“Russia is gradually losing control of the Black Sea and is retreating towards the eastern part of the body of water. We will get there too.” With these confident words in a video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tried to inject new optimism into the nation after the armed forces chief, Valery Zaluzhny, worriedly described a “war of position and attrition.” This could benefit Moscow.
Meanwhile, a new shower of Russian drones hit various regions of Ukraine last night, fearing further damage to its energy production infrastructure, including lighting and heating, as the conflict enters its third winter. The Kiev General Staff announced that 38 unmanned aerial vehicles and one Kh-59 cruise missile were fired. The latter and 24 drones were shot down, but Zelensky admitted that some others had reached their targets, particularly in the northeastern Kharkiv region. And in the western region of Lviv, just 70 kilometers from the Polish border, unspecified “critical infrastructure” was hit five times, the head of the regional administration said.
“As winter approaches,” commented the Ukrainian president, “Russian terrorists will try to cause further damage. We will respond to the enemy. By force!” But his adviser Mykhailo Podolyak acknowledged what he called “all the difficulties in the current phase of the war.” Difficulties that the Ukrainian leadership can only overcome by increasing Western arms supplies. And a new military aid package worth 500 million euros was announced by Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren during a two-day visit to Ukraine.
Moscow regularly claims that no new shipment of Western weapons can change the course of the conflict, something it sees firmly in its favor. The West intended to “defeat Russia on the battlefield,” but “now it is singing a different song,” said President Vladimir Putin. And the Defense Ministry said 3,755 Ukrainian soldiers were eliminated in the last week alone, as well as 21 tanks and 10 planes and helicopters. The ministry added that 28 Ukrainian soldiers “surrendered voluntarily to avoid dying in suicide attacks.”
Meanwhile, a local senator condemned the killing of seven civilians and the wounding of seven others in a shelling of the offices of a pension fund and an employment center by Ukrainian forces in the southern Kherson region. The incident reportedly occurred in the village of Chaplinka, which is in the Russian-controlled part of the region.
On the political front, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Zelensky is weighing “the pros and cons” of possibly holding presidential elections, which despite martial law would theoretically be scheduled for March 2024 – coinciding with Russia’s – and the other “practical challenges.” that the conflict brought with it. Former presidential adviser Oleksi Arestovich, a popular figure, has already announced his intention to challenge Zelensky with a candidacy.
One of the points in his program is the proposal that Ukraine should join NATO if in return it renounces the military reconquest of the territories occupied by the Russians and whose future is subject to negotiations.
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