Ukraine have registered for temporary protection status or equivalent.

Ukraine war latest: Russia prepares new mass missile strikes, says Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address that Russia is preparing a new wave of mass missile strikes to further damage Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Photo: President’s Office

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Waterboarding, electrocution and a kidnapped son: Ex-general tells of torture in Kherson

A former Soviet intelligence officer spent six weeks in near unlivable conditions in Russian custody during the occupation of Kherson. He was subjected to numerous brutal torture methods.

Photo: Francis Farell

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Russia shells Kherson, kills civilian. On Dec. 12, Russian troops shelled Kherson, hitting a building of the Center for Reintegration of Homeless and Released Persons. The shrapnel killed a woman who was passing by the building of the center and a dog.

International response

Slovak Foreign Minister: Slovakia remains ready to send MiG jets to Ukraine. Slovak Foreign Minister Rastislav Kačer said his country remained ready to send its long-promised 11 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, and preparations are to begin in the “coming weeks.“

Wallace: UK ’open-minded’ about handing over longer-range weapons to Ukraine. U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said he was “open-minded” about sending longer-range weapons to Ukraine if Russia continued attacking residential areas and civilian infrastructure.

G7 agrees on coordination platform for Ukraine aid, pledges more air defense. The G7 agreed during a virtual summit to create a joint platform to coordinate both long and short-term support provided to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, the White House said in a statement on Dec. 12.

EU sanctions Iran for supplying Russia with drones for its war in Ukraine. The European Union on Dec. 12 added four individuals to the list of sanctions against Iran, as well as four entities “for their role in the development and delivery of UAVs used by Russia in its war against Ukraine.”

EU Council to increase European Peace Facility fund used to provide arms to Ukraine by 2 billion euros. The EU Council on Dec. 12 agreed to increase its European Peace Facility defense fund used to purchase weapons for Ukraine by 2 billion euros. The council said that the increase for the 2023 fund has “the possibility of a further increase at a later stage” and rounded up its total budget until 2027 to 5.5 billion euros.

In other news

Parliament committee recommends liquidating Ukraine’s most notorious court. The Verkhovna Rada’s legal policy committee on Dec. 12 recommended a bill to liquidate the Kyiv District Administrative Court, headed by Ukraine’s judge Pavlo Vovk, Roman Babiy, a member of the committee, said on Facebook. Judge Vovk has been implicated in numerous corruption scandals and was recently sanctioned by the U.S. for taking bribes.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Francis Farrell, Asami Terajima, Oleksiy Sorokin, Oleg Sukhov, Thaisa Semenova, Olena Goncharova, Brad LaFoy.

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