17.12.2023

POLITICO: The Senate looks unlikely to advance new border security restrictions alongside billions more for Ukraine aid this month, as negotiators work through complex border law in difficult closed-door discussions with the Biden administration and top Senate aides.

The Kyiv Independent: The Security Service of Ukraine has issued a statement confirming the discovery of a recording device in a location potentially used by Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

AP News: Finnish police on Sunday sought a court order to imprison a Russian man who had been living under an alias in the Nordic country and is accused of committing war crimes against wounded or surrendered soldiers in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015.

Reuters: Ukraine and the European Commission will soon assess Kyiv's progress on aligning its legislation with that of the European Union and a framework for EU accession talks is expected in the spring, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.

AP News: Russia and Ukraine reportedly launched mass drone attacks at each other’s territories for a second straight day Sunday, one of which apparently targeted a Russian military airport.

Bloomberg: Two senators said negotiations on US border security are moving forward as Republicans demand more restrictive policies in exchange for clearing assistance to Ukraine and other US allies.

AFP: Putin has warned of "problems" with neighbouring Finland after it joined NATO earlier this year, saying Moscow will create a new military district in north-west Russia in response.

Reuters: Russian rocket forces have loaded a new Yars intercontinental ballistic missile into a silo at the Kozelsk base in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, the defence ministry said.

AP News: As Russian forces press forward with an attempt to capture the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, The Associated Press obtained aerial footage that gives an indication of their staggering losses.

ISW Special Edition Assessment: Ukrainian strikes have changed Russian naval operations in the Black Sea.

16.12.2023

Reuters: Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Saturday hailed the adoption by parliament of a new defence strategy calling for anchoring Moldova alongside its Western allies and identifying Russia as a threat to the former Soviet state.

The Kyiv Independent: After Russia seized Crimea and unleashed the war in the Donbas in 2014, the Italian Danieli Group grew to become a major player in the Russian steel industry, the engine of Putin’s war machine. Danieli, which sells and services equipment for steel plants, has since worked with at least 14 Russian metal companies, incl. 6 that contribute to the Russian military industry.

Reuters: Austria has given its approval to a 12th package of EU sanctions on Russia after Ukraine removed Raiffeisen Bank International from a blacklist, Ukraine's government website and an EU diplomat said on Saturday.

NY Times: Soldiers frustrated by positive reports from Ukrainian officials break their silence, describing the effort as brutalizing and, ultimately, futile. Several soldiers and marines spoke to journalists out of concern about the high casualties.

Bloomberg: Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria plan a joint force to clear mines drifting into their areas of the Black Sea as part of the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Reuters: Hungary will veto Bulgaria's entry into Europe's passport-free Schengen Zone unless it scraps a transit tax on Russian gas, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

POLITICO: Europe must ramp up its security and defense capabilities to respond to the threat that Russia poses, as the U.S. will likely reduce its involvement on the Continent in the coming years, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday.

Reuters: Russia plans to test launch seven intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2024, Sergei Karakayev, the commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces has said, the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday.

15.12.2023

Reuters: A binder holding top-secret intelligence that contributed to a U.S. assessment that Russia tried to help throw the 2016 U.S. election to Donald Trump has been missing since the last days of his presidency, a source familiar with the issue said.

The Moscow Times: Concerns have been raised in Serbia over the presence of a Russian diplomat expelled from the European Union on spying accusations in a delegation set to monitor this Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

The Guardian: Viktor Orbán must not be allowed to take the EU “hostage”, Emmanuel Macron has said, after the Hungarian prime minister blocked a €50bn EU aid package for Ukraine in the early hours of Friday.

AFP: European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen pledged Friday to find a way around Hungary's block on a 50-billion-euro aid package for Ukraine at a summit early next year.

U.S. Congressman Steny H. Hoyer has sent a letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson urging him to reconvene the House next week if the Senate successfully passes legislation providing supplemental aid to Ukraine and Israel.

Reuters: Two U.S. Treasury Department officials will head to Europe next week to discuss enforcing the price cap on Russian oil with government officials and private business leaders, the agency said on Friday.

AP News: Dozens of migrants crossed into Finland on Friday, hours before the reclosure of two southern crossing points on the border with Russia as the Nordic country experiences an influx of asylum-seekers.

Reuters: Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is being moved to a new prison in another part of the country and his arrival there will be disclosed in line with the law, Russia's prison service was cited as saying on Friday.

Bloomberg: Chinese and Russians have topped the list of foreign buyers of condominiums in Thailand this year, with sales surging in tourist hotspots like Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

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