As Russia intensifies attacks in the east, Ukraine seeks additional foreign aid, as the war enters its third winter.
As the war enters a third winter, the frontline has largely remained static for the last year, despite a massive push by Ukrainian forces this summer with Western military hardware.
Ukraine’s air force said on Monday that it shot down 18 out of 23 Iranian-made Shahed drones and one missile that Russia fired at its territory overnight. Moscow typically fires dozens of drones at Ukraine every week in waves of overnight attacks targeting energy facilities and military sites deep behind the frontline. Local officials reported attempted attacks on the western regions of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Khmelnytskyi, as well as Mykolaiv and Kherson in the south. It said there was no information on possible casualties.
Russia has also reported downing several attempted Ukrainian drone attacks recently, including some launched at the capital, Moscow. A Russian general has died while deployed in Ukraine, the governor of Russia’s Voronezh region said on Monday, the latest high-ranking Russian military figure to die during the 21-month offensive.
Ukraine has been desperately pushing for more foreign aid as Russian forces step up attacks in the east after holding back Kyiv’s much-vaunted counteroffensive.
Read more
The White House budget chief warned the US Congress on Monday that failure to agree fresh funds for Ukraine by the end of the year would “kneecap” Kyiv on the battlefield.
In a letter to the House Speaker, the director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young said time was rapidly running out to support Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion. “I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine,” Young wrote. “Cutting off the flow of US weapons and equipment will kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield,” she added. “There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money—and nearly out of time,” Young wrote.
President Joe Biden asked Congress in October to approve $106 billion in national security funding, including support for Ukraine and for Israel’s war against Hamas. But Congress has been paralyzed for months by Republican infighting, with hard-right lawmakers particularly opposing any further assistance for Kyiv as the war drags on.
Miroslava Salazar, with AFP
