Ukraine war briefing: Clear picture of imminent military aid after Blinken talks, says Kyiv

The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiga, said Ukraine has a “clear picture” of forthcoming military aid as he held talks with Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, who was in Brussels on Wednesday. “We have a clear picture – a clear timeframe, clear volumes – of what will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year. This helps us strategically to plan our actions on the battlefield,” he said. The assistance, he added, would include weapons and funds for arms production deals. Sybiga said he was “cautiously optimistic” after discussing with Blinken the possibility of conducting deep strikes on Russia, as well as Euro-Atlantic integration.

Blinken said in Brussels on Wednesday: “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and Jan 20” when president-elect Donald Trump is due to be sworn in. Nato countries must focus their efforts on “ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions and mobilised forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength”, Blinken said during the flying visit. The US will “adapt and adjust” with the latest equipment it is sending, Blinken said, without providing details. He also reiterated the call for others to step up. “We’re counting on European partners and others to strongly support Ukraine’s mobilisation,” Blinken said – calling for more artillery, more air defences, more munitions as well as training for Kyiv’s forces.

Sybiga stressed the need for more air defence systems after the latest night attack on Ukraine. “Russia is using Iranian drones, North Korean ballistic missiles and troops to attack Ukraine,” Sybiga said. “Ukraine’s defence cannot be put on hold.” Blinken said he had discussed North Korea’s actions with the Nato chief, Mark Rutte, after Pyongyang’s troops had been “injected into the battle, and now, quite literally, in combat”. Blinken called it “a profound and incredibly dangerous development” that “demands, and will get, a firm response”.

Ukrainian forces on Wednesday repelled an attempt by Russian troops to pierce defences near the north-eastern city of Kupiansk, Ukraine’s general staff said. The Russians attacked in four waves and deployed about 15 pieces of equipment, including tanks, armoured vehicles and a mine-clearing system. Some of the Russian forces, it said, had, donned uniforms resembling those of the Ukrainian military, a practice it characterised as amounting to a war crime. DeepState, a popular Ukrainian military blog, backed up the report, saying two columns of Russian men and equipment had entered Kupiansk after dark.

The general staff also reported on heavy military activity further south in Pokrovsk, a major target of Russian advances, with Ukrainian forces said to have repelled all but one of 36 attacks. The Reuters news agency said it could not independently verify battlefield reports. In the Donetsk region, prosecutors said a Russian attack killed two residents in the village of Shevchenko, west of the region’s Russian-occupied main city, Donetsk.

A senior Russian naval officer decried as a “war criminal” by Ukraine was killed in a car bombing in Crimea, Pjotr Sauer writes. An official in Ukraine’s security services told Ukrainian Pravda that the spy agency had orchestrated the car bomb attack in the Russian-controlled port city of Sevastopol that killed Valery Trankovsky, the chief of staff of the 41st Missile Brigade of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet. The official said Trankovsky had ordered missile strikes from the Black Sea at civilian targets in Ukraine.

Russia for the first time in 73 days put together a sophisticated combined aerial attack on Ukraine including Kyiv using both missiles and drones. Air raid warnings blared for hours as Russia targeted eight regions of Ukraine in all, firing six ballistic and cruise missiles and 90 drones, the Ukrainian air force said. Air defences downed four missiles and 37 drones, and another 47 drones were stopped by electronic jamming, the statement said. Kyiv officials said one man was wounded by falling debris from a drone in the suburb of Brovary, while emergency services distributed images of firefighters battling flames at one impact site. A drone attack in the Ukrainian-controlled southern region of Kherson killed a 52-year-old woman, the regional head said.

A London-based Russian chef who has been highly critical of Moscow’s war in Ukraine has been found dead while on a visit to Serbia’s capital, according to several sources on Wednesday. Alexei Zimin’s body was found late on Tuesday in a flat that he was renting while visiting Belgrade, a source close to the investigation told the Agence France-Presse news agency. Prosecutors told the BBC that the flat was locked from the inside and the death did not appear to be suspicious, but that an autopsy would take place. Zimin had several restaurants in Moscow but left after Russia occupied Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.