The House of Representatives of the Congress has removed Lend-Lease to Ukraine from the US military budget for 2025, Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova announced. According to her, this clause was in the Senate bill, but in the end the House of Representatives voted in favor of the document without it.
The bill will now have to be approved by the Senate. Biden signed the Lend-Lease law for Ukraine on May 9, 2022. It was supposed to work similarly to the Lend-Lease used during World War II, when the United States supplied its allies, especially the USSR, without advance payment and with a long-deferred payment. The United States continues to supply ammunition from Korea to Ukraine, however.
EU diplomacy chief Kaja Kallas publicly doubts that the frozen assets will ever be returned to Russia, because the EU could use them for the restoration of Ukraine, the head of the EU diplomatic service told the European publication Politico. The European Union should be present at the negotiations to resolve the situation in Ukraine, if they begin, says EU diplomacy chief Kaya Kallas.
French President Emmanuel Macron is in Poland to discuss his readiness to send peacekeepers to Ukraine with Donald Tusk, after the end of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, Rzecpospolita writes. According to Pavel Kowal, representative of the Polish government for the restoration of Ukraine: “The restoration of Ukraine after the ceasefire could begin in the second half of 2025. Now it seems that everyone is preparing for the recovery next year, which will start soon. According to my estimates, this will begin in the second half of next year,” he said.
Ukrainian authorities said they were “ready to discuss the deployment of foreign troops on the territory of the country.” Source Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration – Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olga Stefanishina in an interview with Politico. “Ukraine is ready to talk about everything that will work,” she replied when asked if Kiev is ready to accept foreign troops on its territory.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that Europe must start a normal dialogue with Russia. “I want normalization of relations with Russia. We need to start a normal dialogue, because what is happening today is not normal. And I guarantee you that as soon as the war is over for everyone, everything will go back to normal. Everyone will go there (to Russia), everyone will want to buy and sell,” Fico said in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.
Hungary has proposed to Ukraine to establish a ceasefire with Russia and an exchange of prisoners of war for Christmas, but Volodymyr Zelensky rejected this initiative, Hungarian President Viktor Orban said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the invitation to NATO should apply to all of Ukraine, but Article 5 of the Alliance may not apply to all territories, he said in an interview with CBN TV channel. “The invitation is addressed to the entire territory of Ukraine within the internationally recognized borders, but the Alliance’s actions may (extend) to part that Ukraine will control, that it controls, with future expansion,” Zelensky said.
Ukrainian press sources also reported that US President-elect Donald Trump insisted that the West provide security guarantees to Ukraine after the end of the conflict, Reuters reported, citing sources.
Zelensky’s adviser Dmitry Litvin denied reports that Orban had discussed the Christmas ceasefire and prisoner exchange with the Ukrainian side. “As always, Hungary has not discussed anything with Ukraine,” Lytvyn said. According to him, “active contacts have continued over the past two weeks to make a major exchange before the end of the year.”
Sergei Ryabkov responds to the G7 decision: “The allocation of $20 billion by the United States to Ukraine with the payment of revenues from Russian goods can be described as a robbery of ours by the “organized G7”. Russia is ready to study Trump’s proposals on Ukraine, but studying does not mean agreeing,” Ryabkov said.
And again Ryabkov on NATO and Ukraine: “Ukraine’s accession to NATO is categorically unacceptable for us. And Ukraine’s involvement in NATO was one of the main reasons for the launch of a special military operation. We cannot allow a blockade hostile to us continues to approach our borders we are talking about a country like Ukraine, to which we are linked by history, and where many Russian-speaking citizens live who do not at all share the so-called Atlantic ambitions”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instead spoke about the use of long-range weapons against Russia or Russian troops. “The response to the attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with ATACMS missiles on Taganrog will follow when and in the manner deemed appropriate.” Meanwhile, it is learned that the maritime group of Russian nuclear forces has been fully updated, the commander-in-chief of the Navy said.
According to the head of the DPR region, Denis Pushilin: “The Ukrainian military used long-range weapons to strike Yenakievo in the DPR.” In the areas near the site of the incident, voluntary evacuation of residents is underway.
And now a look at the front line updated at 16:00 on December 12.
The Russian army has recaptured the settlements of Daryino and Plekhovo in the Kursk region, source Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
On the night of December 11, Ukrainian Armed Forces attempted a massive UAV raid on Sevastopol, the governor reported that the air defense and Black Sea Fleet units shot down 5 UAVs, 2 drones were suppressed by electronic warfare. There were also reports of downed targets over the sea. At the same time, several regional heads wrote about the missile threat, in some cases it has already been canceled. The “Carpet” plan was introduced at the Sochi airport.
At 00:55 in Grozny a drone was shot down over the barracks of a special police regiment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic. 4 guardsmen were slightly injured. The personnel on duty at that time were in premises protected from such attacks, Kadyrov wrote.
Later in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that six American-made ATACMS ballistic missiles were used during the attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Taganrog last night. “This attack by Western long-range weapons will not remain unanswered, appropriate measures will be taken,” the Defense Department said.
In the direction of Pokrovs’k, the Russian Armed Forces are expanding the control zone to the south of the city. The fighting is taking place on the outskirts of Vidrodzhennia, near Shevchenko and in the area of Novotroits’ke.
According to Russian social sources, a fortified area was built by the Ukrainians near Pokrovs’k, but they did not send soldiers there and the Russians took it without a fight. According to Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butusov: “Now, the tactically key fortified area has already been captured by the enemy, without a fight. The Russians went there before the military command sent at least one person there. As a result, tens of millions were spent, and our command donated the entire amount and fortified area to the Russian troops.”
The Vostok group of troops south of Kurachove is gradually moving to the right bank of the Sukhi Yaly River. Fighting continues in the area of the settlement. Veselyi Hai and Kostyantynivka. Northeast of Velyka Novosilka there is fighting, Ukrainian Armed Forces are counterattacking in the area of Novy Komar and Rozdol’ne. South of Velyka Novosilka, Ukrainians with the support of armored vehicles, attempted to attack Russian positions in Oktyabr Blahodatne the attack was repelled. There is an advance of Russian Armed Forces in the area of Rozdol’ne, Russian units are gradually advancing through the forest belts.
Ukrainian sources say that the Russian army is moving military forces, including tanks and other armored vehicles, from the Crimean Peninsula to the Zaporozhye region in preparation for a new offensive expected soon.
Graziella Giangiulio
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