Just hours after the U.S. Senate blocked a White House request that would have earmarked around $60 billion for Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Japan for the pledge of an additional $1 billion in aid, saying the funds will give “significant support” to the nation.
President Joe Biden, who earlier urged Congress to swiftly review more military aid to Ukraine and warned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin may be emboldened to seize more place if he wins on the field, suffered a major battle in the vote on whether to let the costs with the White House demand to advance.
Life Lecture: Ukraine’s Invasion by Russia
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“If Putin seizes Ukraine, he won’t end there.” “He’s pretty much made that clear,” Biden said on December 6 in a televised statement, warning that if Putin took Ukraine, he might try to send his forces into one of the NATO nations.
Republicans, however, argued that the bill lacked immigration changes and blocked the entire $106 billion request, which also included money for Israel, Taiwan, and to strengthen the southern U.S. border.
With spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying on December 7, “It is to be hoped that there remain enough people with sober minds among American congressmen,” and claiming that Biden wanted to “continue burning taxpayers’ money in the furnace of war,” the Kremlin expressed hope that Congress will continue to block military aid for Ukraine.
Zelenskiy canceled a meeting with U.S. lawmakers earlier this year because it was becoming increasingly unlikely that the support request would be granted.
He received the commitment from Japan on December 7 that could bring the total aid package up to $4.5 billion.
In the midst of protracted fighting in the south, particularly in and around the industrial area of Avdiyivka near the Donetsk region, Ukraine has been preparing for a second longer winter of war with Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The city, which has emerged as the most recent example of Ukrainian resistance, has been the target of Russian forces’ attempts to surround it for several weeks.
Even after Russia took control of a sizable portion of the Donetsk region in 2014, including the city of Avdiyivka, which is only 10 km to the south, the region has remained under Russian control.
More than one-third of the 91 assaults that Kyiv’s forces fought off on the whole front range over the previous 24 hours were repelled by Russian forces in the Avdiyivka area, according to the military public employees of Ukraine.
Independent confirmation of the field information was impossible.
On December 6, the United Nations issued a warning that Moscow was intensifying its attacks on Ukraine’s electricity system due to the country being hit by heavy storms and freezing conditions.
According to Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca of the UN Security Council, Russia’s attacks on crucial Ukrainian civilian facilities have worsened civil conditions in addition to causing civilian casualties.
All assaults on residents and civilian infrastructure must end right away, he declared. They are just unethical and are against international humanitarian law.
After a power plant close to the front line was shelled, causing significant damage and crippling two energy units, Ukraine asked people to save energy for the first time during this chilly season.
There is a brief power shortage, according to the Energy Ministry, as the two units have been shut down and demand has increased. Customers were urged by the government to support power employees by using energy “wisely and economically, especially during peak hours.”
The power grid in Ukraine has been under strain as a result of ongoing Russian hits that have seriously damaged it.
Russia is still attacking crucial grain export infrastructure.
Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa area, stated in a message on his Telegram channel that it launched helicopter strikes on the Danube harbor of Izmayil on December 7 that resulted in the deaths of one person and damage to port facilities.
The 18 Iranian-made drones that Russia launched at the Odesa and Khmelnytskyi regions on December 7 were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, according to earlier reports. The military claimed in a Telegram message that the attack with Shahed-136/131 drones was launched from Cape Chauda in the Crimean region under Moscow’s occupation.
“They specifically attacked the infrastructure of the Danube port.” Cars, a grain elevator, and the inventory were all damaged. According to Kiper, one of the truck drivers was killed, and a fire broke out but was quickly put out by emergency personnel.
Ukraine has
been shipping meals to Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta through its Danube ports of Reni and Izmayil since the collapse of a UN-brokered agreement in July that allowed Russian grain shipments to pass safely from Black Sea ports.
Since then, Russia has launched helicopter attacks against Odesa, Ukraine’s primary Black Sea port, as well as the two Danube ports, severely damaging them and interfering with grain exports from Ukraine. Additionally, debris from broken Russian drones has landed on the territory of Romania, a NATO member.
