Russian troop’s are active in the Northern Ukraine held territories while Ukraine troops gain back ground in the South East….
Ukraine IS worried about the US Congress dragging its feet on further aid for them….
Elsewhere….
NATO and Europe are beginning to worry again about a possible re-run of the Trump era where they ignored and ridiculed by a US President….
Summary
-
Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, warned that Ukrainians are in “mortal danger” of being left to die if western countries do not continue their financial support. Zelenska made the remarks a day after Republican senators in the US blocked a key aid bill that would have provided more than $60bn worth of support to Ukraine.
-
The Polish government denied reports that the delivery of military equipment to Ukraine was being hindered by protesting Polish truckersblockading the border. “I categorically deny that such a situation occurred,” said Polish vice-minister of national defence, Marcin Ociepa. “Military convoys that cross the border are convoys escorted by military police.”
-
Avdiivka, the eastern Ukrainian city which has seen some of the most intense fighting of the war, is on the verge of “imminent collapse” to Russian forces, according to a report. A dispatch in The Times by its former Kyiv correspondent said that Ukrainian troops defending the frontline area are “starved of ammunition” and hamstrung in their attempts to repel the advancing enemy soldiers.
-
Ukraine condemned Russian plans to hold presidential elections next spring on occupied territory, declaring them “null and void” and pledging to prosecute any observers sent to monitor them. Russia’s upper house set the country’s presidential election this week for next March, and chair Valentina Matviyenko said residents in four occupied Ukrainian regions would be able to vote for the first time.
-
Olympic chiefs were criticised for allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete next year as neutrals, outside of team events and if they do not actively support the invasion.
-
The Finnish supreme court has blocked the extradition of a Russian neo-Nazi group leader who fought in Ukraine, warning of the risk that he could be susceptible to inhuman treatment, which is precluded under the European convention on human rights….
…
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 9, 2023
Russian forces have likely committed to offensive operations in multiple sectors of the front during a period of the most challenging weather of the fall-winter season in an effort to seize and retain the initiative prior to the Russian presidential elections in March 2024. Russian forces are currently pursuing offensive efforts along much of the frontline in Ukraine, particularly along the Kharkiv-Luhansk Oblast border, near Bakhmut, and towards Avdiivka as Ukrainian military officials have repeatedly noted, and Russian forces are also conducting continuous ground attacks in western Zaporizhia Oblast. The current pace of fighting across the entire frontline in Ukraine is generally consistent with ISW’s standing assessment that Russian forces have been trying to regain the theater-level initiative since at least mid-November 2023. Recent Ukrainian military official statements further suggest that Russian forces have succeeded in seizing the initiative along the Kharkiv-Luhansk Oblast border, near Bakhmut, and along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City axis, while Ukrainian forces maintain the initiative in key areas of southern Ukraine, as evidenced by continued Ukrainian counterattacks in western Zaporizhia Oblast and the sustained, lar