December 19, 2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 01:10 Zelenskyj considers new EU sanctions to be effective +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj welcomes the new EU sanctions against Russia. They would really hit Russia’s economic basis for the war, he says in his evening video speech. The twelfth sanctions package affects, among other things, the Russian diamond trade.
+++ 23:58 “Enormous reserve”: Putin promotes women’s rights +++
Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling on employers in male-majority industries to hire more women. “Girls represent an enormous reserve for Russia,” Putin said at a meeting with the winners of a professional competition. “In the areas in which they are not yet working, they must exploit their full potential.” Russia has been suffering from a shrinking workforce for years due to persistently low birth rates. This has been exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine.
+++ 22:50 Ukraine’s army chief Saluschnyj criticizes Zelensky +++
According to a media report, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zalushnyj criticized President Volodymyr Zelensky for firing all heads of regional recruiting offices. “They were professionals who knew how to do it, and now they’re gone,” the Interfax Ukraine agency quoted Zalushnyj as saying. Zelensky fired all regional heads of Ukraine’s recruiting offices in August as part of a crackdown on corruption. When asked about the Defense Ministry’s recent plan to increase military recruitment, Saluzhny says the old system should be reinstated. “It is still a little early to assess recruitment. As for mobilization, it is not necessary to strengthen it, but to return to the limits (and) to the frameworks that worked before.”
+++ 22:23 Pentagon warns: Ukraine funds will expire at the end of the year +++
The US Defense Department will run out of money to send weapons and equipment to Ukraine after December 30, the Pentagon’s comptroller warned in a letter to Congress in Washington. To avoid this, Congress would have to approve additional funds. President Joe Biden’s administration has asked lawmakers for $61 billion. “It is important that Congress respond promptly to the administration’s pending supplemental request,” the staffer requests.
You can read all previous developments here.