Just a quick update tonight. Here’s President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier this evening. Video below, English transcript after the jump:
War for Ukraine Day 256: Just a Brief Update TonightPost + Comments (73)
Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!
Today I spoke with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. It was a very productive conversation. Working conversation. We have got confirmation from the President regarding macro-financial support for Ukraine – until the end of this year and next year. The scope and details of this program will be presented by our European friends already in the upcoming week.
We also talked about assistance in restoring our energy sector and energy infrastructure. I am also grateful for the full support of our efforts to preserve the grain export initiative.
Of course, increasing pressure on the Iranian regime was discussed today with Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen. Its complicity in Russian terror must be punished. And we will bring this issue not only to the level of our traditional partners. The whole world will know that the Iranian regime helps Russia prolong this war, and therefore prolong the effect of those threats to the world provoked precisely by the Russian war. If it was not for the Iranian supply of weapons to the aggressor, we would be closer to peace now. And this means closer to a complete solution to the food crisis. Closer to solving the cost of living crisis. Closer to stabilization at the energy market. Closer to reliable security against radiation blackmail, which Russia does not give up. Therefore, absolutely everyone who helps Russia prolong this war must bear responsibility for the consequences of this war along with it.
Today, the occupiers used Iranian attack drones again. There are downed ones. But, unfortunately, there are also hits.
We also understand that the terrorist state is concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure. First of all, energy. In particular, for this, Russia needs Iranian missiles.
We are preparing to respond.
But also, please note: more and more often there are reports that not a single Kalibr carrier has gone on combat duty in the Black Sea. This is a significant result, which was ensured by our defenders. The smaller the Russian Black Sea fleet, the safer it is in the Black Sea. And there will definitely be a day when we will announce that we have provided Ukraine with full protection from the Russian threat both at sea and in the sky. I am sure of it.
Very fierce Russian attacks in the Donetsk region continue. The enemy suffers serious losses there, but despite everything, despite any losses, he continues to drive his mobilized soldiers and mercenaries to their deaths.
I thank all our warriors who withstand this terrible pressure, who remain steadfast and heroically defend our positions.
And I especially want to single out today the fighters of the 79th separate airborne assault brigade for their bravery and heroism during the defense in the Avdiivka direction.
I also thank everyone involved in eliminating the consequences of Russian terrorist attacks in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, cities and communities of the Dnipropetrovsk region, and Mykolaiv. We will definitely drive out the occupiers, we will definitely guarantee the safety of all our cities, all our communities.
As of this evening, stabilization blackouts continue in Kyiv and six regions. More than 4.5 million consumers are without electricity. Most of them are now in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. It’s really difficult.
During the week, I had several special meetings with government officials, representatives of energy companies and regional administrations regarding probable scenarios in the energy sector. We consider each scenario in detail and prepare appropriate actions.
No matter what the terrorists want, no matter what they try to achieve, we must endure this winter and be even stronger in the spring than we are now, be even more ready for the liberation of our entire territory than now.
Every month we have to set difficult goals and, passing through them, become even stronger.
Glory to all who fight and work for our victory!
Gratitude to everyone who helps!
Glory to Ukraine!
Here’s former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessments of the situations in Kherson and Izium:
KHERSON/1400 UTC 6 NOV/ Russian combat engineers are working to establish defensive positions & atrillery fire bases on the S. bank of the Dnipro River. Partisans and UKR SOF identify RU troop concentration in Chulanivka; UKR precision strike munitions score direct hits. pic.twitter.com/3uC49PHV1v
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) November 6, 2022
IZIUM AXIS/ 1920 UTC 6 NOV/ RU forces had occupied a salient in the vicinity of Makiivka. Dominated by high ground to the west, UKR artillery swept this terrain, inflicting serious losses. Counter-attacking, UKR infantry drove RU units back as much as 6 Km. pic.twitter.com/EGxPykApNd
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) November 6, 2022
Apparently we’ve enter silly season in DC as people have decided to start leaking about the Biden administration’s efforts to engage with the Russians and get the Ukrainians to talk about negotiating even if there’s nothing to negotiate.
First from The Wall Street Journal:
WASHINGTON—President Biden’s top national-security adviser has engaged in recent months in confidential conversations with top aides to Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to reduce the risk of a broader conflict over Ukraine and warn Moscow against using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, U.S. and allied officials said.
The officials said that U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan has been in contact with Yuri Ushakov, a foreign-policy adviser to Mr. Putin. Mr. Sullivan also has spoken with his direct counterpart in the Russian government, Nikolai Patrushev, the officials added.
The aim has been to guard against the risk of escalation and keep communications channels open, and not to discuss a settlement of the war in Ukraine, the officials said.Asked whether Mr. Sullivan has engaged in undisclosed conversations with Messrs. Ushakov or Patrushev, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said: “People claim a lot of things” and declined to comment further. The Kremlin didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The White House hasn’t publicly acknowledged any calls between Mr. Sullivan and any senior Russian official since March, when he spoke with Mr. Patrushev.
The unpublicized discussions come as traditional diplomatic contacts between Washington and Moscow have dwindled and Mr. Putin and his aides have hinted he might resort to using nuclear arms to protect Russian territory, as well as gains made in his invasion of Ukraine this year.
Despite its support for Ukraine and punitive measures against Russia for the invasion, the White House has said that maintaining some level of contact with Moscow is imperative for achieving certain mutual national-security interests.
Several U.S. officials said that Mr. Sullivan is known within the administration as pushing for a line of communication with Russia, even as other top policy makers feel that talks in the current diplomatic and military environment wouldn’t be fruitful.
Officials didn’t provide the precise dates and number of the calls or say whether they had been productive.
Some former American officials said that it was useful for the White House to maintain contact with the Kremlin as U.S.-Russian relations are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.
Mr. Sullivan has spoken to Ukraine’s leadership, urging them to publicly signal their willingness to resolve the conflict, a U.S. official said. The U.S. isn’t pushing Ukraine to negotiate, the official added, but rather to show allies that it is seeking a resolution to the conflict, which has affected world oil and food prices.
The Washington Post earlier reported efforts by Mr. Sullivan to persuade Ukrainian officials to seek a resolution.
When Mr. Putin and his senior aides hinted in September that Russia might use nuclear weapons if his forces were pushed into a corner, Mr. Sullivan said that the Biden administration had “communicated directly, privately at very high levels to the Kremlin that any use of nuclear weapons will be met with catastrophic consequences for Russia.”
The White House had declined to say how that warning was communicated.
Here’s The Washington Post‘s reporting on the attempts to persuade the Ukrainians to seek a resolution:
The discussions illustrate how complex the Biden administration’s position on Ukraine has become, as U.S. officials publicly vow to support Kyiv with massive sums of aid “for as long as it takes” while hoping for a resolution to the conflict that over the past eight months has taken a punishing toll on the world economy and triggered fears of nuclear war.
While U.S. officials share their Ukrainian counterparts’ assessment that Putin, for now, isn’t serious about negotiations, they acknowledge that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s ban on talks with him has generated concern in parts of Europe, Africa and Latin America, where the war’s disruptive effects on the availability and cost of food and fuel are felt most sharply.
“Ukraine fatigue is a real thing for some of our partners,” said one U.S. official who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations between Washington and Kyiv.
Serhiy Nikiforov, a spokesman for Zelensky, did not respond to a request for comment.
In the United States, polls show eroding support among Republicans for continuing to finance Ukraine’s military at current levels, suggesting the White House may face resistance following Tuesday’s midterm elections as it seeks to continue a security assistance program that has delivered Ukraine the largest such annual sum since the end of the Cold War.
In a trip to Kyiv on Friday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States supported a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and said U.S. support would continue regardless of domestic politics. “We fully intend to ensure that the resources are there as necessary and that we’ll get votes from both sides of the aisle to make that happen,” he said during a briefing.
Eagerness for a potential resolution to the war has intensified as Ukrainian forces recapture occupied territory, pushing closer to areas prized by Putin. Those begin with Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and include cities along the Azov Sea that now provide him a “land bridge” to the Ukrainian peninsula. Zelensky has vowed to fight for every inch of Ukrainian territory.
While Zelensky laid out proposals for a negotiated peace in the weeks following Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion, including Ukrainian neutrality and a return of areas occupied by Russia since that date, Ukrainian officials have hardened their stance in recent months.
In late September, following Putin’s annexation of four additional Ukrainian regions in the east and in the south, Zelensky issued a decree declaring it “impossible” to negotiate with the Russian leader. “We will negotiate with the new president,” he said in a video address.
That shift has been fueled by systematic atrocities in areas under Russian control, including rape and torture, along with regular airstrikes on Kyiv and other cities, and the Kremlin’s annexation decree.
Ukrainians have responded with outrage when foreigners have suggested they yield areas of their country as part of a peace deal, as they did last month when billionaire Elon Musk, who has helped supply Ukraine’s military with satellite communication devices, announced a proposal on Twitter that could allow Russia to cement its control of parts of Ukraine via referendum and give the Kremlin Crimea.
In recent weeks Ukrainian criticism of proposed concessions has grown more pointed, as officials decry “useful idiots” in the West whom they’ve accused of serving Kremlin interests.
“If Russia wins, we will get a period of chaos: flowering of tyranny, wars, genocides, nuclear races,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Friday. “Any ‘concessions’ to Putin today — a deal with the Devil. You won’t like its price.”
There is much, much more at both links!
My take on this reporting is that someone is nervous about the outcome on Tuesday. As a result, they’re trying to inoculate the administration from what they expect to be hostility from Congress if the GOP retakes one or both chambers of Congress. When you combine that with what seems to be APNSA Sullivan’s caution and small “c” conservative approach to the use of US national power, you get leaks like this. Which have, fortunately, been rare from the Biden administration. I’m also not sure that this information is as problematic to have out in the wild as people responding to it on social media, or the framing of it in the reporting would have us believe. Frankly, working backchannel communications with senior Russian national security officials to ensure that the US’s positions are communicate clearly and directly from the national security official closest to President Biden to the national security official closest to Putin is a good thing, not a bad thing. Working with the Ukrainians to ensure that their own messaging is framed in a way that allows the Biden administration to keep the coalition of EU, NATO, non-EU, and non-NATO allies supporting Ukraine together with what might be a very hostile Congress come January – hostile to both the administration and to Ukraine – also makes sense.
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
This is a teaser of my first comic book 🤩 I’m a sapper dog there (based on the true story😅), but also a sapper who will fight evil evil in the… (can’t tell where and how)! A big comic book is coming soon. And ENG version will be a little bit later. But it will be❤️ pic.twitter.com/DsRDhfdM8N
— Patron (@PatronDsns) November 6, 2022
Not we’re, were. Paws, you know 😅
— Patron (@PatronDsns) November 6, 2022
The very important petition 😢 https://t.co/ryfMBHCnL9
— Patron (@PatronDsns) November 6, 2022
Here’s the link to the petition.
And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok:
@patron__dsns Навіть уявляти не хочу! #песпатрон #патрондснс #славаукраїні
The caption machine translates as:
I don’t even want to imagine! #PatrontheDog #PatronDSNS #SlavaUkraini
Open thread!