Victory Chronicles-DAY 1037

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned Russia’s Christmas Day aerial attack on Ukraine and has vowed to increase arms supplies to Ukraine. 

His statement said that Russia launched missiles and drones that targeted Ukrainian population centers and critical energy infrastructure in an attempt to disrupt the nation’s access to heat and power during the winter and destroy the energy grid’s integrity. Biden emphasised that the Ukrainian people deserve to live in peace and security, and called for continued support from the U.S. and the international community to help Ukraine overcome Russia’s ongoing aggression. 

The outgoing president also said that the U.S. has already provided Ukraine with hundreds of air defense missiles and will continue to increase the supply of weapons to strengthen Kyiv’s ability to defend itself against Russian forces.

Russian media reports 28 planes imported this year to circumvent US, EU sanctions. The aircraft Russia allegedly received include both small planes and large passenger airliners. According to Verstka, a Russian opposition online publication, the data was gleaned from classified customs statistics 

The prohibited aircraft were primarily imported through Turkey, with 11 transactions, followed by three planes through Oman and two each through the United Arab Emirates and Germany. Other countries such as Serbia, Sweden, Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia were also mentioned as intermediary countries by Russian customs data. Among the imported planes were passenger aircraft, such as Bombardier, Airbus, ATR 42-500, and Hawker 800 XP.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemns Russia’s Christmas Day attack on Ukraine, says strikes are deliberate in timing and date. Ukraine’s second war-time president criticized the inhumanity of Russia’s decision to embark on an aerial bombardment on Dec. 25 when most people celebrate Christmas on that day and highlighted the scale of the assault, with over 70 projectiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than 100 attack drones. The primary targets of the attack were Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with the aim of causing nationwide power outages. Despite attempts to repulse the attack and intercepting more than 50 missiles and numerous drones, confirmed strikes were confirmed resulting in power blackouts in several regions. Power restoration efforts are still ongoing…

Ukrainian troops assault fortified Russian position, take prisoners for future POW exchange. In this video, the skilful work of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade is seen. Initially, their tanks shell the enemy’s dugouts and trenches. Then infantry followed suit and took a group of Russian soldiers prisoner.

Washington provides Kyiv with the first installment of loans backed solely by frozen Russian assets. Washington said Kyiv received a $1 billion loan derived from profits generated from sovereign foreign Russian assets that have been frozen since it launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022. According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, this is the first loan out of a total $20 billion generated from those frozen assets that the U.S. allocated to Ukraine on December 10. 

The U.S. transfer of revenues is part of the larger G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans initiative to send $50 billion worth of proceeds from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s budgetary needs, including for military and reconstruction assistance throughout 2025.

Ukrainian veteran Yevhen Liakh, call sign Rosomakha, was killed on Feb. 23 while repelling an enemy assault near the village of Synkivka in the Kharkiv region. The defender was 42 years old.

Liakh was born in the village of Shedievo, Poltava region. He graduated from Poltava Vocational School No. 4. In civilian life, he worked as a firefighter. He was a combatant when Russia first invaded the country in 2014 in what was called the Anti-Terrorist Operation. He liked to fish duringhis leisure time. When Russia launched the all-out invasion in February 2022, he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He fought in the ranks of the 20th rifle battalion (military unit A7104). He was a rifleman of an anti-aircraft missile platoon.

“My son was brave, honest, had many friends,” said the deceased’s mother. Yevhen was buried in the village of Burty, Poltava region. He is survived by his mother Iryna, wife Oksana, daughter Oleksandra, brothers: Andrii, Yurii and Boris.

*Yevhen’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

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