Just hours after the U.S. Senate blocked a White House request that would have allocated about $60 billion for Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Japan for the additional $1 billion in aid, saying the funds will provide “significant support” to the nation.
President Joe Biden, who had previously urged Congress to swiftly review more military aid to Ukraine, warned that Russian president Vladimir Putin may be emboldened to seize more place if he wins on the battlefield, suffered a major defeat in the vote on whether to let the bill with the White House request to advance.
Life Lecture: Ukraine’s Invasion by Russia
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“If Putin seizes Ukraine, he won’t stop there.” He’s pretty much made that clear, Biden said on December 6 in a televised statement, warning that if he took Ukraine, Putin might try to send his forces into one of the NATO nations.
Republicans, however, argued that the bill lacked immigration changes and blocked the complete $106 billion request, which also included money for Israel, Taiwan, and to strengthen the southern U.S. border.
With spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating on December 7 that “It is to be hoped that there are enough people with sober minds among American congressmen” and 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 pledge from Japan on December 7 that could potentially raise the total aid package to as much as $4.5 billion.
In the midst of intense fighting in the east, particularly in and around the industrial area of Avdiyivka near the Donetsk region, Ukraine has been preparing for a second protracted 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 troops’ attempts to surround it for several weeks.
Even after Russia took control of a sizable portion of the Donetsk region in 2014, including the town of Avdiyivka, which is only 10 kilometers to the south, Ukraine has continued to control the area.
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 relations 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 power 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 infrastructure have worsened civil conditions in addition to causing civilian casualties.
He commanded that all assaults on civilians and civil facilities be stopped right away. They are just unethical and are against international humanitarian law.
After a power plant close to the front line was shelled, causing severe damage and crippling two energy units, Ukraine asked citizens to conserve 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.”
Russian attacks that have been ongoing and have resulted in significant damage have put pressure on Ukraine’s energy grid.
Russia also keeps attacking important grain export infrastructure.
Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa area, stated in a message on his Telegram channel that it launched drone strikes on the Danube harbor of Izmayil on December 7 that resulted in the death of one person and damage to infrastructure features.
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 Shahed-136/131 drone attack originated from Cape Chauda in the Crimean region under Moscow’s occupation.
The Danube port infrastructure was particularly attacked. Cars, a grain elevator, and the inventory were all damaged. One of the truck drivers was killed, according to Kiper, who also mentioned that emergency personnel quickly put out a fire that had started.
Ukraine has used its Danube ports of Reni and Izmayil on its borders with Romania to deliver food to the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta ever since a United Nations-brokered agreement that allowed for the safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments from Black Sea ports collapsed in July.
Since then, Russia has used drone strikes to attack both Odesa, Ukraine’s primary Black Sea port, and the two Danube ports, causing significant damage and interfering with Ukrainian grain exports. Debris from broken Russian drones has even crashed on the territory of Romania, a NATO member.
