We Must Make Every Effort to Ensure That Each Day Brings Us Closer to Peace – Address by the President

12 December 2024 – 17:13

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

Today, I am in the Zaporizhzhia region.

On the Day of the Land Forces – I congratulated our warriors and presented them with awards. The 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade, the 27th Rocket Artillery Brigade. As well as our Ukrainian medical staff – I am extremely grateful to everyone – at the stabilization point in the Zaporizhzhia direction. A very high level. Thank you for your professionalism, and thank you all for defending Ukraine, our people.

I had a meaningful conversation with commanders of various levels. Battalion commanders, senior officers. Changes are needed in the training of our military personnel – in training centers. Also, within the brigades themselves, all effective training experiences must be scaled up, and soon. Often, a combat brigade proves to be the best instructor. The right thing to do is to provide direct funding to the brigades, so they can procure drones at their own discretion – exactly the kind they need. We are boosting the allocations. Drone operations must also evolve continuously – because they must adapt to the dynamics of the battlefield. The war demands changes to protect lives. To protect the lives of our guys and to defend Ukraine.

There is a lot of work in the Zaporizhzhia region: the security situation, the protection of our skies. I held a meeting of the Staff here today, focusing on air defense, frontline stabilization, and achieving our core security objectives. We need genuine peace, which means we must be genuinely strong for this. And we must make every effort to ensure that each day brings us closer to peace.

Here, in Zaporizhzhia, the first modern school started operating, we were there today – a school right in the shelter. It is safe. A thousand children can study there. And thanks to this, third graders, second graders, and the youngest children were able to study together. Together and offline, so that all the social skills can be developed. This is very important – to prevent war from robbing children of the chance to become successful adults. We are building other such schools in the frontline regions, particularly in the Zaporizhzhia region. We will continue discussions with our partners next week – to increase the number of air defense systems and to achieve peace sooner.

I want to thank everyone. I thank Zaporizhzhia. I thank Dnipro, I was in touch with them today. I thank everyone who is helping us!

Glory to Ukraine!

The US:

“Lawmakers want the key intelligence chiefs to assess U.S. security risks if America stops providing weapons to Ukraine and Russian wins the war.”
thehill.com/homenews/hou…

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— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 6:14 AM

“The details of the report should include the impact of the ability of Ukraine’s military to defend against Russian aggression if the U.S. continues or withholds military and economic support; and if the U.S. maintains or withdraws permission on the use of long-range missiles to strike…Russia.”

— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 6:14 AM

I do not have high confidence in the value of those potential assessments.

Trump on Ukraine in his Time mag interview: “The Middle East is an easier problem to handle than what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine,” he says. “The numbers of dead young soldiers lying on fields all over the place are staggering. It’s crazy what’s taking place.”
time.com/7200212/pers…

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— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 12:23 PM

The Middle East is not an easier problem to handle than what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine. The latter is actually quite straightforward. The former is actually multiple overlapping problems, not least of which is that problems either created by or allowed to fester from forty or fifty years of ever narrowing and ossified US policies and strategies that may have once been feasible, acceptable, and suitable, but have not been for a very long time, have now come home to roost. Many of which the President-elect allowed his shonda nebbish son in law make worse in pursuit of personal profit. Which doesn’t let Sullivan or Blinken off the hook for their strategic ineptitude.

Trump criticized Kyiv for launching U.S.-made missiles into Russian territory last month. “I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that?” he says. “We’re just escalating this war and making it worse.”
time.com/7200212/pers…

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— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 12:23 PM

The Ukrainians are doing that because they’re trying to get the genocidal Russians from attacking Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure 24/7/365. Also, because these strikes appear to be working:

⚡️Russian guided bomb attacks fall sharply after ATACMS, Storm Shadow strikes, analysts say.

Russian guided bomb attacks against Ukraine have reportedly fallen by over 50% since Western partners allowed Kyiv to target Russia with long-range missiles.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) December 12, 2024 at 5:41 PM

From The Kyiv Independent:

Russian attacks against Ukraine with guided aerial bombs have fallen over 50% since Western partners allowed Kyiv to target Russia with long-range missiles, the independent Russian outlet Agentstvo reported on Dec. 12, citing reports from the General Staff.

U.S. President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light to attack Russian territory with ATACMS missiles in mid-November. Within days, Kyiv reportedly also launched British Storm Shadows into Russia for the first time.

Russia carried out heavy guided bomb attacks against Ukraine from Nov. 1-20, Agentstvo reported, citing daily updates from the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Russia dropped at least 100 guided aerial bombs per day during that period, with the exception of only one day.

Those numbers fell significantly after Nov. 20, according to General Staff reports. Russia dropped 138 guided bombs on Nov. 20, marking the last time that the Russian Aerospace Forces targeted Ukraine with over 100 bombs in a single day.

Russian aircraft have launched fewer guided bombs on Ukraine in the first 12 days of December. The number of bombs topped 50 on only five days, according to the General Staff. The average number of bombs per day is now 40 or fewer.

Oliver Alexander, an open-source intelligence (OSINT) analyst, said the decrease was likely due to the threat long-range missile attacks posed to Russian airfields.

The Russian military may have been forced to move their Su-34 aircraft farther than 600 kilometers from the front line to avoid ATACMS strikes, affecting “maintenance, sorties rate, and flight hours,” he said in a post on X.

Guided aerial bombs are precision-guided munitions that have a shorter range than missiles, but are far cheaper to produce. President Volodymyr Zelensky lobbied aggressively for long-range strike permissions, in order to target Russian military airfields amid intensifying aerial attacks.

When pressed on whether or not he would abandon Ukraine, Trump says he would use U.S. support for Ukraine as leverage against Russia in negotiating an end to the war. “I want to reach an agreement,” he says, “and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.”

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— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 12:23 PM

The President-elect has laid down a marker and made the commitment to not abandon Ukraine as part of his negotiating strategy. I would expect it is worth as much as every other commitment he has ever made.

According to the White House, Joe Biden has approved a new military aid package for Ukraine. The package, which is the 72nd of its kind, will include air defense systems, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery.

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 2:44 PM

The Kyiv Independent has the details:

The United States has approved a new weapons package for Ukraine, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said during a White House press briefing Dec. 12.

The announcement comes as outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden attempts to hasten shipments of military aid to Ukraine ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

“Today, the president approved a new security assistance package for Ukraine that will provide them with additional air defense, artillery, drones, and armored vehicles,” Kirby said.

The latest package marks the 72nd shipment of U.S. military aid under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the U.S. to transfer weapons from existing stockpiles to allies in urgent situations.

Kirby did not specify the dollar amount attached to the new round of assistance, but said Biden was committed to ongoing aid deliveries.

“We’re going to provide additional packages right up to the end of this administration,” he said.

Two days prior, the U.S. on Dec. 10 announced a $20 billion loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets. The loan is the culmination of a Group of Seven (G7) deal to lend Kyiv a total $50 billion, all supported by proceeds from frozen Russian funds.

The Pentagon on Dec. 7 also announced an arms package for Ukraine worth nearly $1 billion.

The White House aims to send a large-scale influx of weapons to Kyiv before Jan. 20, when Trump officially begins his term. The stated aim is to improve Ukraine’s negotiating leverage before Trump withdraws U.S. aid and pressures Kyiv to strike a deal with Moscow.

Trump told Time magazine on Dec. 12 that his administration will not “abandon” Ukraine, but will use U.S. aid to urge a negotiated resolution.

Estonia:

Looks like a good diplo memoir on Ukraine by EU’s ex-envoy. One caveat: “The 370-page book, published only in Estonian, is unlikely to be translated into other languages. It is written for Estonian readers, filled with comparisons to the Estonian context” www.eurointegration.com.ua/eng/articles…

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— Shashank Joshi (@shashj.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 5:50 AM

Looks like a good diplo memoir on Ukraine by EU’s ex-envoy. One caveat: “The 370-page book, published only in Estonian, is unlikely to be translated into other languages. It is written for Estonian readers, filled with comparisons to the Estonian context” www.eurointegration.com.ua/eng/articles…

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— Shashank Joshi (@shashj.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 5:50 AM

From European Pravda:

EU Ambassador Matti Maasikas (pictured from behind) played a part in many key decisions in Ukraine, though his role often remained invisible to the public

“From 2019 to 2023, the years I was there, quite a bit happened, to put it mildly.”

This is the opening line in a new book by Matti Maasikas, who headed the EU delegation in Kyiv during the historic events of recent years. It’s fairly unusual to write memoirs just a year after stepping down from a post. What makes these even more “off the grid” is the fact that Maasikas is continuing his diplomatic career. After Ukraine, he took on a leadership role in one of the EU’s external action departments.

Nonetheless, the (now former) ambassador has dared to bring details that typically remain secret forever out into the open.

The 370-page book, published only in Estonian, is unlikely to be translated into other languages. It is written for Estonian readers, filled with comparisons to the Estonian context and references to figures and politicians little known outside the country, and with the stated aim of “giving Estonian readers a broader understanding of Ukrainian history, society, identity, and aspirations”.

The book delves deeply into historical and linguistic nuances, often explaining the sometimes free-wheeling “Cossack” nature of Ukrainians.

There are details of conversations with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Andrii Yermak,

stories about how certain reforms were pushed through, explanations of the transformations within Ukraine’s leadership, and accounts of what Ukrainian government and opposition representatives said behind closed doors.

The book also highlights intriguing differences between Ukrainian political customs and Western practices.

European Pravda has read the book and selected the most interesting and relevant highlights for you.

Zelenskyy before the full-scale war

Ambassador Maasikas’s tenure in Ukraine began in September 2019, when the parliament, with its single-party majority, was already operating in “turbo mode”. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was settling into his role as head of state, convinced he could deliver on his campaign pledges.

But one of those pledges already seemed problematic – and it happened to be his central one.

This was the promise of “peace with Russia”, which the ambassador says the Ukrainian leadership genuinely believed in.

Throughout the book, Matti Maasikas frequently emphasises – and has examples to back this up – that the defining characteristic of Zelenskyy as a politician is sincerity (along with the associated traits of emotionality and empathy). Furthermore, he behaved very differently from how heads of state usually conduct themselves.

As an example, the ambassador described a dinner Zelenskyy had with G7 ambassadors in Poltava in the spring of 2020.

“The president was in good spirits, answering all our questions… But what was most impressive was that the president generously gave the floor to his advisers, even allowing one of them to interrupt him, without seeming bothered. This is very unusual for political leaders,” Maasikas recalled.

The ambassador noted that the G7 ambassadors even discussed afterwards whether this was merely a performance to create a positive impression. He himself is confident that it wasn’t.

Zelenskyy’s emotional nature was both a help and a hindrance to him.

“The above does not mean that Zelenskyy only had good days. I have seen him impatient, superficial, tired,” the ambassador added.

For instance, during international negotiations, Zelenskyy would sometimes fixate on a single issue that he found particularly objectionable, disregarding other important matters. This happened during one of Ursula von der Leyen’s visits. Similarly, Maasikas mentioned how his first meeting with Zelenskyy in November 2019 was overshadowed by some news about Nord Stream 2 which Zelenskyy was outraged about (but was later revealed to be fake).

These instances were exceptions. On the whole, Maasikas views Zelenskyy’s emotionality as a positive trait: “Passion is important in politics; significant achievements are rarely accomplished through cold calculation alone.”

However, Maasikas found it harder to agree with Zelenskyy’s 2019-2020 stance on Ukraine’s history. He referred to the president’s controversial New Year address, which included the words “It doesn’t matter whose monument you meet your loved one in front of.”

“This speech was praised by many in Ukraine and especially in the well-wishing West. However, I felt rather uneasy about it. It does indeed matter who the monument is to, or what the street name is, and both those who praised the speech and, of course, Zelenskyy himself later learned this lesson very vividly. While Lenin statues had generally been taken down in Ukraine, since 2014, statues of Russian and Soviet generals, statesmen, and cultural figures were still standing in 2019, like trees in a forest. When they began to be changed across the board in 2022, there was no mercy for streets named after Pushkin or Tolstoy,” Maasikas reflected.

The “Russian track” of Zelenskyy’s presidency is not the book’s main focus, though there are some interesting references to it.

“After becoming president, there were those in Zelenskyy’s team who sincerely believed that his fame as an actor in Russia would help him make peace with Moscow,” the ambassador wrote.

“I can’t imagine the extent of personal disappointment and rage Zelensky must have felt when his main election promise – peace with Russia – turned out to be exactly the opposite, diplomatically speaking,” Maasikas noted.

Although Zelenskyy realised that this goal was unattainable well before Russia’s full-scale invasion, the turning point for him was likely the liberation of the north of Kyiv Oblast, when the scale of atrocities in Bucha and beyond became clear.

From Poroshenko to Boyko

The full-scale war transformed not just Ukraine’s political landscape, but also its politicians. EU Ambassador Matti Maasikas had dealings with the entire political elite, including opposition figures, and shares his observations of them in the book.

One of those figures is former president Petro Poroshenko.

The ambassador emphasises that for the current government, Poroshenko embodied everything that was wrong, and vice versa: “The mutual antipathy between Zelenskyy and Poroshenko was constant and very palpable.”

Given Poroshenko’s strong international connections, this animosity sometimes created challenges for the ambassador.

“I often had to explain to German Christian Democrats or Swedish conservatives that things in Ukraine were not as bad as they told me, that Zelenskyy was not a mini-Putin, that democracy was not being stifled, nor the media muzzled, understanding well from which sources such views were drawn,” Maasikas recalls. “Consistently, at all meetings, whether one-on-one or in the G7 format, he claimed that all the good things in Ukraine were his doing, while Zelenskyy only ruined everything.”

But that was before the full-scale war. From 2022 onwards, Poroshenko’s criticism softened considerably. According to Maasikas, there were speeches and closed-door negotiations during which Poroshenko refrained entirely from criticising the government.

The war

The book naturally goes into some detail about the period of Russian blackmailing of the West in 2021, which eventually led to the invasion on 24 February 2022. The ambassador states that he had no doubt that a full-scale invasion would happen, as the information he was receiving from his counterparts, particularly from the American and British embassies in Ukraine, left no other option. However, the expectations were optimistic.

“On 16 February [one of the dates when US intelligence had predicted the full-scale war could start – ed.], my colleagues Artur Gębal and Eamonn Prendergast from downtown decided to stay at my place just in case. Over a not-too-anxious glass of wine, we discussed that the war was definitely coming and that Ukrainians would definitely fight fiercely. Already then, as reminded later by the colleagues staying that night at my place, I was confident Ukraine would ultimately prevail and win this unjust war,” Maasikas recalls.

In the period leading up to the invasion, the EU mission in Kyiv faced a difficult task – first evacuating employees’ families, and then the staff themselves, while still giving the impression that the EU was fully present in Kyiv, Maasikas acknowledges.

At the same time, the embassy was preparing for the worst, including the possibility of the Russians capturing the mission.

“We copied the contents of the servers to Brussels. We sent a lot of documents to Brussels via diplomatic post, and we also destroyed quite a few documents. We destroyed all our encryption technology for information systems, as a very large part of the information exchanged in EU diplomacy is encrypted. This was all by the book, but if I ever find myself in such a situation again, I wouldn’t destroy everything – when we returned to Kyiv in April, setting up the computer network again required the presence of a representative from a Western company, who the company refused to send to a war zone,” he shares.

On 24 February, only seven EU diplomats remained in Kyiv. All of them left on 25 February, as did representatives from 11 other countries. Maasikas admits that this decision was probably a mistake and he should have stayed, as Polish Ambassador Bartosz Cichocki did. However, by early April, the EU ambassador had returned to the capital, and he was the first Western diplomat to resume a permanent presence in Kyiv after the war began.

Overall, Maasikas speaks positively about the EU’s position and is pleased with how Europe managed to change its perception of the situation starting from the first few days of the war.

“Right from the early phase of the invasion EU leaders managed to abandon their old instinctive statements such as ‘The most important thing is to silence the guns,’ ‘Escalation must be prevented,’ and especially ‘Both sides must take steps.’ The Russians would not have taken any steps according to our statements. The EU’s assessment of the situation was clear: it was an unjustified and unprovoked aggression by Russia, against which Ukraine had the right to defend itself, and the European Union supported Ukraine in this. A side was chosen, and it was a huge step for the EU,” he writes.

And then other changes began.

EU leaders had to abandon their preconceptions about a European future for Ukraine – or more precisely, Ukraine and Moldova. Maasikas points out that for both political and geographical reasons, “Ukraine’s accession without Moldova is almost impossible”.

Much more at the link!

Georgia:

#GeorgianProtests

21:50

Day 15

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 12:59 PM

According to one of the opposition leaders Mamuka Khazaradze, the regime turned the heating off for President Zourabichvili at the Presidential Palace.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 4:17 PM

Visiting MEPs joined #GeorgianProtests in Tbilisi.

Day 15

Rasa Jukneviciene
Bernard Guetta
Nathalie Loiseau
Michał Szczerba
Tobias Cremer
Reinier van Lanschot

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 1:49 PM

“Mr Ivanishvili has to take into consideration: we do with the Russian oligarchs the same: we froze their assets, and he has to take care about this”, Michał Szczerba
about the response to human rights violations in #Georgia.
On Dec12, delegation of 7 MEPs met people at #GeorgiaProtests in #Tbilisi

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) December 12, 2024 at 5:20 PM

German MEP Sergey Lagodinsky on the EU and international response when Georgian Dream elects a president, as Salome Zourabichvili calls it illegitimate.

Dec.12 – A delegation of 7 MEPs walked along Rustaveli Ave to join the Georgian people protesting for the 14th consecutive day

#GeorgiaProtests

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) December 12, 2024 at 5:54 PM

German MEP Sergey Lagodinsky comments on the EU Ambassador’s meeting with Georgian Dream’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, which was criticized by President Salome Zourabichvili.

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) December 12, 2024 at 5:54 PM

Citizens expose torture and inhuman treatment by the Interior Ministry. See the details in @studiomonitori’s new journalistic investigation.

youtu.be/qoxb398QoJI?…

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 9:53 AM

The Georgian IT community has now blocked Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue.

#GeorgiaProtests

15:25

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 6:38 AM

The IT community is still marching on Rustaveli Ave, and the street is blocked.

Their demands are:

● The release of political prisoners held by the regime
● Conducting re-elections
● Punishment of those responsible for violence against citizens

14:40

#GeorgiaProtests

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 5:53 AM

Representatives of the IT sector are holding a protest march in #Tbilisi, demanding the release of illegally detained prisoners.

#GeorgiaProtests #Georgia

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) December 12, 2024 at 6:32 AM

Nerds of Prey.

Kyiv Independent’s new documentary, “Can You Hear Me? The Invisible Battles of Ukrainian Military Medics,” shows the journey of a group of Ukrainian military medics from the heat of battle in war-torn Ukraine to the serene forests of Sweden for a short mental health retreat.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) December 12, 2024 at 10:18 AM

Here’s the full video:

Zaporizhzhia:

The 46-hour rescue operation in Zaporizhzhia has concluded.

A russian missile strike on a medical facility killed 11 people and injured 22 others, including a 5-year-old child.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 9:32 AM

Sumy Oblast:

If you wondered what the mobile Ukrainian air defense teams were like, this is the thread for you.

While waiting out an air raid because of another swarm of Shaheds, here’s a thread with insights from a night spent with one of Ukraine’s mobile air defense groups in Sumy. It’s a key area where many drones pass on their way deeper into Ukraine. 🧵 1/

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— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 5:47 PM

2/ November set a record for drone attacks, with an average of 83 Shaheds (Geran) launched daily. Russia is also using Gerbera drones—cheap styrofoam decoys that overwhelm Ukrainian defenses and can double as reconnaissance tools when equipped with cameras.

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— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 5:47 PM

3/ These mobile groups are small—just 2-3 people with a vehicle, radar, and a heavy machine gun. They’re fast, flexible, and ready to set up along likely drone routes.

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— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 5:47 PM

4/ When the call comes, they’re in position within 10 minutes, ready to take their shot. But it’s no easy task to hit a drone flying over 1 km above at a speed of 150 km/h.

— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 5:47 PM

5/ For Russia, Shaheds aren’t just weapons—they’re tools of terror, meant to break spirits and sow chaos. But every intercepted drone denies Russia that goal

— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 5:47 PM

Kherson Oblast:

Russians deliberately bombard a fire truck that arrived at a fire in a comprehensive school. Kherson region. These videos are published online by Russians themselves, proud of their war crimes and feeling their impunity.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 7:07 AM

Kharkiv:

For the first time since the full-scale invasion, streets of Kharkiv shine with Christmas lights. Hope shines bright—Ukraine will prevail.

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— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 1:19 PM

Kharkiv Oblast:

During an operation in the Kharkiv region, fighters from the 3rd Company of the “Karakurt Colony” of the 2nd Mechanized Battalion of the Third Assault Brigade conducted a clearance of a village where occupiers had entrenched themselves.
t.me/c/1377735387…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 3:25 PM

Russian occupied Markyne:

Russian ammunition depot in Markyne, not far from Mariupol, was targeted tonight

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 4:19 AM

The Kupyansk direction:

🔥Soldiers from the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade “Achilles” demonstrated a spectacular repulsion of an enemy mechanized assault involving eight armored vehicles in the Kupyansk direction. Notably, an enemy T-80 tank was destroyed.
www.instagram.com/achilles_92o…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 12:40 PM

Grozny:

There is a rumor that something is exploding in Grozny, russia.

What Kadyrov doing?

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 6:26 PM

Now we wait for confirmation.

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

Here is some adjacent material from Georgia:

I feel like it’s become a matter of principle that us dog people do something as well!

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 3:43 PM

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

🥱🥱🥱 #песпатрон

♬ оригінальний звук – Patron_official

Open thread!

Achieving Reliable Peace Is a Challenging Task, and We Must Be Capable of Handling the Challenge – Address by the President

11 December 2024 – 19:15

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

I have just spoken with the Prime Minister of Spain about our joint work – all of us in Europe – to achieve unity, which can bring peace closer. I am grateful to Spain for its support. And especially for the support in strengthening our air defense. We will continue working this week and next to strengthen our shared European positions, ensuring they help restore security in Ukraine and throughout Europe. Coordination and joint work always lead to achieving results. This is what Europe needs now, not some individual efforts in defiance of everyone else on the continent. Achieving reliable peace is a challenging task, and we must be capable of handling the challenge. The European position on peace must be as strong as possible.

Today I held several important meetings. Together with Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Sybiha, we are already preparing replacements in the diplomatic corps for the near future. We will present them in a week and a half. We are currently interviewing candidates for the positions of Ukrainian Ambassadors. There are some strong proposals.

Today, First Deputy Prime Minister Svyrydenko reported on meetings and negotiations in the United States, as well as on Government programs, including eSupport. Almost six and a half million Ukrainians have already applied for eSupport, including one million six hundred thousand applications for children. The development pace of this program is good, as we expected. It is obvious that people need the program. And the first payments are already being made. We see that about half of the payments were transferred to utilities. A significant part goes to volunteer funds, and it is very important that people can support our army with these funds. The eSupport program will be open for three months of the winter – this is the time to apply for it. And the funds will be available for spending throughout the whole coming year. Today, the Ukrainian-German Business Forum was held in Germany, with Chancellor Scholz and Prime Minister Shmyhal attending. I am waiting for the Prime Minister’s report on the agreements reached.

And one more thing.

Regarding any missile threats. The action algorithm remains the same. If there is a threat and an air raid siren sounds – you have to react. Know where the shelter is. And take care of yourself. I am grateful to all defenders of our skies who protect Ukraine. Glory to our warriors! Glory to our people!

Glory to Ukraine!

Apparently President Zelenskyy gave an interview to CBN – that’s Christian Broadcasting News – two days ago. From Ukrainska Pravda:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an interview with the American broadcaster CBN, has stated that the West has not responded decisively enough to the situation in Georgia and Russia’s efforts to establish control over the country.

Source: European Pravda, citing CBN

Details: The president emphasised that Ukraine’s defeat would lead to “explosions of war” in other parts of the world, both in Europe and beyond, citing Georgia as an example.

Quote from Zelenskyy: “America’s actions regarding the situation in Georgia today, I believe, are weak. It’s very similar. Part of Georgia was occupied [by Russia – ed.]. Nothing has happened to it; it’s just a dead part of Georgia. There’s nothing alive there. No civilisation, nothing.”

More details: Zelenskyy added that Moscow deliberately created a frozen conflict to prevent Georgia from developing and joining the European Union or NATO.

“And today, Georgia, which was free and democratic yesterday, is usurped by oligarchs. All power belongs to businesses directly connected to Moscow, to the energy sector, and so on,” Zelenskyy stated, adding that Georgia’s government is now “completely under the political control of the Russian Federation”.

Quote from Zelenskyy: “What strong measures have the United States taken? What strong measures have European countries taken? I don’t see them; I’m telling you frankly. The same thing will happen in Moldova; the risks are high.”

Background:

• Since 28 November, mass protests have been ongoing in Georgia due to the decision by the ruling party, Georgian Dream, to halt progress towards EU membership until 2029.
• During the protests, both demonstrators and journalists covering the events in Tbilisi have been subjected to violence by law enforcement and hired provocateurs.

Here’s the video with English subtitles.

The US:

Once again: infiltration at all levels:

I spent the last few weeks writing about Russian sabotage operations. But don’t forget those influence ops! Meet Nomma Zarubina, who made the rounds of the DC think tank circuit before being arrested by the FBI. Oh, and she’s got some interesting friends!
open.substack.com/pub/alexzfin…

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— Alex Finley (@alexzfinley.bsky.social) December 10, 2024 at 10:26 AM

From Rant! With Alex Finley:

This week brought news that (yet another) individual has been arrested by the FBI for supporting Russian intelligence in their influence operations. Nomma Zarubina is a Russian national who was working for the Washington, DC-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). For those of you not wonky enough to be familiar with DC think tank reputations, bless you; I wish I were still one of you. But I’m not, so I will tell you that CSIS is one of the biggies. It is highly regarded and has been home to such thinkers as Madeleine Albright and Zbigniew Brzezninski, who, I think it is fair to say, had to deal rather a lot in their day with the Russian menace.

Zarubina was allegedly recruited in 2020 by the FSB (Russia’s domestic spy service), which gave her the codename Alyssa. Her task was to network in policymaking and influential circles in the United States, including among journalists, experts, and Russian opposition supporters. The likely purpose for this was to report back to Moscow who was influential in these circles (spot and assess) and to help seed narratives among them to influence policy discourse (a tactic we’ve seen repeatedly here at Rant! and in the Foreign Influence Operations course).

Oh, she’s also a hottie.

US authorities claim Zarubina’s mentor is Elena Chernykh Branson, an American-Russian dual national who fled to Russia in 2020, after the FBI raided her Manhattan apartment. Branson, before she ran to Russia, ran the Russian Community Council of the USA, which claims to be a cultural organization preserving Russian culture and language. The center was used (allegedly) as cover for Russian influence and propaganda purposes. (For more on cultural organizations being used as cover for Russian intelligence operations, see Class 7, Class 8, and Class 18.)

After Branson, the mentor, fled to Russia, she was interviewed by Russian-state media outlet RT about her harrowing experience having her apartment searched by the FBI.

Her interviewer?

Mariia Butina, the red-headed hottie who, like Zarubina (the mentee), circulated amongst the DC crowd before being arrested for being a Russian spy. For more on Butina, see Class 9.

Back to Zarubina, the mentee and most recent to be arrested. She had been interviewed by the FBI multiple times, always denying she had a relationship with Russian intelligence services. Eventually, it became clear she did indeed have a relationship with Russian intelligence, and the FBI arrested her for lying to them.

Interestingly, Zarubina told The Insider, which did a great deep dive into her social media and managed to actually interview her, she had long-standing contacts among members of the “U.S. counterintelligence headquarters,” with whom she’d shared classified information.

More at the link!

Here’s the link to CSIS’s leadership, from Board of Trustees to resident and non-resident subject matter experts. This is who Zarubina had access to!

I also highly recommend Alex Finley’s classes on this and related topics. They overlap with a lot of what I’ve written here about this stuff for over a decade. It is well worth your time.

‘[McConnell] doesn’t know if the US will spend more on Ukraine military aid but ‘the goal here is for the Russians not to win’. Of Ukraine and Israel, he says, ‘We’ve got two democratic allies fighting for their lives. I don’t think we ought to micromanage what they think is necessary to win.'”

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— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 9:48 AM

From The Financial Times:

Mitch McConnell is standing in his office smiling. Hanging on the walls are faces, mostly stern, from Washington’s past. McConnell’s portrait might soon join them. Last month, the Republican leader in the US Senate stepped down from the role he has held for longer than anyone in US political history. At the age of 82, McConnell is “ready to do something else”.

A pivotal politician in a tumultuous time, McConnell earned power and used it to shift the country to the right during his 17-year tenure. He won races across the country, raised more than $1bn to boost his colleagues and negotiated trillion-dollar-plus bills, including the aid that lifted the country out of the pandemic. He became enormously influential and broadly unpopular, making enemies among Democrats for blocking judicial nominations to the Supreme Court and among Republicans for his occasional, sharp criticisms of Donald Trump. With the latter preparing to return to the White House next month, the veteran lawmaker issues a warning from America’s past. “We’re in a very, very dangerous world right now, reminiscent of before world war two,” he says. “Even the slogan is the same. ‘America First.’ That was what they said in the ’30s.”

Warming to his historical theme, McConnell turns to one of the portraits behind him, an influential Senate Republican of the wartime era named Robert A Taft. Son of the 27th president William Howard Taft, Robert was “a raging isolationist” who opposed Lend-Lease before the second world war and both the creation of Nato and the Marshall Plan afterwards, says McConnell. “Thank goodness Eisenhower beat him for the [presidential] nomination in ’52 and had a much different view of America’s role in the world.”

McConnell has been Kentucky senator since 1985. Having committed to serving the final two years of his term, he intends to spend the time pushing back against the increasingly isolationist elements of today’s GOP. “The cost of deterrence is considerably less than the cost of war,” he says, reeling off the figures to prove it. In the second world war, the US spent 37 per cent of GDP on the fight. Last year that figure was about 2.7 per cent.

His words are targeted directly at Trump and vice-president-elect JD Vance, who have argued that the US should not be spending any more money on Ukraine. McConnell is a strong believer in the Ronald Reagan view of the US role in the world, rather than the Trump one. “To most American voters, I think the simple answer is, ‘Let’s stay out of it.’ That was the argument made in the ’30s and that just won’t work,” he says. “Thanks to Reagan, we know what does work — not just saying peace through strength, but demonstrating it.”

Trump has also said that enemies within the US are more dangerous than Russia and China. “I don’t agree with that,” says McConnell.

Though some of his biggest moments as Senate leader came during Trump’s first presidency, he is no fan of the president-elect. Having blocked Barack Obama from replacing the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, McConnell was instrumental in the confirmation of three conservative justices to the court under Trump. Yet in The Price of Power, a new McConnell biography by reporter Michael Tackett, McConnell calls Trump “stupid” and a “despicable human being”.

After a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol on January 6 2021, McConnell said the then-president was “practically and morally responsible” for inciting the violence. Yet he didn’t vote to convict him in the ensuing impeachment trial which, if successful, would have barred Trump from running for the White House again. His rationale was that Trump was already out of office.

Today, McConnell acknowledges for the first time that he voted for Trump last month, although he can’t bring himself to mention his name. “I supported the ticket,” he says. Asked if he wishes he had done more to prevent Trump from becoming president again, McConnell says: “The election’s over and we’re moving on.”

It’s characteristic of McConnell’s brand of politics. He prizes GOP power above almost all other considerations. You could call it Republican First. But he recognises that the struggle for the future of his party is an uphill one. “He has an enormous audience, and he just won a national election, so there’s no question he’s the most influential Republican out there,” he says of Trump. He also calls Trump’s recent victory after losing in 2020 a “remarkable comeback”. As to his own part in shaping the foreign affairs of the next administration, McConnell says, “No matter who got elected president, I think it was going to require significant pushback, yeah, and I intend to be one of the pushers.”

He will chair the Senate appropriations panel’s subcommittee for defence, making decisions on how to spend billions of dollars for the Pentagon. “That’s where the real money is,” says McConnell. He doesn’t know if the US will spend more on Ukraine military aid but “the goal here is for the Russians not to win”. Of Ukraine and Israel, he says, “We’ve got two democratic allies fighting for their lives. I don’t think we ought to micromanage what they think is necessary to win.”

McConnell’s appetite for a scrap is not in doubt. He overcame polio at an early age and repeatedly sought recognition from his peers, starting with winning a role as “king” in a first-grade school pageant. Through an uncommon devotion to politics, he fought his way up from Senate intern to leader. Reflecting on his legacy, he considers his part in dramatically changing the make-up of the Supreme Court as “the most important thing that I’ve been involved in”. The court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe vs Wade is just the most prominent example of how the six conservative justices have shifted US law to the right.

More than anyone else, McConnell – American Insurgent – is the architect of the moment we’re in. McConnell remade himself from a moderate to liberal – for the era – Republican into the money worshipping, conniving senator he is today. Unlike Gingrich, who broke the House, but was too much of a buffoon to actually benefit from doing so, McConnell broke the Senate and has politically and personally profited handsomely from doing so. It was the removal of all limits for political donations that allowed ultra high net worth conservative and GOP donors to hollow out the Republican Party, which is what created the opportunity for the President-elect to just walk right into the space, take the GOP, and remake it in his image. As I wrote back in June 2018:

Senate Majority Leader McConnell really isn’t a politician or like any politician who has ever served as Senate Majority or Minority Leader. Rather than view him as a politician, it is more appropriate to understand Senator McConnell as an insurgent, albeit a non-violent one. He recognizes no legitimacy but his own. When out of power he’ll do whatever is necessary using asymmetric, irregular, and/or unconventional means to achieve power. And once he achieves power he will do whatever he can to achieve his objectives to consolidate his gains as quickly as possible using any means necessary as he believes his actions are self justifying – that his achievement of power justifies his by any means necessary strategy. This is, by the way, the basic argument of the premier Italian fascist (national-syndicalist) theorist Sergio Panunzio, who delineated the fascist theories for the use of political violence and low intensity warfare in the 1920s. As a result, there is no law, rule, tradition, norm, ethic, promise, and/or deal he won’t violate or renege on. This also makes him an unreliable interlocutor and makes it impossible to negotiate with him in good faith as he doesn’t believe in good faith negotiations.

Since Senators Corker, Flake, and Collins, let alone anyone else, cannot negotiate with Senator McConnell in good faith, because Senator McConnell doesn’t do anything in good faith, if they want to get anything done, then they need to rely on their leverage as senators in a very slim Senate majority caucus to force their initiatives through. This means threatening to and/or actually caucusing with the Democrats. The last thing that Senator McConnell wants is to lose control of the Senate. Whether now because of the defections of a pair of his retiring members using it as leverage to achieve their own objectives or in the mid terms because enough voters want a check on the President to override the partisan Republican advantage in this senatorial election cycle. It is why he’s ground everything in the chamber other than handling nominations, specifically judicial nominations, to a halt. It is why he doesn’t want to do the legally required annual budgetary resolution so he can avoid having his members take tough votes before the midterms. And it is why he’s cancelled most of the August recess under the pretense that it is the only way he can move judicial nominees because of what he alleges is Democratic obstruction. Nominations that only exist because he prevented President Obama from seating almost any judicial nominees during his final two years in office. The Democratic minority has no tools to stop these nominations, regardless of what Senator McConnell says because Senator McConnell in conjunction with Senator Grassley has gotten rid of the blue slip rule and refuses to recognize Democratic senators holds on nominees. Senator McConnell’s cancellation of the August recess is really just a thinly veiled attempt to keep incumbent Democratic senators up for reelection off the campaign trail. Every Senate rule, tradition, norm, ethic, and even law (Congressional Budget Act) has been bent or stretched to breaking or just outright ignored by Senator McConnell in his quest to consolidate his power and achieve his revanchist and reactionary objectives. As an insurgent, albeit a non-violent one, Senator McConnell only understands and recognizes the application of leverage and force. Senators Corker, Flake, and Collins have the ability to apply significant leverage and force. The question is whether or not they have the will to do so. The sad reality is the answer is almost certainly not.

Senator McConnell recreated America in line with his vision, it is a little too late for him to be sad about the fact that he won and, as a result, ultimately lost.

Georgia:

23:00 December 11 – #Tbilisi

#GeorgiaProtests continue for the 14th day.

Today part of public servants, students, teachers and professors marched from different locations joining the main rally on Rustaveli Avenue.

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) December 11, 2024 at 2:07 PM

#GeorgiaProtests

Day 14

22:50

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 2:28 PM

Doctors held a protest march in Batumi

#GeorgiaProtests
#TerrorinGeorgia

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 12:49 PM

Getting rid of the Georgian Dream menace is first and foremost a mental, societal revolution, the conscious rejection of the Trojan horse Soviet/Russian revanche against Georgia’s independence. This process has been brewing for almost 6 years now.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 4:30 PM

The population of Georgia – less than 3.7 million.
So this is like 900 journalists affected and 3000+ persons tortured in two weeks in a country of 37 million.
Those punished – 0.
#TerrorInGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 12:45 PM

The general director of critical to gov’t @MtavariChannel Giorgi Gabunia, stated at a special briefing:

“One of the founders, Zaza Okuashvili, has decided to shut down Mtavari Arkhi. As long as we are able, we will continue to fight and remain on the air.”

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 12:17 PM

Georgian Dream Parliament approved a legislative package on its first reading, 88-0, banning pyrotechnics, lasers, and face coverings at rallies. Two more readings and the president’s signature are needed, the president can veto it, though GD can easily override.
#GeorgiaProtests

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) December 11, 2024 at 11:42 AM

🧵1/ Due to ongoing massive anti-Russian protests, “Georgian Dream” has announced several new restrictions:

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:03 AM

2/ The sale and purchase of pyrotechnics will now require a license. Severe penalties will be imposed for non-compliance.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:03 AM

3/ Lasers are prohibited, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs claims they interfere with police operations.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:03 AM

4/ People dressed in uniforms or clothing similar to those used in the Ministry of Internal Affairs system will be fined.

— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:03 AM

5/ Fines for acts of disfigurement and vandalism will increase.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:03 AM

6/ Fines for blocking roads with vehicles as part of organized actions will be increased.

— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:03 AM

7/ The Ministry of Internal Affairs will have broader authority to detain individuals administratively, conduct searches, and seize documents. This is expected to ensure timely court presentations and prevent delays in cases.

— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:03 AM

8/ Employment within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and recruitment into the police force will now be possible only through a ministerial order.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:03 AM

Good luck enforcing that.

This town of 3,000 keeps going hard! #terrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 12:25 PM

The Georgian Trade Union Confederation opposes Georgian Dream’s proposed amendments to the Civil Service Law, aimed at simplifying reorganization in the public sector, calling them unacceptable.
#GeorgiaProtests
netgazeti.ge/news/755898/

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) December 11, 2024 at 11:50 AM

Current and former public servants join the main protest at Rustaveli from the First Republic Square. #terrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:50 AM

President Zourabichvili is not going to go quietly!

🔥🔥 👏🏻👏🏻 #terrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:18 AM

Indications that the regime plans on jailing President Zourabichvili. #terrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests #freeGeorgia

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 4:48 AM

Russia’s butcher’s bill from yesterday’s attack in Zaporizhzhia keeps rising:

Death toll from Dec. 10 Russian missile attack on private health clinic in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, rises to six. Five-year-old girl among the dead. Rescue work still going on, people feared still trapped under rubble. Area hit a residential area – literally no military targets for miles around.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 1:30 AM

Correction: Five-year-old among injured, not dead.

— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 1:33 AM

The Dnipro River, Kherson Oblast:

Strike on a Russian assault group on a boat, Dnipro river, Kherson region.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 4:16 AM

Pokrovsk:

The assault on enemy trenches in the Pokrovske direction was shown by the fighters of the 2nd separate detachment of the CSO “Omega” of the National Guard of Ukraine.

t.me/c/1377735387…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:46 AM

Kharkiv:

Fighters of the “Karakurt Colony” company of the 2nd mechanized battalion in the Kharkiv direction captured a group of occupiers. Among them is the “standard-bearer” who was waving the tricolor.
t.me/c/1377735387…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 12:44 PM

Sevastopol, Russian occupied Crimea:

Russian monitoring channels reporting a large-scale drone or missile attack happening now, affecting Sevastopol.

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 12:55 PM

🤡In Sevastopol, after the explosions, an “urgent repair” was announced, and part of the city will be without power.
www.rbc.ua/rus/news/sev…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 3:58 PM

Kherson Oblast:

#Kherson #HumanSafari #HumanRights

A rare video: a drone hunts a person. My contact recorded it, hiding. The chase continued for 5 minutes. The drone then left and dropped explosives on a critical infrastructure object.

Another drone malfunctioned; dropped on a roof.

Sound on

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— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 5:38 PM

#Kherson A Russian drone dropped explosives on a 91-year-old woman walking down the street.

Later, a drone attacked and injured a man, 50.

Yesterday, 1 killed, 15 injured.

#HumanSafari

📸 Telegram

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— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 10:40 AM

Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, Russia:

Ukraine prosecuted two targets in Taganrog over night:

russian Taganrog has a loud night. Sound on!

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) December 10, 2024 at 8:58 PM

In addition to the ATACMS strike on the aircraft repair plant in Taganrog, a strike was carried out on the Russian military base where the 5th aviation group of the 6955th air base is stationed. (47.2373575, 38.8637012) t.me/astrapress/7…

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:04 AM

Indeed Russian aircraft plant in Taganrog, Rostov region of Russia, was targeted by ATACMS tonight.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 7:32 AM

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron.

There are no new Patron tweets or videos tonight. Here is some adjacent material:

Hi from Sonic the Furball

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— Eugene Kibets (@eugenekibets.bsky.social) December 8, 2024 at 4:13 AM

Open thread!